Universities, Research Institutions Push to Come Out With Policies That Ensure Growth in the Fishing Industry

The Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Ms Elizabeth Naa Afoley Quaye, has urged the Universities and Research Organizations such as the Centre for Coastal Management to come out with policies to promote and ensure growth in the fishing Industry.

Ms Quaye made the call at the opening of a Fisheries and Coastal Management Capacity Building Support Project workshop at Prampram, last week.

She noted that the fishing industry had been massively over capitalised and bedeviled with unsustainable fishing methods, pollution of coastal ecosystems, leading to the continuous decline in fish stock, child trafficking from the Landing Beaches and the general degradation of coastal environments among others.

210,000 persons and an additional of 2.2 million people in Ghana are along the Fish value Chain in fishing and fisheries practices.

The fisheries sector, therefore, offers one of the biggest economic opportunities for the people of Ghana, raking in an estimated of US$1 billion in revenue each year, constituting nearly 4.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

However, in spite of the impressive statics of the performance of the industry, Ghana still import's an estimated 50% of its annual fish requirement for domestic usage.

The workshop, which brought together fisheries and coastal management experts, was organized by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in collaboration with the University of Cape Coast (UCC), therefore, aimed to develop a work plan on issues relating to the development and welfare of the fisheries practitioners and their surroundings in Ghana.

Source: ISD (Karimatu Anas)

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