As part of the West African Regional Fisheries Program (WARFP) to conserve and manage the fisheries resources in a sustainable manner, the MOFA is aligning the fishing fleet capacity with available fisheries resources to avoid over-exploitation. As a strategy to achieve the objective of the Ghana Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector Development Plan (GFASDP),MOFA through the Fisheries Commission has with effect from 3rd January,2012 embarked on the following exercise to :
Remove all inactive industrial and semi-industrial fishing vessels from the fisheries licensing register.
Audit and inspect the remaining industrial and semi-industrial fishing vessels for compliance with the Fisheries Act 2002, Act 625, Fisheries Regulation 2010 (LI 1968), existing health and safety regulations as well as license condition.
Revoke the fishing licenses of vessels that remain non-complaint.
Consequently, issuing of new fishing licence including replacement of old vessels has been suspended with effect from 1st February 2012 until further notice.
This suspension also affects permit to import and operate fishing vessels.
It is hoped that the stakeholders and operations of the fishing industry and the general public will bear with MOFA in this matter until our marine resources improve as we implement theses conservation measures.
Ghana Broadcasting Corporation