Mofad Signs MOU With FAO to Initiate the 2nd Phase of Eaf-Nansen Programme

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MOFAD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Accra.

The MoU will allow fisheries surveys to be conducted in Ghana's marine waters by the EAF-Nansen Research Vessels.

The EAF-Nansen Project aims, among other things, to contribute to the improvement of fisheries and fisheries management through the ecosystem approach to fisheries as well as provide food and nutrition security for the people.

The survey will be conducted in July/September 2017 with scientists, including Ghanaian scientists, on board to map out the distribution and abundance of the main pelagic species as well as collect data on surface plastic debris and pollutants while studying the effect of climate changes on fish populations.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Fisheries Minister, Mrs Elizabeth Afoley Quaye, who signed on behalf of the Government of Ghana, said the Nansen project had, over the years, offered an opportunity to coastal countries, like Ghana, to receive technical support from FAO for the development of national frameworks for the development and implementation of national plans for the sustainability of fisheries within the sub-region.

"We have been privileged to have the vessel conduct resource and environmental surveys in our waters and significant results of these surveys have been incorporated in the enactment of our National Fisheries Management Plan," Mrs Quaye added.

She expressed the hope that the 2nd phase of the project code-named GCP/GLO/690/NOR and titled, "Supporting the Application of the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management Considering Climate and Pollution Impacts", would build on experiences from previous phases to address issues such as global climatic variability and fluctuations in tropic interactions, coastal tides and erosion which threatened livelihoods of fishing and human pollutions.

In his remarks, FAO Deputy Regional Representative for Africa, Mr Abebe Haile Gabriel, said the EAF-Nansen Programme would help address the weaknesses in fisheries management in partner countries and identify interventions that would create the opportunity for long-term sustainable and transformational change.

Mr Gabriel said the presence of the R/V Dr. Fridtjof Nansen in the waters of beneficiary countries had resulted in greater understanding of the need to manage marine resources sustainably.

He noted that although much progress had been made on the African Continent in restoring fisheries and aquaculture as national and regional development priorities, challenges like weak human capacities and systems for information collection, and analysis remained key constraints to a positive transformation of the fisheries sector.

Developing the human capacity for marine and fisheries research and management, he said, was, therefore, very relevant to the sustenance of the fishery industry.

Mr Gabriel noted that the general misconception that the oceans were so vast that human contribution to pollution was negligible should be reversed through the deliberate education of all stakeholders and the general public.

He warned that if the continuous pollution of the oceans was not checked, all the accumulated polluting materials and chemicals might jeopardize the food web and collapse the establishment of the mainstay of fisheries and the future aquaculture.

Source: ISD (Eva Frempon-Ntiamaoh)

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