Ban On Fishing Postponed

The Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Elizabeth Afoley-Quaye, has postponed the ban on fishing initially scheduled to take effect beginning August 7, 2018.

The Minister, who announced this in Accra on Friday, 3 August 2018, said the ban has been deferred to August 2019 and that fishermen should be ready by then.

The anti-Human Trafficking NGO, Challenging Heights, had warned that the ban would cause the majority of affected fishermen to migrate to the Volta Lake as an alternative until the closed season is over, putting pressure on the Volta Lake, and increasing child trafficking prevalence in deprived communities along the coastal communities in the process.

“…Banning fishing in the coastal regions of Ghana will…present fertile grounds for fishermen to be forced to send their children to the Lake Volta for alternative fishing activities in keeping with the history of the trafficking of children to the Lake Volta.

“This opportunity for mass trafficking of children will undoubtedly erode the gains we have made in reducing the incidents of child trafficking in fishing,” cautioned the President of Challenging Heights, James Kofi Annan on July 18.

The fishermen had complained that they were also given the notice of the ban only two months prior to the initially intended closed fishing season.

The Ghana Industrial Trawlers Association (GITA), had also argued that they have already observed a closed season in January and February, 2018 and another closed season within the same year will have an adverse effect on their operations.

Meanwhile, some fishermen along the coast have welcomed the decision.