The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), an international
Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) working to protect the environment,
has called on the Government of Ghana to as a matter of urgency
crackdown on illegal transshipment trade known as Saiko on the Ghanaian
waters.
The practice, it said, was costing the country millions of dollars in
revenue and threatening food security and coastal livelihoods.
“Saiko” is a destructive form of illegal fishing, where foreign
trawlers target the main catch of Ghanaian canoe fishers, transfer it at
sea to specially adapted boats, and sell this stolen fish back to local
communities at a profit.
In 2017 alone, Saiko catches sold amounted to, between US$40.6 and
50.7 million and the ones sold at the landing site US$52.7 to 81.1
million.
According to Ghana’s fisheries laws, Saiko is punishable by a fine of
between US$100,000 and US$2million, with the minimum fine increasing to
US$1million where catches involve juvenile fish or the use of
prohibited fishing gears.
To serve as a deterrent for potential offenders, EJF said it was
imperative that at least the minimum fine set out in the law be strictly
imposed and enforced to the later without fear or favour.
“When sanctions are given out, they are inconsistent and weak. For
instance, the statutory minimum fine for use of illegal nets and landing
juveniles under Ghana’s 2014 Fisheries Amendment Act is US$1million,
yet there are numerous cases of vessels refusing to pay or paying lower
sums and then being re-licensed to continue fishing,” the NGO noted in
its recent report on Saiko.
The report said although saiko transshipment, under-size mesh nets,
and landing juveniles were considered illegal practices, as clearly laid
out in Ghanaian laws, they were often allowed to continue unchecked.
It was therefore demanding that a thorough inspections of the
landings of industrial trawlers were carried out to ensure they were
only targeting species of the type and size dictated by their license,
and that the landed fish were above the minimum legal size.
Commenting on the report, Mr Steve Trent, Executive Director of EJF,
said in a time when the world was facing Coronavirus, stable livelihoods
and food security were even more crucial than before.
“Ghana’s fisheries are in crisis, with the country now forced to
import half of its fish needs and canoe fisher-folk coming home from sea
empty handed.
“The state is losing millions of dollars every year in revenue. The
government has the ability to stop this illegal and highly damaging
activity now, and it must act to do so without delay,” he said.
The report also urged the government to be committed to banning all
domestic and international vessels found to be engaging in Saiko from
operating in Ghanaian waters, while immediate investigation be conducted
into all suspected cases of Saiko fishing to prosecute offenders
transparently through the judicial process.
It said thorough inspections of the landings of industrial trawlers must be carried out to ensure that they were only targeting species of the type and size dictated by their license, and that the landed fish were above the minimum legal size.
