Tema, Feb. 8, GNA – The Ghana Tuna Association (GTA) has disclosed that the various fisheries associations were often not consulted for their contributions towards the formulation of budget and fiscal policy of the government.
Mr Richster Nii Amarh Amarfio, GTA Secretary who disclosed this said the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture does not engage the various fisheries associations on their needs and called for proper structures for mutual engagement.
He called for periodic engagement with members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Fisheries to build their knowledge on the sector in order to build input in the government’s policy formulation for the industry.
Mr. Amarfio said this when he interacted with staff of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Tema when he appeared on the GNA-Tema Industrial News Hub Boardroom Dialogue platform.
He said the budget sent to Parliament for the fishery sector when reviewed by sector players revealed that most of the activities in it hardly have infrastructure and capital investment, stating that if it contained one capital investment then it was from donor support.
He said, most capital investment into fisheries infrastructure was from donor funding, noting that because such funding was not enough most of such projects when started, were left abandoned the moment the funding ceased.
Mr Amarfio also called on the government to help revive the tuna industry, especially the pole and line type of fishing, as only two of them may continue to function by 2022 due to high operational cost.
He said a stakeholder engagement was urgently needed to ensure measures were put in place for proper management of the issue, stressing that even though Ghana had 20 registered pole and line vessels, currently only five were in operation due to the high operational cost involved in the tuna fishing.
Mr Amarfio, also the Director of Operations at Laif Fisheries, said most of the vessels were being scrapped as they were older than 45 years and expensive to manage, adding that the high licensing fee, coupled with the unavailability of anchovies used as bait to catch the tuna, was killing the sector.
Other challenges were the high cost of fuel and water charges paid in dollars at the ports, he said.
Mr Amarfio also called for the establishment of proper fisheries banks to support the industry, saying such banks would better understand the industry and propose terms to meet the peculiar needs of the sector.
The tuna industry used to contribute over 350 million dollars annually to the economy but that had dwindled due to the non-functioning of the vessels, Mr. Amarfio said, and called for measures to enable the industry to flourish.