By Elizabeth Larkwor Baah
Tema, April 07, GNA – Nana Jojo Solomon, the President of the National Fisheries Association of Ghana (NAFAG), has commended the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) for initiating a stakeholder engagement aimed at addressing key challenges within the fisheries and maritime sector.
Nana Solomon, who doubles as the President of the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Association, described the engagement as historic and praised the GMA for recognising the importance of dialogue with stakeholders, adding that such platforms were necessary to promote collaboration and build a united front in tackling issues affecting the industry.
He made this known when Dr. Kamal-Deen Ali, Director-General of the GMA, engaged the fisheries stakeholders across the country at the NAFAG Hall in Tema Newtown.
He noted that the fisheries sector had faced various challenges, including illegal fishing practices, incursion of the oil and gas zones, and piracy, among others, and effective cooperation among regulatory bodies and industry players was critical to safeguarding Ghana’s marine resources.
He emphasised the incursion of the oil and gas protected zone was becoming one of the biggest threats to Ghana’s fishing industry and appealed for more education and sensitisation for the fisherfolks not to trespass into those areas.
He said there were about 14,000 canoes and, on average, 200,000 fishers across the marine space who could help provide timely information for the security services to deal with the challenges in the sector when given the necessary education, assuring the GMA of their full support in all initiatives aimed at restoring order and sustainability in Ghana’s marine environment.
“The presence of the GMA boss here is very timely considering the piracy attack and drug peddling, incursions by canoes at the safety. I believe that this is the time the GMA must engage industry; industry can also provide timely intelligence to the security agencies to help this menace,” he stated.
Nana Solomon highlighted the issue of piracy and insecurity at sea, noting it continues to put the lives of fishers at risk, and stressed the need to raise the consciousness of the fishing communities to help deal with the challenge.
Dr. Ali, the Director-General of GMA, said the meeting was part of a broader plan to engage key players across the maritime industry to develop policies that reflect the real needs and challenges of those working in the sector, explaining that the Authority was committed to strengthening stakeholder relations and improving governance in Ghana’s maritime space.
He noted that GMA would continue to hold similar engagements to raise awareness of all the necessary people from the sector to ensure that every stakeholder plays their role in sustaining marine space.
GNA
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