The country’s fishing sector is reportedly missing between $14.4 and 23.7 million in revenue every year by issuing fishing licence fees and fines for trawlers that are far too low to fulfil their purpose, a new report by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) has revealed.
The report, ‘At What Cost? How Ghana is losing out in Fishing Arrangement with Ghana’s Distant Water Fleet,’ indicates that the country is grossly undervaluing its fisheries in dealings with Chinese fishing companies through intermediaries.
“Ghana’s licensing fees are substantially lower than other coastal states in the region, and comparisons suggest Ghana could generate an additional US$ 2.4-6.7 million every year by increasing its fees for foreign trawlers to similar levels to its neighbours.
Even with the 2020 increase in fees from US$ 35 to US$ 135 per gross register tonne per year, the annual licence fee for an average 200 GRT trawler was around US$ 30,000, compared to around US$ 119,000 per annum for a foreign trawler of this size operating in Guinea,” it stated.
Fines given out for illegal fishing and other infringements are also much too low, the report found.
“They regularly fail to meet the minimum sums laid out in Ghana’s own legislation and do not meet Ghana’s responsibilities under international law. Not only has this resulted in unrealised revenue of around US$12 million in 2015 and US$17 million in 2018, it is failing to deter such offences,” the report says.
The report revealed that by implementing the same fees as Guinea, Ghana could reduce trawler numbers from 75 to 10 vessels yet double the revenue generated through licensing fees in 2018, as well as increasing state revenue to help address the worrying over-capacity in the fleet, providing massive benefits to the country’s struggling small-scale fishery, which supports jobs and food security for millions of Ghanaians.
EJF’s Executive Director, Steve Trent, said there is a grave risk that Ghana’s fisheries will soon collapse, impacting the livelihoods of over 2.7 million Ghanaians.
“Safeguarding the country’s fisheries requires urgent intervention at high levels of government to introduce reforms that improve transparency, so it is clear who is benefiting from fishing access, what and how much they are fishing, how much they are paying and what these funds are used for.
This failure to set reasonable fines and fees not only results in a considerable loss of revenue but presents a critical threat to the sustainability of the fishery and in doing so endangers national food security and countless livelihoods,” he said.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri