Last week, a stakeholder policy engagement on fisheries governance implications of foreign-owned industrial vessels operating in the domain of Ghana has been held to promote transparency, accountability and local capacity.
The discussions, learning, exchange of ideas and recommendations of the engagement are part of a project, titled “Promoting Transparency, Accountability and Local Capacity to Address the Destabilizing Impacts of Foreign-Owned Distant Water Fishing Vessels in the Gulf of Guinea and the Waters of Mauritania.”
The focus countries for the project are Benin, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mauritania, Senegal and Sierra Leone and with funding from the Department of State, U.S. Embassy Ghana.
Dr Kamal-Deen Ali of the Centre for Maritime Law and Security (CEMLAWS) Africa, who is also one of the Project Leads, said the engagement focused on draft reports on Ghana’s Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) Capability & Functionality, and Industrial Fishing Sector Repositioning for Greater National/Regional Ownership.
The draft reports, which were done by CEMLAWS Africa, Centre for Coastal Management (CCM) and Africa Centre of Excellence in Coastal Resilience (ACECoR) and in collaboration with experts and industry stakeholders, also sought to shape policy directions to enhance the government’s efforts in sustainable fisheries management and governance.
It is reported that over 90 per cent of registered fishing vessels in African countries are foreign-owned or have foreign beneficial interests and fly the flags of countries between Gabon and Morocco, with about 60 per cent of them registered in Ghana, Mauritania and Senegal.
Dr Ali said the distant water fishing vessels (DWFVs), though may have legal authorization to fish in the region, they benefit significantly from destabilizing activities, including exploitation in coastal countries with limited institutional and human capacity.
“The destabilizing impacts of these foreign-owned vessels in the Gulf of Guinea, include depleting fish stocks, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in some cases and dislocation of the livelihoods of artisanal fishers and others in the value chain,” he said.
Dr Ali said on the average, West Africa alone loses about 790,000 tons of fish yearly to IUU fishing by foreign and domestic industrial fishing vessels. This has resulted in great income losses and economic impacts estimating over $2 billion annually.
“Aside employment and growth, food security is important. Though a lot has been done in fisheries governance, a lot more is still required. It is clear per our discussion that increased Budgetary allocation for fisheries monitoring and enforcement is needed,” he said.
Madam Justine King, Regional Environment Officer, Embassy of the United States, Ghana, said the partnership between Ghana and USA in the project was to promote local capacity.
“We must encourage communities to actively monitor and report illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, create awareness of the harmful impacts. We must also continue to develop robust legal framework to strengthen monitoring, control and surveillance,” she said.
Economy Times editorial team sees this as an opportunity for Ghana to exert governance control over crowding of foreign vessels in Ghana waters why taking advantage to monitor activities of the vessels to forestall illicit financial flows in the country
