GIFEC pilots fish finders with Jamestown fishermen

The Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) over the weekend, distributed 10 fish finders with accessories intended for pilot use, to fisher folk at the Jamestown fishing harbor in Accra.

The distribution was part of the ICT for Sustainable Fishing Project, a nationwide campaign by GIFEC, the Fisheries Commission and the National Canoe Fishermen Council, to encourage the use of the technology in locating shoals of fish and harvesting only the matured ones.

Mr Kwabena Owusu Acheampong, Head of GIFEC, urged the fishermen to take good care of the equipment so that more could be made available to them.

“Whoever is given this equipment to try, must take care of it, observe what happens carefully,” Mr Scott Apawudza, Greater Accra Regional Director in charge of Management and Utilisation of Fisheries, said to the fishermen.

Nii Kai Okaishie III, Chief Fisherman at the Jamestown fishing harbour, advise the fishermen not to defeat the purpose of the pilot project by underutilising the fish finders.

Some fisher folk, however, expressed their unhappiness at being left out and decried the selection process.

The ICT for Sustainable Fishing Project is aimed at reducing the cost of fishing and mitigating the depleting fish stock in Ghana’s territorial waters by reducing the harvest of fingerlings and the use of unorthodox fishing methods such as light, explosives and chemicals and undersized nets.

According to GIFEC, more than 200 fish finders have been distributed to 18 landing sites along the coast.