Fishers at the seashore
Items worth GH¢90,000 belonging to a fisherman in Axim, the Western Region, were destroyed when his fishing boat capsized on the high seas.
The unfortunate incident happened just a day after the fisheries ministry announced the end of the closed season.
The items destroyed included a Global Positioning System (GPS), a compass, 25 power horse Yamaha outboard motor, 18 fishing nets, 8 gallons of petrol and mobile phones among others.
The owner of the boat, Kwesi Mensah indicated that strong tidal waves turned the boat upside down and subsequently damaged it.
He said two other fishermen were also onboard when the incident occurred adding that, “the boat was a new one but it was capsized on the sea after a heavy sea wave hit it”.
He attributed the incident partly to the ongoing sea defense project in the area.
Meanwhile, artisanal fishers in the area have resumed their fishing expeditions on the sea following the lifting of the ban on fishing on Tuesday.
The official opening of the fishing season was done on Tuesday after 31 days of observing the closure of the fishing season.
The closed season was part of strategies agreed with stakeholders to reduce excessive fishing and over-exploitation of the fish stock.
Speaking with DAILY GUIDE, Francis Kwofie Jnr., Secretary to the Canoe Owners in Axim, urged the fishing community to resolve to stop all forms of illegal fishing practices.
He named some of the illegal fishing methods as saiko, light fishing, the use of dynamite and harmful chemicals such as dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) and the use of monofilament and small-size nets to fish.
“I must state that we cannot achieve our goal of recovering the fish stock through the closed season if we go back to our old ways,” he stated.
He was hopeful that sustained implementation of the closed season will enable the sector to achieve the desired long-term objective of stock recovery.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Axim