Two organisations to promote sustainable fishing

Two organisations, with the support of the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund are advocating a co-management law in the fisheries sector to deepen citizen participation and help reverse the dwindling fortunes of the sector.

Friends of The Nation (FoN), a socio-environmental advocacy group and Hen Mpoano, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) committed to promoting sustainable fishing in coastal communities, believe that if stakeholders in the sector, primarily the chief fishermen, are involved in regulating fishing activities, the country can reap the full potential of the sector.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Programmes Coordinator of the Takoradi-based FoN, Mr Kwadwo Kyei Yamoah, said the co-management law would give the fisher folks the mandate to be part of the regulatory processes and ultimately help in enforcing the laws to regulate illegal fishing practices.

“What we are advocating now is the need for a co-management law that will increase engagement with the fishermen and make them part of the regulation process. They need to be part of governance because once they understand the issues they can also play their role in ensuring that fishing activities are done sustainably,” he said.

The Director of Hen Mpoano, Mr Kofi Agbogah, at the forum organised under the auspices of the BUSAC Fund also explained the fishermen had been sensitised to enable them to understand the need to protect the ecosystem. 

“We are in talks with some chief fishermen and stakeholders to form citizen vigilante groups, so that they become the eyes and ears of us over there, so that when they see any infractions, they can either call or text us. We are also working with some communities to sensitise them to the need to use sustainable fishing methods and make them realise that if they destroy the fishery resources, they are destroying their lives,” Mr Agbogah said. 

The rise of illegal fishing

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, which is becoming a predominant method of fishing in most fishing communities has contributed significantly to the declining fish stock of the country.

Aside using dangerous chemicals to catch fishes, which has health implications for consumers, some fishermen also resort to the use of small nets which results in harvesting juvenile fishes. 

The major challenge of checking these illegal practices, according to industry players, is the lack of proper enforcement of the fishery laws and the failure of regulators to check the practices.

''Syco'' is a new form of IUU fishing which has been identified in Elmina, Apam and Axim. It is a practice whereby the large foreign marine vessels invade the artisanal fisheries zone of the EEZ, deploy their heavy duty gear and catch fish of all species and sizes but mostly small juvenile fishes.

Promoting sustainable fishing

The advocacy work by the two groups is aimed at addressing illegal fishing through education and sensitisation for sustainable fisheries management to help promote sustainable fishing practices that will ultimately help revive the dwindling fortunes of the fishery sector.

According to Mr Agbogah, the NGO was working to ensure that the government formulated the right marine policies to enable it reap the desired benefits.

“The coast has become a critical area for human existence, and therefore, our vision is to help government formulate marine policies that will be important for our coastal people and the nation to reap the benefit from what we can derive from the area,” Mr Agbogah said.