A Chinese industrial trawler which was fined one million dollars for
using under-size mesh nets and taking fish below minimum landing size
has been re-arrested for the same offence after failing to pay the fine.
The
vessel, Lu Rong Yuan Yu 956, initially arrested in June 2019 for the
said offence was issued with a fine of US$1 million by an out of court
settlement committee, and an additional GHS 124,000 for the fish onboard
the vessel in October 2019.
However, despite the owner’s refusal
to pay the fine, the vessel licence was renewed, and the trawler put to
sea again, fishing in the waters of both Ghana and neighbouring Cote
d’Ivoire.
On Saturday, May 30, the Marine Police arrested the
vessel again for the same offences of using nets with a mesh size below
the legal limit and undersized fish.
The vessel is being detained until Tuesday, June 16, when the case would be due to for court.
But
according to the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), an
international Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) working to protect the
environment, such disregard for the law was enabled by lack of
deterrent sanctions.
It also abhorred the decision by government
officials in the full knowledge of such crimes to re-licence the vessel
even when it had refused to pay the fine imposed.
“These repeat offences show that the system of sanctions in Ghana is not having a deterrent effect”, it said
Under
international law, Ghana has a responsibility to establish and
implement a system of deterrent sanctions that deprived offenders of the
benefits flowing from their illegal fishing activities, it added
According
to the EJF, the fact that the vessel was authorised by the Ghanaian
authorities to fish in Cote d’Ivoire, despite its failure to pay a fine
for serious illegal fishing offences, showed that Ghana’s decisions on
such cases had international implications.
Mr Steve Trent,
Executive Director of EJF told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that it was
vital to ensure that the vessel paid the full fines of both cases and
that the outcome of this and other cases must be published on the
Ministry’s website.
“Perpetrators cannot simply choose not to pay
a fine and go back to the same criminal actions as before. That is not
how justice works. To safeguard Ghana’s food security, livelihoods and
stability, the government must act to tackle this issue across the whole
fleet”, he stated.
He said the livelihoods and food security of
millions of Ghanaians would be in danger if the government failed to
crack down on such practices.
