Tema Metropolitan Assembly asks fishing community to be on the alert

The Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) on Monday urged the fishing community in the metropolis to be on the alert in the wake of washing ashore of dead fishes at Ghana’s beaches.

Mr Frank Asante, Public Relations Officer of the TMA speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Tema, said his outfit had sent information to all stakeholders in the fishing sector especially the Chief Fisherman, and fishmongers on the incident.

Mr Asante said as a precautionary measure to help act swiftly in case of such an occurrence on the shores of Tema, which is one of the major fishing hubs of Ghana, TMA had asked the stakeholders to be on the lookout for such unusual happenings and to immediately inform authorities.

“Again, the Mayor has deployed NADMO officials to take up the additional responsibility of ensuring that nobody smuggles the suspected "unwholesome" fish onto the market in Tema for sale.

He added that even though they were aware that the relevant agencies had collected samples from Osu and its environs for investigations, Tema could not afford to take any risk as the wholesomeness of the fishes were yet to be established.

Meanwhile Nii Ashitey Odametey, Tema Awudum Chief Fisherman described as worrying the washing ashore of the dead fishes and the whales at the shores of the country, noting that “it is especially worrying as Ghana is in a lean season”.

Nii Odametey in an interview with the GNA said it was obvious that it was not a strong wave that washed the fishes ashore explaining that if so they would not have been dead when found.

He said he suspected the incident could have been caused by stone blasting in the sea with dynamites or dumping of some chemicals saying “the authorities are keeping too long in finding out the cause of the death of the fishes”.

He expressed worry that the incident could affect the selling of fish as according to him people might shy away from buying fresh fish with the fear of consuming the dead fishes.