Participants of the stakeholder meeting with Tullow officials
Tullow Ghana Limited (TGL), operator of the Jubilee and TEN fields, has started the first phase of community engagements with stakeholders in its area of influence to foster greater cooperation with stakeholders.
This is in line with the company and its partners’ commitment to maintaining a secured environment within its operational areas.
The company is undertaking a four-week engagement exercise with members of fishing communities in the Ahanta West Municipality, and Shama District in the Western region to provide sensitisation on the upcoming offshore installation works to be conducted as part of the Jubilee South-East expansion project.
The meetings are ongoing at selected locations in the Region and are scheduled to end on 7th April 2023.
The engagement will also bring together the Ghana National Canoe Owners and Fishermen, fishmongers, representatives from the security services(Ghana Navy, Marine Police, Fisheries Commission), representatives from the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs), and the traditional authorities, to discuss the company’s safety measures, regulations and policies regarding the mitigation of risks and management of potential impacts; especially those that could emanate offshore during the subsea installation works that are due to commence in the Jubilee South-east field.
The highlights of discussions include offshore security measures, JSE development, voluntary principles and human rights, the significance of Navy-fisherman communication, safe sea access, issues on incursion rates (operational updates), the application of maritime laws to recalcitrant fishermen by the Ghana Marine Police, grievance redress mechanism, socioeconomic Investment, and impact mitigation initiatives.
Stakeholders, particularly fisherfolks who have participated so far, have reaffirmed their commitment to reducing incursions and emphasising the need to safeguard offshore assets.
Generally, the communities engaged so far, agreed to support the regulatory bodies – particularly the Fisheries Enforcement Unit byreporting recalcitrant persons involved in Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and those that are found culpable of incurring on the Exclusive Zone (EZ) of the company’s operations.
As a member of the community, TGL’s projects and programmes have yielded positivesuccess stories.Flagship interventions such as Fisherman’s Anchor, Scholar’s Aid, Free SHS project, Educate to Innovate with STEM, kindergartens, and the livelihood projects, have been lauded by the stakeholders as being immensely helpful to them, hence an encouragement to Tullow and its partners to continue such projects.
A Business Desk Report