Fisher folks at Elmina in the Central region have expressed their disappointment at the Ministry of Fisheries for seizing their fishing nets. A combined team of Navy and the Police officers stormed the area seizing all unauthorized nets used by the fishermen on Ghana’s territorial waters.
The Ministry has in recent months urged the fishermen to adopt healthy fishing practices to protect aquatic life especially the fingerlings who tend to be destroyed by the fishermen through the use of unauthorized fishing methods including the use of plastic nets.
But the fishermen are angry over the seizure of their fishing tools. They describe the approach of the fisheries ministry as a “rambo-style” as the task force stormed the area, packed all nets into a car and drove off without listening to them.
According to the fishermen, those plastic nets are what they readily get on the market and therefore the focus of the ministry should be on those merchants who import such nets.
The fishermen added that the ministry has also reneged on an earlier promise to supply them with free nets.
The fishermen also urged the ministry to focus on stopping pair trawlers from fishing on the country’s waters as it those vessels that are destroying the waters and not their nets.
Source: GhanaWeb
