The two months closed season for Industrial fishing trawlers has begun.
It started yesterday August 1, 2019, and expected to end in September. This is in line with the closed seasons imposed on fishing activities by the government.
The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, says it is engaging stakeholders to ensure a successful implementation of the closed season, after the earlier ban that was targeted at artisanal fishermen.
The temporal ban is a strategic measure under the National Marine Fisheries Management Plan (2015-2019) prepared in accordance with Section 42 of the Fisheries Act (Act625) to help restore dwindling fish stock in the sea.
Trawlers from third-party countries will still be able to fish but under the scrutiny of an observer from the Monitoring Control and Surveillance Division of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Ministry.
But the decision has not gone down well with all as they have raised questions about the significance of the closed season in the past.
Richster Nii Amarteifio, who is a fisheries industry player speaking to Citi News said the government needed to consider permanent closures of certain areas to better asses outcomes.
“We need to identify key sensitive areas and close them permanently. If we do that, you are likely to be able to measure the impact because you have closed specific areas and nobody is fishing around those areas.â€
If you do a general closure and we have some part of the industry still fishing and others not fishing, measuring the impact will be very very difficult and I doubt we will be able to do a proper assessment of the impact.â€
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