The reopening, which was under the auspices of the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will pave the way for artisanal and inshore fishers to undertake their fishing expedition again after a four-week stoppage.

Performing the ceremony, the Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Moses Anim, said although the closure disrupted economic activities in coastal fishing communities and the livelihoods of the inhabitants, the move was a necessary sacrifice to sustain the fishing sector for the future generation.

He said it was gratifying to note that monitoring activities by the Fisheries Commission and other stakeholders revealed higher fisher compliance with the closed season directives across the 187 fishing villages and 278 landing beaches in the country.   

“This is a demonstration of our collective acceptance of the closed season as an important marine fisheries management strategy for sustaining the sector,” the deputy sector minister intimated.

Closed season

This season’s closed period of fishing began on July 1 to July 31 for artisanal fishers, while industrial trawlers would be off from July 1 to August 31.

The closed season is part of measures to ensure recovery and rebuilding of the critically low fishery stocks in accordance with Section 84 of the Fisheries Act, 2000 (Act 625).

Enhancing benefits

Mr Anim pointed out that the closed season was a fish stock recovery strategy, saying its objective would only be achieved when illegal fishing activities such as the use of unauthorised fishing nets, poisonous chemicals, dynamites and other explosives were effectively checked.

He, therefore, entreated fishers to desist from all forms of illegal fishing methods to reap the gains of the closed season.

He announced that the ministry, with support from the Ghana Fisheries Recovery Activity, was piloting an electronic monitoring system in trawl vessels to track the operations of the vessels at sea as part of efforts to combat illicit fishing activities.

The USAID Mission Director, Kimberly Rosen, gave an assurance that the US Government was committed to increasing food security in Ghana, and that included the availability of healthy and nutritious fish through the ‘Feed the Future Initiative.’

She said marine fish, especially small pelagic species, were an important food source for Ghana’s population and an important source of livelihood for people living along the coast.

The Makorsor of the Some Traditional Area, Torgbui Adamah III, who presided, said the choice of Adina as the venue to mark the end of the closed season testified to the town’s importance so far as fishing was concerned.