Micro-credit support for fishermen

Fishermen are to benefit from a micro-credit system that will assist them purchase fishing gear for their operations.

The move is part of interventions being put in place by the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MoFED) to sustain the operations of fishermen in the country.

The sector minister, Ms Sherry Ayittey, announced this when she met the Greater Accra Regional Associations of Canoe Fishermen in Accra.

The meeting discussed major challenges hindering the operations of the fisheries sector and possible solutions.

Ms Ayittey said the ministry had completed a draft programme that should be studied by all stakeholders, including Parliament before the commencement of the initiative.

Other interventions

Ms Ayittey also said as part of efforts to enhance the operations of fishermen, a cold storage facility to address post-harvest fish losses had been completed at Prampram in the Greater Accra Region.

“We also have other interventions, including the establishment of two landing sites at James Town and Teshie,” she said.

Ms Ayittey, therefore, called on the fishermen to assist the ministry in developing other innovative programmes to support their operations.

Concerns

Speaking on behalf of the fishermen, the General Secretary of Tema New Town Canoe Association, Mr Adjetey Tawiah, said the purpose of the meeting was also to distance themselves from calls on the minister to resign.

“We want to tell her that we were not part of those fishermen who besieged the ministry in protest against the dissolution of the premix committee and demanded her resignation,” he explained.

Earlier this year, some fishermen, numbering about 100 from the country’s coastal areas, besieged the ministry to protest the dissolution of the premix committee.

According to the fishermen, the minister, Sherry Ayittey, had been making unilateral decisions and therefore she must resign.