Scrap all minor landing beaches – Prof Aggrey-Fynn

Professor Joseph Aggrey-Fynn, a Professor of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences with the University of Cape Coast (UCC), has called on the government and fisheries authorities to scrap all minor landing beaches to allow for proper monitoring and regulation.

He said for a coastal stretch of just about 550 kilometres, more than 300 landing sites were too many, making enforcement difficult and giving noncompliant fishermen a field day to perpetrate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing.

“In some places, before you leave to fish, they inspect your fishing gear and your boat and so, there is no way you can go with illegal tools and substances and not be caught.

“But when you go to Elmina, you see fishermen carrying generators and it is clear that they are going to do light fishing,” he said.

Prof Aggrey-Fynn, also the Founding Director of UCC’s Institute for Oil and Gas, made the call during his inaugural lecture at UCC.

He lectured on the theme: “Ghana’s declining fisheries resources: Reality or myth.”

With a tonne of data, he laid bare the contributions of the fisheries sector to the Ghanaian economy and food security, indicating that it contributed 1.2 per cent to the national GDP and provided 60 per cent of the annual protein needs.

However, he observed a meteoric depletion of the fish stock, particularly the Sardinella species, due to overexploitation, poor fisheries management, and some climatic conditions.

Prof Aggrey-Fynn urged government to invest in the development of the emerging Blue Economy to provide mitigate the over-reliance on fishing as the sole source of livelihood.

He indicated that the Blue Economy presented unlimited business opportunities especially in tourism and transportation which could be harnessed for development.

He pointed to Cape Verde where tourists went to pay substantial amount of money to swim with turtles, urging a replication of that in Ghana.

“We have whales and dolphins in the sea from Winneba to Western Region. Can we do some whale-watching or dolphin-watching for tourism?

“The zero latitude and zero longitude meet in our waters. That could be a major tourism point to make money,” he proposed.

In furtherance of efforts to manage Ghana’s fisheries resources effectively, Prof Aggrey-Fynn noted that UCC was establishing the Africa Ocean Institute to transform fisheries and coastal research on the continent.

The Institute would be launched in Accra before July this year, he noted, urging the support of donors and government for the cause.