Ghana receives only 5% of profits of Chinese fishermen on its waters

Ghana receives only 5% of profits of Chinese fishermen on its waters

Of about 76 trawlers operating in Ghanaian waters, only one is 100% owned by a Ghanaian. The rest belongs to Chinese people.

According to Professor Wisdom Akpalu, a natural resources economist and president of the African Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AFAERE), Ghana's laws prohibiting foreign vessels from fishing in its waters, the Chinese buy them and force Ghanaians to go there. for them.

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Speaking in an interview with Online chart after a conference on the Illegal Trade in Marine Resources of West Africa, organized on Friday 18 January by the United Nations World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), he said the 76 trawlers are all registered under Ghanaian names, they actually belong to Chinese.

"We know for a fact that Ghanaians face for Chinese. So, they go into some kind of high purchase contract. The Chinese are picking up the ships here, registering them on behalf of Ghanaians and signaling them with the Ghanaian flag, "he said.

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Professor Akpalu added that "in reality, the owners are the Chinese. Thus, in the end, the interest of these trawlers is managed by these foreigners and Chinese Ghanaians who face them receive only ridiculous sums of about 1,000 US dollars and some bycatch.

He explained that the money that Ghanaians who receive Chinese trawlers receive only accounts for about five percent of what the Chinese get.

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Professor Akpalu said: "Because those who get real profits are not Ghanaians, they do not care about the sustainability of the industry" and note that "for them (foreign interest), they simply want to get as much as possible. "

According to him, trawlers catch too many fish in relation to the sea, stating: "For each renewable resource, if the extraction rate is higher than the rate of regeneration of the resource … overtime, stocks will decrease and every boat will have less and less catches.

He added that the country's catch volume continued to decline, noting that "currently, we are importing between 58% and 59% of the fish we eat in Ghana".

According to Professor Akpalu, Ghana can only produce locally 41 to 42% of its fish needs, both from continental sources and from marine sources.

According to him, some politicians are guilty when it comes to Ghanaians fighting for Chinese trawlers.

"Behind every trawler, there are political powers. If you take a trawler doing an illegal activity or fishing illegally, he will never be sued, "he said.

He added that the people in charge of monitoring the fishing sector were unable to do so, their operations being thwarted by the politicians behind the trawlers.

Overfishing

Akpalu said Ghana has lost about $ 200 million in the past five years due to overfishing, saying the threat of overfishing in Ghana is so rampant.

He lamented the problem of overcapitalization, noting that Ghana is losing a lot of money due to depleted stocks.

The lack of political will in the fisheries sector in Ghana is the biggest challenge facing the fisheries sector and the issues facing the sector are already known.

Some of the participants in the conference in a group photo after the lectures

Professor Akpalu also warned the government against subsidizing the premixed fuel, saying that this practice contributed to the depletion of stocks.

Instead, he called for the enforcement of fisheries laws to help eliminate illegal industry practices.

Conference

The conference, organized by the United Nations University and the World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) on the theme: "Illegal Trade in Marine Resources in West Africa", was presented by Professor Rashid Sumaila, Director of Fisheries Economics and International Trade. Management, University of British Columbia.

He was supported by the UNU Institute of Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA) and the Economics Department of the University of Ghana.

Professor Sumaila's presentation examined quantitatively and qualitatively the economic and social costs of the illegal trade in marine resources in West Africa, as well as the patterns and extent of illicit trade in fish and fish products.

He also explored the economic losses and the impacts of illegal trade and the policy options to curb the practice.