GNFC backs enforcement of Fisheries Regulation Law

Accra, March 22, GNA - The National Executive

Committee of the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council

(GNCFC) on Tuesday called on the government to enforce

the Fisheries Regulation Law 2010 (L.I. 1968) in totality to

bring sanity into the industry. "The law enforcement agencies should go the whole hog

to enforce the regulation to the fullest extent," Nii Abeo

Kyerekuandah IV, Executive Secretary of GNCFC said. Addressing the media on the recent demonstrations by

selected fishing communities against the passing of the

Fisheries Regulation Law a few months ago, Nii

Kyerekuandah called for the blanket enforcement against all

bad and unacceptable fishing practices. Parliament enacted the Regulation late last year to give

effect to the fisheries Act 2002 (Act 625) and prescribed

measures for conservation, management and development

of fisheries and aquaculture in Ghana. The law outlawed bad practices such as pair trawling,

light fishing, use of under-size mesh nets, monofilament or

rubber nets in marine fishing, dynamite and harmful

chemicals in fishing. Nii Kyerekuandah said the recent demonstrations in

some coastal areas by some fishermen against the law were

uncalled for because the legislation was to protect them and

future generation. "I believe we all know that fishing, like farming, is time

honoured indigenous vocation which has been passed on

from one generation to another and in conservative terms it

is currently providing means of livelihood to about 10 per

cent of Ghana's population. "It, therefore, stands to a reason=85 that it is an industry

that deserves to be given adequate attention, recognition and

support," he added. He said gone were the days that the wealth of aquatic

resources was assumed to be unlimited gift of nature,

adding that with increased knowledge and the dynamic

development of fisheries after the Second World War, the

myths had faded in the face of the realisation that aquatic

resources, although renewable, were not infinite and must be

properly managed. Nii Kyerekuandah said Ghana was not the only country

where fishing was an important industry and cited other

African countries such as Togo, La Cote d'Ivoire, The

Gambia, Senegal, Angola, and Mauritania where their

fisheries laws were enforced with all the rigidity that it

required. There was a general consensus among the fisher folks

present that the law was made to protect their interest and

called on others to join hands with the enforcement agencies

to ensure compliance.