15 Vessels impounded for engaging in illegal fishing
Fifteen inshore vessels used by fishermen to allegedly engage in illegal fishing have been impounded in Tema.
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The vessels were impounded last Sunday 14 nautical miles south of Ada during surveillance by the Ghana Navy.
The Spokesperson of the Eastern Naval Command, Lieutenant Maxwell Asola, told journalists at a press briefing in Tema that the Ghana Navy ship, the GNS CHEMLE, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Victor Oppong Fianko, impounded the vessels, while the ship was on patrol duties between 9:30 p.m. last Saturday and 3 a.m. last Sunday.
After a search had been conducted, the Navy seized 31 generators and accessories, including 32 lights fixed to the vessels for light fishing on the sea.
The fishermen, who contravened the fisheries laws and regulations, have been handed over to the Marine Police and the Fisheries Enforcement Unit (FEU) of the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development.
Fisheries regulations
The country’s fisheries regulations frown on the “aggregation of fish by light attraction”.
The Fisheries Commission has undertaken a number of sensitisation programmes in the coastal areas of the Volta, Central, Western and Greater Accra regions to educate fishermen on the regulations, light fishing and its negative effects on the fish stock of the country and the need to stop the practice.
The commission, in collaboration with the Bureau of Ghana Languages, has also translated the contents of the Fisheries Regulations into Dangme, Ga, Fante, Ewe and Nzema for easy appreciation and compliance by fishermen.
