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Company News of Thursday, June 13, 2019
Source: Graphic.com.gh
2019-06-13
Only 40% of the 167,000 tonnes of fish caught by trawlers in 2017 have been landed legally
A study by Hen Mpoano and the Environmental Justice Foundation, two nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) on fisheries resources, revealed that Ghana loses between $ 52.7 and $ 81.1 million a year through illegal fish trans-shipment, commonly called "Saiko".
The study, entitled "Stolen at sea: How illegal fishing in Saiko fuels the collapse of Ghana's fisheries," also said that the impact of the industrial trawler fleet on marine fisheries resources Ghana had been seriously underestimated.
For example, he said that only 40% of the 167,000 tonnes of fish caught by trawlers in 2017 had been landed legally and reported to the Fisheries Commission.
According to the study, about 100 000 tonnes of fish were landed by Saiko in 2017, but the trawlers reported to the Fisheries Commission official statistics at 67 205 tonnes the same year, despite the presence of fish. Observers on several ships.
The study also stated that the majority of the trawlers engaged in Saiko's trade belonged to Chinese.
At the launch of the study in Accra last Monday, Hen Mpoano's executive director, Mr. Kofi Agbogah, said that although Saiko was banned by Ghana's fisheries laws and that he was facing a fine of $ 100,000 to $ 2 million due to lack of adherence to fisheries laws.
According to him, the Saiko trade had a significant impact on small pelagic stocks and "is probably a key factor contributing to the collapse" of the country's artisbad fishing industry.
For example, the director said, a recent badysis of Saiko's landings by the University of Cape Coast revealed that small pelagics made up about 55% of the fish in Saiko slabs.
Mr. Agbogah further explained that this study was the first comprehensive attempt to estimate the volume and value of fish landed by Saiko to better understand the ecological and socio-economic implications of the practice.
The results
At a round table, a natural resources economist from the United Nations University (UNU), Professor Wisdom Akpalu, said the fishing industry employed about 10% of the population of the country and that its collapse would therefore have disastrous consequences for the economy. from the country.
He added that, as the majority of trawler vessels engaged in Saiko's trade belonged to foreigners, especially to Chinese, the money generated by this trade did not remain in the country.
The chairman of the fisheries commission's governing body, Emmanuel Mantey Mensah, who published the report, said the commission would send auditors to check the types of meshes used by industrial fishing vessels.
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