The Centre for Maritime Laws and Security (CEMLAWS) Africa, in collaboration with the Centre for Coastal Management at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), has launched a project aimed at addressing current and future challenges of foreign fishing vessels in distant waters.
The project, themed ‘Promoting local capacity to address destabilising impacts of foreign fishing vessels in the Gulf of Guinea and Mauritania’, is funded and coordinated by the Department of State of the United States Embassy in Ghana. It aims to streamline the activities of foreign fishing vessels.
During a webinar to discuss the action-plan ahead of the project implementation, the Executive Director of CEMLAWS Africa and Project Lead, Dr. Kamal-Deen Ali, disclosed to the media that this project will be implemented in seven countries across the sub-region: including Ghana; Benin; Cameron; Cote d’Ivoire; Mauritania; Sierra Leone; and Senegal.
The virtual event was attended by stakeholders in the fisheries sector, such as government officials, academia, industry, non-governmental organisations and the media.
He said the project is going to run for three years seeks to address the negative impacts of foreign vessels in the Gulf of Guinea and Mauritania.
“The language or message of these vessels is entirely negative, and we must address these negative impacts,” Dr. Ali said
“Across the sub-region, not just in Ghana, we are seeing increasing deprivation of coastal communities. You go to some countries and it’s not only in terms of their livelihoods but also their economic well-being. It continues for example in countries such as Benin, where fishermen take a loan with the expectation that there will be catch tomorrow or the following week to enable them offset the loan – and you find them in complete economic imbalance,” he lamented.
Dr. Ali observed that the situation may be due to unsustainable activities by distant fishing vessels.
He therefore said the project is working at different levels of engaging the media and civil society organisations (CSOs) to build their capacity, so that they “can shine the light greatly” on distant fishing activities.
Secretary-National Fisheries Association of Ghana, Richster Nii Armah Amarfio, commended CEMLAWS Africa and its partners for the bold initiative, indicating that the project is crucial as far as distant water fishing is concerned.
He expressed confidence that it will ensure vessels which are fishing outside their national fishing jurisdictions are doing so properly.
