Fisheries Management workshop ends

Participants at a day’s workshop on Sustainable Fisheries Management Project (SEMP), have urged government to put in place measures to ban the use of dynamites, light and other dangerous chemical for fishing.

The participants included fishermen, fishmongers, heads of department, former Assembly Members, the Clergy, Non-governmental Organizations working towards the elimination of child labour and trafficking in the area, and traditional rulers.

According to them, it was about time people using unapproved methods to fish were dealt with accordingly to avoid depletion of fish in Ghanaian waters.

The SEMP is a five-year Fisheries Food Security Project being funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Mission Feed the Future programme.

It is being implemented by the Coastal Resource Centre of the University of Rhode Island through a consortium of partners, including Hen Mpoano, Friends of the Nation, SNV, SSG Advisors, Dassgift, Development Action Association (DAA) Central and Western Regional Fishermongers Association (CEWEFIA), Spatial Solution and Netherlands Development Organization.

Addressing the participants on the concept of the project, Ms Sarah Agbey, Senior Advisor to the Netherlands Development Organization, said the project sought to rebuild Ghana’s Marine fisheries stocks and catches through the adoption of approved and sustainable fishing practices.

She said the SEMP project was working closely with the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development and the Fisheries Commission.

It is aimed at ending overfishing of key stocks improved to local food security through a multi-pronged approach, such as improved legal enabling conditions needed to rebuild fish stocks.

It also seeks to improve fishing smoking, adding that women fish processors and marketers will be supported to implement activities to reduce child labour and trafficking in the fisheries sector in the Western, Central and Greater-Accra regions.

Dr Brian Crawford, Chief of Party of SMFP, urged people in the area, especially fishmongers, to embrace the project and contribute their quota towards its sustainability, to enable it achieve its aims and objectives.

Others speakers included Mr Francis Wusu-Ansah, Effutu Municipal Coordinating Director, Ms Victoria Koomson, Executive Director of CEWEFIA, and Ms Lydia Sasu, Executive Director of DAA.