By Wisdom JONNY-NUEKPE
The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development has reported low compliance with the three-year moratorium intended to deter new canoe entries into the sea due to over-congestion of the marine space.
Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Minister, Madam Mavis Hawa Koomson, was addressing canoe fishermen in Accra as part of engagements to kick-start this year’s closed fishing season and said: “The moratorium has become necessary as it is the only measure to prevent canoe overcapacity and depletion of existing fish stocks”.
She tasked the fishers to always comply with key directives and interventions that seek to protect their jobs and replenish depleting stocks in the ocean.
MoFAD and the Fisheries Commission started implementation of a three-year moratorium on new entrants to the artisanal fisheries sector last year.
The freeze, which is expected to end in 2026 according to the Fisheries Commission (FC), is one of the key steps to control the capacity of canoes and efforts to maintain sustainable levels and prevent the fishery sector’s collapse.
MoFAD indicates that the overall objective of this activity is to regulate the increasing canoe fleet to control fishing in an effort to aid in the management and rebuilding of Ghana’s small pelagic stocks.
It said other key objectives include improving efficiency in the sale and distribution of premix to fishers while managing overall data on fishing fleets in the fishing industry.
There are currently an estimated 12,200 canoes in the country, but MoFAD and the FC according to the moratorium plan will limit the country’s canoe numbers to only 10,000 after the project.
With these strategies and objectives, the FC envisages that canoe numbers will drop as fishers grow old and retire from fishing.
The FC disclosed a total of over 5,000 fishers including canoe owners, carvers and chief-fishermen had been extensively engaged before implementation started.
However, though a majority of the fishers are in support of the 3-year moratorium, a few – constituting some 27 percent who did not agree with the moratorium – said without addressing other forms of illegal fishing, such as light-fishing, the moratorium will not achieve its purpose.
2024 closed season
Madam Koomson explained that all is set toward enforcement of the 2024 fishing Closed Season, which will last from July 1 to August 31 for artisanal, semi-industrial and industrial trawl fleets.
She asked the fishers to obey the laid-down procedures in this closed season to record a high compliance level.
