By Laudia Sawer
Tema, Oct. 28, GNA- The Canoe and Fisheries Gear Owners Association of Ghana (CaFGOAG) has advocated the establishment of Safety and Fisheries Sector Coordination Division at the Fisheries Commission to coordinate safety issues among small-scale fishers.
CaFGOAG noted that safety at sea continues to be a worrying issue in the artisanal fisheries sector in the face of climate change and increasing bad weather days.
Nana Kweigyah, the National President of CaFGOAG, speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) ahead of a webinar on ‘Straightening Legal and Regulatory Framework to Protect Human Rights in Small Scale Fisheries’ stressed that lives and property of small-scale fishers were at much higher risks, needing attention from the state.
He said the association had taken the initiative of sensitising small-scale fishers and sharing weather and ocean state information with them to promote safety at sea through collaboration with the Ghana Meteorological Agency and the Regional Marine Centre of the University of Ghana.
He, however, stated that these initiatives required support from the state to sustain and improve their implementations.
“It is important that the draft Fisheries and Aquaculture Bill captures safety in the fisheries sector as part of functions of the Fisheries Commission. However, the law should demonstrate further commitment to this all-important function of the Commission,” he noted.
CaFGOAG therefore proposed that the creation of a Safety and Fisheries Sector Coordination Division would be responsible for issues of safety at sea and coordination of non-state actors in the fisheries sector, including fisher organisations.
The association further indicated that it was also important for the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development and the Fisheries Commission to promote the establishment of small-scale fisheries organisations that would act as collaborative bodies with the Fisheries Commission in the promotion and management of artisanal fisheries and defending their interests and conserving fishery resources.
These organisations, they noted, might take the legal form of cooperatives, associations, or other legally recognised forms under the law.
GNA