SAVE OUR FISHING INDUSTRY NOW (JAN 27)

Our fishing industry has faced a lot of challenges for some time now, especially since last year when the phenomenon of pair trawling came to a head. Since then, fishermen have lost no opportunity to drum home the frustrations visited on them by foreign companies engaged in pair trawling.
Last year, the government initiated some moves, including the acquisition of two speed boats for the Ghana Navy to police our territorial waters. Some arrests were made but it appears that the level of sophistication of the companies engaged in pair trawling has overwhelmed our security agencies.
A news report carried on the back page of our paper today has revealed the new tricks adopted by the companies engaged in pair trawling to outwit “Operation Stock Control”, the initiative introduced by the Ghana Navy to save the fishing industry.
The report said while the illegal practice of pair trawling was still being carried out, the bigger vessels had adopted a more dangerous method of using more powerful lights and guns to scare away canoe fishermen and sweep everything, including fingerlings, from the sea.
These activities of the pair trawlers have rendered our fishermen — from Axim to Keta — virtually unemployed.
The fishing industry has a critical role to play in the country’s development process, the most crucial being meeting the protein needs of the people.
The lack of sufficient protein in the diet of most Ghanaians has contributed to stunted growth in some of them. It is, therefore, one big industry that must engage the attention of the government if we are to succeed in the fight against poverty and diseases.
The silver lining in the cloud, however, is the assurance given by President J.E.A. Mills, while he was on the campaign trail, to save the fishing industry from collapse.
The collapse of this one time very vibrant industry will spell doom for the local economies of our communities along the coast. Besides the fishermen who maintain their keep through fishing, fishing activities provide livelihood for fishmongers, the community as a whole and the means for the education of their children and wards.
It is unfortunate that the problem of pair trawling and our inaction to deal with it so far have compelled our own fishermen to adopt unorthodox measures to ply their trade. Any wrongdoing, no matter who is involved, must be condemned, but in the present circumstance the Daily Graphic finds it difficult to condemn these local fishermen for finding a way around the destructive activities of the pair trawlers.
The solution, therefore, lies in a decisive action by the government to break the back of pair trawlers in the country.
The Daily Graphic notes that the task ahead is Herculean, looking at the strength of the companies involved in pair trawling, but if we appreciate the ultimate harm that will be done to the economy if pair trawling is not tamed, we shall marshal all the resources to bring it under control.
We call on the government to take steps to deal with the problem in order to restore the fishing industry to its former glory.
We also urge the fishermen to co-operate with the authorities to expose foreign companies engaged in pair trawling and their local collaborators so that adequate space will be created for our fishermen to carry out their business.