According to a Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Nii Amassah Namoale, his Ministry has not granted permit to any fishing trawler to engage in pair trawling. He told that trawlers operating on the high seas are single trawlers whose activities are not to exceed 30 meters deep and appealed to fishermen to report trawlers engaging in unorthodox fishing.
After announcing this Nii Namoale handed over electrical items worth GH¢14,648 to the Chief Fisherman of Moree, Nana Kweegya VII, for the extension of electricity to the Moree beach. He assured the fishermen that the use of flash light in fishing would be a thing of the past by July this year because a law would soon be passed by parliament to ban its usage.
According to him the ministry had imported 1,000 outboard motors for fishermen and that the initial price of 5,300 Ghana cedis had been reduced to 4,900 Ghana cedis, yet fishermen were of the view that it was still expensive. The Minister said the Ministry was negotiating with its bankers to further beat down the price. Nana Kweegya said if these activities were not checked by the Ministry, it would in the near future result in the depletion of fish stock.
Nana Kweegya appealed the Ministry to institute immediate measures to curtail the use of flash lights and also halt pair trawling. He said the Moree beach was unsafe at night due to absence of electricity and that when fishermen land at night their catch is stolen.
