In the wake of the deadly coronavirus pandemic, the Fisheries
Commission (FC) has called on fishers and fishmongers to adopt the
health protection measures to prevent the spread of the flu-like
coronavirus.
It called on fishmongers who travel from place to place to market
their fish to pay attention to public announcements being made in the
media and the public announcement vans to regularly use sanitizers and
thoroughly wash their hands with soap after any interaction with members
of the public.
Madam Rebecca Sackey-Mensah, an officer at the Marine Fisheries
Management Division in Accra, said this to canoe owners, chief
fishermen, fishmongers and other stakeholders from the Fisheries
Commission at the Fisheries Closed Season Stakeholders Dialogue at
Agona-Nkwanta in the Ahanta-West Municipality.
The Fisher to Fisher dialogue afforded the stakeholders the
opportunity to solicit views on the ideal month for this year’s closed
season.
The Western Regional Fisher to Fisher Dialogue is being sponsored by the USAID.
Madam Sackey-Mensah said the World Health Organization (WHO) has
identified the scourge as very disheartening and stressed the need for
Ghana to be on high alert as the pandemic was gaining grounds globally.
She said just as preventive measures were adopted during the Ebola
outbreak, same must be done to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in
the country.
She advised fishmongers, fishers to avoid handshakes just as the President has directed.
Professor Godfrey Baidoo-Tsibu, the Western Regional Director of Fisheries, warned that the use of DDT, dynamite and light fishing among others, made the fish caught toxic which is harmful to consumers.
He called on fishers to halt all forms of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in the country.
Mr Abaka Edu, Secretary to the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council
(GNCFC), said to ensure a successful Closed Season which is the
spawning period of the fish stock, it behooves on government to ban the
trawlers on the high seas whose unchecked activities destroy the
juvenile fishes.
Madam Henrietta Eyison, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for
Ahanta-West, whose speech was read for her, asked the fishermen to
sacrifice in the short term and gain in the long term by allowing the
juvenile fishes in the sea to grow.
She said government would dialogue with fishermen on how best to
leverage pre-mix fuel to boost fishing activities in the country to
ensure food security.
Madam Eyison called on the fishermen to pay their dues to help the association flourish.
Source:https://www.myjoyonline.com/news/fisheries-commission-urges-fishmongers-to-adopt-directives-on-coronavirus/
