Fisheries Ministry, Stakeholders Meet Over Closed Season

Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Elizabeth Afoley Quaye, recently engaged stakeholders in her sector over the upcoming closed season.

The closed season is a time of the year when fishing is prohibited to allow fish to mature and multiply.

Last year, some fishermen disagreed with the closure of the season, arguing that they would be unable to economically fend for themselves and their families.

This year, however, a successful closed season is expected to be in section.

The minister stated that the 2020 closed season was likely to be observed from July to August this year instead of the May-June period observed last year.

She called on stakeholders like the Ghana Tuna Association (GTA) and Ghana Industrial Trawlers Association (GITA) to help make this year’s period a success.

Ms Quaye urged the Fisheries Commission and the Fishery Scientific Survey Division (FSSD) to make the provision of scientific information gathered available to industry players in order to encourage them to embrace the closed season.

Ms Afoley assured that her outfit was ready to work with the scientific community to ensure that the right things were done to secure the fisheries sector and added that the illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) activities could not be stopped fully but could be reduced.