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The Leadership of the Canoe and Fishing Gear Owners Association of Ghana (CaFGOAG) led by the President, Nana Kweigyah, has held a maiden meeting with Hon Emelia Arthur, the newly appointed Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture.
The meeting held on Friday, 31st January 2025 was part of effort by the Minister to familiarize herself with the sector and key stakeholders.
The meeting briefly discussed the widespread illegalities in the artisanal sector and the challenges that artisanal fishers face
The Minister in her opening remarks commended CaFGOAG for it work, and expressed the Ministry’s readiness to partner with CaFGOAG to address the issues in the sector, inviting CaFGOAG to come up with initiatives for the Ministry’s support towards addressing the widespread illegalities and the challenges in the artisanal fisheries sector
In his submission, Nana Kweigyah thanked the Minister and her team, including the Chief Director at the Ministry, Marian W. A. Kpakpah (Ms) and the Executive Director of the Fisheries Commission, Prof Benjamin Betey Campion for the meeting
Nana Kweigyah called for rethinking of the relationship between the Ministry and artisanal fishers, emphasizing that canoe owners play very critical role in the artisanal sector, and wield a lot of influence that can be leveraged upon to bring about the much needed changes, if they are given active roles to play in fisheries management rather than being managed as passive actors. He appealed to the Minister to pay particular attention to social protection for artisanal fishers.
He also appealed to the Minister to pay attention to the challenges within the premix fuel subsector which in the last few years have hindered progress of the sector.Nana Kweigyah assured the Minister of the association’s support going forward.
In her response, the Minister assured of working to reintroduce pension scheme for fishers, and supporting fishers’ initiatives at addressing the widespread illegalities in the artisanal sector. She promised to ensure prudent management of the premix subsector, and strictly monitor the 53% of the premix fuel margin meant for community development to ensure that fishing communities benefit greatly from the premix fuel margin.
She mentioned that artisanal fishers will be excluded from the annual closed fishing season for now, and the Ministry has considered the establishment of closed fishing areas.
Source: Ghanaweb.
