The yellow card is a formal warning that could lead to a seafood export ban to the EU.
Ghana’s failure to tackle illegal fishing has led to a second yellow card, but the Fisheries Minister is determined to break with the past to enforce Ghana’s own laws and eradicate illegal fishing, while ensuring transparency across the industry to expose illegal operators and reward those who abide by the law.
Addressing the press at Parliament House in Accra, she said: “The Ministry in collaboration with the EU has set up a dialogue committee, and what we are doing is to provide the EU team with [the] measures that we are going to take to combat illegal fishing.”
She announced that government had given approval to procure patrol boats and research vessels to help eradicate illegal activities on the seas. “Until we get a patrol boat to survey on the seas, we can’t eradicate the light fishing,” she said.
Other measures the ministry is taking to address the problem include the provision of fishing nets to fisherfolk, enforcement of land patrols, and a ban on “saiko”, a destructive form of illegal fishing.
“After the close season in September, we have not had any reports of ‘saiko’, so these are some of the things we are doing in response to the EU’s sanction of the yellow card. We are also reviewing the Fisheries Act 2002 (Act 625); it is at stakeholder consultation [and] we will go to cabinet for approval. With regard to the fisheries management act, we are working on it. We have deposited all these with the EU and the FAO. We have also submitted the marine fisheries management plan to the FAO. We are working on the issues raised by the EU, and I believe in 24 months, we should be able to tackle all these issues.”
According to the Minister, government is taking steps to ensure every landing beach has sufficient pre-mix fuel.
Ghana’s waters have been plagued by illegal fishing for decades.
In particular, “saiko” is a severely destructive form of illegal fishing, where industrial trawlers illegally target the staple catch of small-scale canoe fishers and transfer it to specially adapted boats at sea for sale at local markets.
The practice is having a severe impact on Ghana’s small pelagic fish populations, and sardinella is already on the brink of collapse, with landings having crashed by 80% over the past 20 years.
Ghana was first issued with a yellow card by the EU in 2013, and this was lifted in 2015 as a result of new legislation and a clear fisheries management plan.
However, while these policies are well constructed, they have not been implemented or enforced, allowing the situation to deteriorate and leading the European Commission to re-issue a yellow card warning.
It is the second country ever to have been re-carded in this way, and it must now urgently work to eradicate illegal fishing by vessels flying its flag and operating in its waters.
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