One of the damaged canoes
Over 100 fishing vessels and canoes belonging to fishermen at the Bosomtwi-Sam Fishing Harbour in Sekondi, Western Region, were crushed into pieces following yesterday morning’s torrential rainfall in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis.
The rain, which began at about 5:00 am and was preceded by windstorm, also destroyed the fishermen’s nets and other fishing gears worth thousands of Ghana cedis.
According to the fishermen, most of who were devastated by the incident, even though they had been experiencing rainstorms sometimes at sea, what occurred yesterday was unprecedented.
When DAILY GUIDE visited the Fishing Harbour yesterday, it was revealed that most of the vessels that were destroyed were newly purchased ones.
In separate interviews, the fisher folks could not believe that the violent wind could cause such a great havoc.
They attributed the incident partly to the fact that the harbour is shallow and suggested that the authorities should consider making it similar to the one in Tema.
The chief fisherman at Essikado, Nana Kweku Oye-Adom, told DAILY GUIDE that yesterday’s incident could have an adverse effect on fishing activities at the harbor, which could result in scarcity of fish in the area.
According to the chief fisherman, the situation could have been very disastrous if the rainstorm had occurred in the night.
“We will meet as fishermen to discuss how such havoc could be prevented in future and later meet with the authorities to deliberate on the issue,” he indicated.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Sekondi