GMA announces measures to safeguard operations of vessels
The Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) has announced that henceforth it will require all foreigners serving on board Ghanaian fishing vessels to be issued with flag endorsement certificates.
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The move is aimed at ensuring the safe operation of fishing vessels in Ghanaian waters.
A flag endorsement certificate is a document issued by a flag state to recognise the validity of a certificate of competency (COC) issued by another flag state and is also required for seafarers to serve on board ships flying the flag of the issuing state.
Flag endorsement certificates are issued in accordance with the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch-keeping for Seafarers (STCW Convention).
The STCW Convention is an international treaty that sets the minimum standards for training, certification and watch-keeping for seafarers.
At a public sensitisation programme for fishing vessel owners on the living and working conditions of fishers at the Tema Fishing Harbour last Wednesday, the Director in charge of Maritime Services at the GMA, Nana Kwabena Boakye-Boampong, said the issuance of the endorsements was based on the execution of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) between Ghana and the respective administrations of the foreign nationals working aboard Ghanaian vessels.
The MoUs, he said, were to facilitate the mutual recognition of certificates and qualifications, ensuring that foreigners serving on Ghanaian-flagged vessels met the required international standards.
Conditions
Mr Boakye-Boampong also emphasised the importance of ensuring appropriate living and working conditions on board Ghanaian fishing vessels.
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He noted that was not merely an ethical or humanitarian concern, but a necessity with far-reaching implications for the country.
He stressed that fishing vessel owners should ensure that fishers contracted to work on their vessels had signed contracts that spelt out wage scale, social security and other benefits.
The National Programme Coordinator of the ILO 8.7 Accelerator Lab Programme, Emmanuel Kwame Mensah, said nearly 128,000 fishers were trapped in forced labour across the world, and it would be important to promote the decent work agenda aimed to eliminate child labour and modern-day slavery among others.
A representative of the Chief Labour Officer, Isaac Malma-Kamita, also said fishing vessel owners needed to embrace their responsibility regarding decent work for the fishers they engaged to work on their vessels.
He appealed to the Maritime Authority to collaborate with the labour department in promoting social justice for fishers.
The representatives of GITA and the Tuna Association, Kate Ansah and John Davidson, for their part, said whereas the safety reforms introduced by the GMA brought enormous pressure on their resources and operations, embracing them had also ensured that operators had more safe and seaworthy vessels.