By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Stakeholders in Ghana’s fisheries sector last Tuesday unanimously approved a draft Fisheries Management Plan (FMP) for the sustainable management and development of Ghana’s fisheries sector.
The five-year plan, which is to last from 2022 to 2026, was adopted after a day’s validation workshop in Accra, where stakeholders went through the final screening of the FMP before formally endorsing it.
It is expected to address management and conservation limitations experienced during the implementation of a previous plan between 2015 and 2019.
At the end of the meeting, key representatives of industrial and artisanal fisheries, academia, civil society organisations in the sector, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Marine Police made declarations approving the content of the plan and committing to its implementation.
The Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Mr Moses Anim, said the fisheries sector was of great socio-economic importance to Ghana, providing jobs and income to a number of people.
He said the plan was based on principles of best scientific information available, good management practices, and ensuring utilisation of fisheries resources.
The Chairman of the Fisheries Commission Board, Prof. Francis K. Nunoo, said Act 625 mandated the Fisheries Commission to prepare and continuously review a fisheries plan for the management and development of Ghana’s fisheries sector.
He urged all stakeholders to play a watchdog role to reverse the downward trend of the fisheries sector.
The Executive Director of the Fisheries Commission, Mr Michael Arthur-Dadzie, said the Fisheries Commission played a leading role in the management and conservation of the country’s fisheries resources.
“Saving our sea is our collective responsibility. This is not the time to take an entrenched position, but to build consensus,” he said.
Describing the plan as a “walking document”, he explained that an operational committee comprising all stakeholders would frequently undertake monitoring and evaluation of the activities under the plan.