Fishermen at Kpong and its environs in the Lower manya krobo municipality of the Eastern region have expressed worry about weeds that has taken over the waters of the Volta lake making it difficult to catch fish. According to them, several appeals to the municipal assembly has proved futile and are calling on the ministry for fisheries to intervene on their behalf. The aggrieved fishermen were not happy with earlier promises made by the assembly which has yielded no results.
“We find it difficult to get more catch due to the weeds in the water and that is affecting our income” they added.
Kwasi Azor who has been in the fishing business for the past twenty years stated that the situation has been worse for the past four years compelling fishermen to go long distance before they can get some catch. He said that has reduced his daily sales more than fifty percent.” Because of the weeds, the fishes go and hide under them since our canoes cannot go there” he emphasised.
Fishmongers and traders in the area are also affected due to the low catch thereby forcing them to other surrounding towns to buy fish which in return increases their budget cost. They are however appealing to government to help remove the weeds from the waters before it gets out of hand.They stated their business is at the verge of collapse and that according to them will adversely affect their living standards since they are the bread winners of their families.
Meanwhile checks at the municipal assembly shows that not much is done to tackle the issues raised by the fishermen.
Source: GhanaWeb
