By Nneka Nwogwugwu
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said Ghana is implementing a strategic plan to deal with illegal, unregulated and marine litter on its seas.
He also reaffirmed that his government supports a vigorous global treaties to combat plastic pollution and illegal marine activities on the high seas.
Akufo-Addo said in Ghana, illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing activities had contributed significantly to the decline of fish stocks.
That, he said, had compelled Ghana to spend about US$200 million annually to import fish to shore up the country’s fish requirements.
Akufo-Addo, who participated in the “One Ocean Summit,” in Brest, France, said components of the National Plan included fish catch certification, reactivation and installation of vessel monitoring systems (VMS), automatic identification system (AIS) on vessels, port and beach inspections, and sea patrols.
The President said Ecuador, Germany, Vietnam and Ghana, with support from the UN Environment Programme, in 2021 convened a Ministerial Conference on Plastic Pollution and Marine Litter in Geneva, Switzerland to address marine litter and plastic pollution in the seas.
“All the facts about what the ocean presents for us have already been stated–50 percent of the world’s oxygen emanates from the sea… ” President Akufo-Addo stated, and urged the world to take decisive actions to safeguard the ocean’s capacity to regenerate, and continue to deliver substantial economic, environmental, and social value for human development.
Ecuador, Germany, Vietnam and Ghana, he indicated were in the process of completing work on the Ocean Governance Study, and ensure requisite structures and processes are instituted to ensure the Sustainable Ocean Plan was completed by 2025, as prescribed by the High-Level Panel on the Ocean Economy on 20th December 2021.
At the continental level, the Ghanaian President said Ghana would ratify the 2012 Cape Town Agreement on Fishing Vessel Safety, and expressed optimism that the country would shortly deposit her instrument of accession to mark the country’s major milestone to build a sustainable blue economy.
