Speaking at a Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) media forum, the Executive Director of the Blue Economy and Governance Consult, Richster Nii Amarh Amarfio, said the closure of the Atlantic Oce...
Speaking at a Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) media forum, the Executive Director of the Blue Economy and Governance Consult, Richster Nii Amarh Amarfio, said the closure of the Atlantic Ocean would only apply to tuna vessels using Fish Aggregating Devices (FAD).
He stated that even though the moratorium had the aim of conserving the fish stock, its observation would lead to a temporary scarcity of tuna on the local market and some cost to the industry
The unavailability of tuna would be felt after February, with local tuna-manufacturing companies expected to be most affected, he said, explaining that vessels currently at sea would be discharging between now and the end of January.
Mr Amarfio indicated that, due to the local dependence on tuna and the depletion of small pelagic species such as mackerel and sardines, the shortage of tuna would be more prominent in Ghana.
On the other hand, tuna vessel operators, despite being out of operation for the said period, would be overburdened with the payment of staff, crew, security, and license fees, among others.
He said, “When we lay up our vessels at anchorage, that will come with a cost because you need to run auxiliary engines to keep them floating and pump water out of the vessel.”
Mr Amarfio, who is the immediate past secretary for the Ghana Tuna Association, said even though tuna vessels were still at liberty to engage in free-school fishing, as opposed to fishing on FAD, many would not engage in it during the period as it was not feasible business-wise.