A
Ghana-based vessel with Chinese ownership is back fishing, without
having paid a record USD 1 million (EUR 900,000) fine levied by the
Ghanaian government for illegal fishing in that country’s waters.
The Lu Rong Yuan Yu 956 (AF 756) was arrested for illegal fishing in Ghana’s waters in June 2019. Locally registered company Gyinam Fisheries Limited, which has failed to pay the penalty since it was issued, is a subsidiary of Shandong Province, China-based Rongcheng Ocean Fishery Co. Ltd..
While
the case regarding the non-payment of the fine is set to go back to
court in coming months, under local law, the vessel is not entitled to
be re-issued with a license to fish, either in Ghana or elsewhere.
According to the Environmental Justice Foundation, Ghana’s fisheries
laws require the national fisheries commission to withhold licensing of
vessels that have engaged in illegal fishing.
Yet the vessel can
be observed on AIS maps from December to February operating in the
waters of Ghana and the Ivory Coast, according to the EJF.
Ghana’s
2002 Fisheries Act provides that the Council of the Fisheries
Commission shall not recommend the renewal of a fishing licence unless
it is satisfied that “there has not been a failure to satisfy a judgment
or any other determination for a contravention of this Act.” And the
country’s 2015 Fisheries Amendment Regulations provide that the
Fisheries Commission shall not grant an authorization for a vessel to
fish outside of Ghanaian waters where “the commission has reason to
believe that the fishing vessel has engaged in IUU fishing.”
Ghanaian
fisheries officials Godfrey Baidoo-Tsibu and Michael Arthur-Dadzie did
not provide answers to questions from SeafoodSource regarding whether
the fine had been paid or whether the government had come to an
agreement with Gyinam Fisheries Limited allowing it to fish without
paying the fine.
Photo courtesy of the Environmental Justice Foundation
