Ghana government contracts $50.3m facility for fisheries sector

A $50.3 million loan agreement aimed at good governance and the sustainable management of the fisheries sector has been laid before Parliament.

The financing agreement between the government and the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank has a repayment period of 25 years and is expected to help increase the value and profitability generated by fish resources and help minimize illegal fishing practices.

The project is part of a West Africa Regional Fisheries programme (WARFP) aimed at developing the fishing industry of some coastal countries in the region.

A report by Parliament’s Finance Committee said the project is consistent with the emerging consensus in West Africa that marine resources are making far smaller contributions to economic growth than they should.

“This is attributed to a lack of effective governance, which allows for over-exploitation of the resource base, as well as a failure to add value locally to most of the fish caught in the region’s waters,” it added.

The WARFP project is being implemented by nine coastal countries including Cape Verde, Liberia, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau.

Under the project, Ghana is expected to benefit from the rehabilitation of boatyard repair facilities and canoe basin in Tema and Sekondi to enable inshore operators to maintain their vessels.

There will also be the development of landing sites at various places, the adoption of improved fish smoking, salting and drying techniques, capacity building and governance of the entire fishing sector and an at-sea offence detection services by the Ghana Navy and vessel monitoring system among others.

The Finance Committee’ report said fish production in the country is worth in excess of one billion US dollars in income annually. The fisheries sub-sector of the economy accounts for at least 4.5 per cent of GDP, and provide livelihoods for as many as 2.2 million people in Ghana.

By Eunice Menka