Weak regulation, bane of fisheries sector

Fishing, aside being a major source of livelihood for most people, contributes significantly to the social, cultural and economic development of the country.

The sector, which is estimated as providing direct employment to over four million people in Ghana, and contributing its quota to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country, is currently saddled with challenges, which has far-reaching implications for food security in Ghana.

These challenges, ranging from overcapacity, over-fishing and widespread Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing has contributed significantly to the declining fish stock of the country. 

From over 800,000 metric tonnes of fish produced annually in 2016, production has slumped to 46,250 metric tonnes by 2015.

Industry players, however, blame the declining fortunes of the sector on weak governance, which is the result of weak monitoring and enforcement of fisheries laws, as well as lack of the development and implementation of a compliance strategy by responsible agencies.

The absence of an enforcement and compliance strategy, therefore, has created room for rampant illegal and unsustainable fishing practices including the use of chemicals, light, dynamites and small-mesh-sized nets, which according to them, is contributing to a gradual collapse of the fisheries sector.

The Programmes Coordinator of the Takoradi-based Friends of The Nation (FoN), a socio-environmental advocacy group, Mr Kwadwo Kyei Yamoah, in an interview said regulation of activities in the sector had not been satisfactory.

“Enforcement of regulations increased in the sector a bit last year, but it suddenly went down. From January till date, no arrests have been made, probably because it is an election year so things have slowed down,” he said.

The Director of Hen Mpoano, a non-governmental organisation committed to promoting sustainable fishing in coastal communities, Mr Kofi Agbogah, also reiterated the need for the government to strengthen and enforce regulations in the sector, considering the effects that weak regulation has on the fortunes of the sector.

“Fishing is an open-access activity, and because everyone is racing to catch the fishes, they employ all sorts of methods because it is a free-for-all thing. We need to put in structures to ensure that we get our fishes back into the sea,” he said.

Fisheries regulation

Activities in the fishery sector in Ghana is regulated by the Fisheries Laws (Act 625 & L.I. 1968) and the body mandated to manage the exploitation of the fisheries resource is the Fisheries Commission.

The Director in charge of the Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Division at the Fisheries Commission, Mr Godfrey Baidoo Tsibu, explained that the commission’s mandate was to formulate policies and ensure their enforcement.

“Ours is about formulating policies, ensuring that there are laws governing water bodies, ensure stakeholders are informed of the policies to help guide their investments to become profitable in the long term,” he said.

The law describes the prohibitions in fishing-related activities. For example, the use of chemicals which has health implication for consumers and the use of small nets which results in harvesting juvenile fishes.

Fishing traditionally started as an open-access activity, which meant people did not require licences to join the trade. All that was required was to see the chief fishermen and after consultations, one could join the trade. The population engaged in fishing used to be very low, but now it has grown rapidly, putting more pressure on the fish stock.

Consequences

The consequence of the dwindling fishing stock is ; first, to the fisherman and his dependents and largely to the nation. 

Mr Yamoah explained that fishermen nowadays spend more time, more energy and more money, but get less and less fishes each day.

Those who are fortunate only end up getting fingerlings after investing so much time and energy into the business.

Mr Agbogah who also shared a similar sentiment said, “Poverty is rife. There are implications for food security; Ghanaians are not having the right kind of nutrition and the contribution of the sector to GDP is declining. This shows that there is a wide array of consequences that the decline in fishing is having on the nation.”

BUSAC advocacy

Friends of the Nation, with support from the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund is advocating the enhancement of governance in the fisheries sector to ensure that the relevant laws work.

“With respect to what we are doing with the BUSAC Advocacy Fund; after identifying all the issues in the fisheries sector, we believe that one of the areas is to ensure that the laws work. A lot of effort goes into the formulation of policies, hence the need to make it work,” Mr Yamoah said.