Fisheries Ministry revokes licenses of 14 fishing vessels for violating fishing regulations

The Fisheries Ministry has revoked the licences of 14 vessels operating in Ghanaian waters.

According to the Ministry, the 14 vessels violated the country’s fishing regulations.

This was disclosed by Deputy Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister, Moses Anim.

“We are saying that they should have taken authorisation before leaving so the Fisheries Commission is engaging, and we are saying they should put up their transcoding so that we can know where they are so long as they are in Ghana’s waters so that we know their activities. Also, we have to label them as IEU vessels and use their IMO number which they cannot change as we label them as IEU vessels.”

According to the Environmental Justice Foundation, illegal, unregulated, and underreported fishing activities cost Ghana approximately $100 million per year.

Per the findings of the foundation, some of the bad fishing practices crippling the fishing industry are the use of unapproved fishing gear, light fishing, dumping fish into the sea, fishing with explosives such as dynamite, and transhipment at sea, popularly known as “Saiko.”