Fisher-folk in the Volta Region are calling on the new government to redeem its campaign promise of protecting the shores and enhancing their livelihood.
Despite the huge export potentials and high local demands, the fishing industry in Ghana has over the years suffered stock depletion as a result of poor fishing methods and in some cases sea erosion, which destroys beaches and fishing equipment.
Fishermen and fishmongers across the country have lamented the situation which they say threatens their livelihoods.
[contextly_sidebar id=”jGEgVByuPZLNRXcYgOu9Q9sPrILTgyk1″]In the roundup to the just ended elections, the main political parties promised to revive the dwindling fishing industry.
With the New Patriotic Party (NPP) assuming office, fishermen in the Volta Region are calling on the President to fulfill his party’s campaign promises for the fisheries sector.
“The new government should come and build a landing site for us so that every boat after returning from the sea, would just come and dock at the landing site. Because these tidal waves and those things are just destroying the boat. People have even started stealing our outboard motors from the canoes again because we have no landing site” Ignatius Kudzo stated.
In an interview with Citi News at their general meeting in Adina, near Denu, the Deputy Regional Secretary of the Fishermen Association in the Volta Region, Thomas Ignatius Kudzo, called on the President to also help fight pair trawling and light fishing.
“They should get us Marine Police or Ghana Navy to come around and deal with patrolling on the sea so that the law can deal with anyone engaged in the act. They should not see this as political and let the law deal with the perpetrators” he added.
The fisher-folk also congratulated President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on his assumption of office, as the 5th President of the fourth Republic.
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By: King Norbert Akpablie/citifmonline.com/Ghana