Jubilee Field Partners urged to address sargassum seaweeds menace along Ghana’s West Coast
The Jubilee Field Partners in the oil and gas exploration, have been called upon to take concrete steps to address the Sargassum Seaweeds menace, which have engulfed the shorelines along the West Coast of Ghana.
The Executive Director of Youth Volunteers for the Environment (YVE) Ghana, a Civil Society Organization (CSO), Mr. Wisdom Koffi, said research and feedback from fisher-folks in the affected communities, have made a strong case that “whenever we see the light of the vessel around the oil rig at Cape Three Points for exploration, the Sargassum seaweeds begin to conglomerate on our shores”.
The situation, Mr.Koffi said, had reached an alarming proportion with the recent Seaweeds invasion along the coast from New Town in the Jomoro Municipality to Cape Three Points in the Ahanta-West Municipality of the Western Region.
Mr Koffi was speaking to Ghana News Agency on the side-lines during a stakeholder engagement meeting of fisher-folks at Miamia and Cape Three Points as part of activities to mark the celebration of this year’s Global Day of Action for Chief fishermen, market women, and fishmongers held at Cape Three Points in the Ahanta-West District.
This year’s Global event, which formed part of efforts to ensure sustainable development in Ghana, was on the theme, “Undoing the War”: “Building The Future That Our Communities Have Always Deserved”.
The project was jointly sponsored by the Africa Climate Justice, Women and Africa People’s Counter Cop.
Mr Koffi argued strongly that the Sargassum seaweeds menace was not a phenomenon along the coast way back until Ghana started the exploration of oil and gas in commercial quantities.
The Executive Director noted that other parts of the country where oil and gas were not being explored, have not experienced this phenomenon which has crippled most of the coastal communities thereby threatening their very livelihoods.
Mr Koffi advised the fishing communities to consider alternative livelihoods such as Climate Smart Agriculture, with the Planting of vegetables and other arable crops to mitigate the economic impact of the recurring invasion of the Sargassum seaweeds.
Chief Fisherman for Cape Three Points, Mr Thomas Ade, bemoaned that the outbreak of the Seaweeds in the fishing communities had brought in its wake a lot of hardships.
He was worried that the government had not done anything about the situation in terms of alternative livelihoods.
According to him, though oil was being explored in the town, Cape Three Points was one of the poorest coastal communities in Ghana.
Mr. Ade complained about the lack of potable water and toilet facilities in the town.
Market women who spoke to Ghana News Agency, also lamented that the Sargassum seaweeds invasion had deprived them of their businesses, thereby impoverishing them and appealed to the government to step in to salvage the situation.
Source: GNA