Ghana launches aquaculture development plan
Mr Nayon Bilijo, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, on Wednesday expressed the ministry’s displeasure and abhorrence to the haphazard siting of cages on the Volta Lake by fish farmers.
He mentioned Sedorm, Gyakiti, Kpeve, Kagyanya and Akuse as communities in the Volta and Eastern regions were the offending farmers were located and advised them to follow laid down procedures.
The Minister, who was launching the Ghana National Aquaculture Development Plan (GNADP) in Accra, said the activity was not only a precursor to conflicts over territories but also a potential risk for the spread of fish diseases among fish farms.
Mr Bilijo said his attention had been drawn to the fact that most of those farmers were operating illegally without relevant permits from the mandated agencies.
He said every fish farmer needed Water Use Permit from the Water Resources Commission, Environmental Permit from the Environmental Protection Agency and Aquaculture Permit from the Fisheries Commission to be able to operate legally.
“I wish, therefore, to sound a note of caution to all such illegal fish farmers on the Volta Lake and elsewhere to regularize their activities with the agencies mentioned earlier ,” he said, and expressed the ministry’s preparedness to collaborate with those agencies to assist all fish farmers to regularize their activities.
The GNADP is a five-year plan with financial and technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to enhance and improve the practice, management and development of aquaculture as a viable business by all stakeholders.
It specifically seeks to contribute to improvements in production, marketing, environmental sustainability and social acceptability of Ghana’s fish farm enterprises and related aqua value chain.
The cost for the implementation of the plan is estimated at 85 million dollars.
This covers activities such as zoning of high potential aquaculture areas especially on the Volta Lake, provision of basic infrastructure to high priority zones like markets, electricity, roads, capacity development of aquaculture associations, and support for development of improved fish and other aquatic organisms’ seed to fish farmers.
Mr Bilijo said Ghana was among the highest fish consuming countries in the world with a per capita consumption of between 23 to 25 kilogrammes while the world average was 13 kilogrammes.
He said though fish was the preferred source of animal protein because it was healthy to eat and also cheaper compared to other sources, Ghana had not been able to meet her requirement in fish production.
He said the country’s fish demand for 2012, for example, was estimated at 968,000 metric tons while the country’s fish production for that year was 486,000 metric tons, representing about 50.2 per cent of her requirement.
“A total of 175,000 metric tons of fish was imported at an estimated cost of 157 million dollars to make up for part of the deficit. With our population growth rate of 3.2 per cent per annum, the demand for fish would keep on increasing annually.
“However, fish production from our traditional sources, namely the sea, lakes, rivers, dams etc is at the biological carrying capacity and, therefore, we do not expect any significant increase in our annual production in the foreseeable future,” Mr Bilijo said.
Mr Dela Afenyedu, Consultant, said it was envisaged that when the plan was successfully implemented, aquaculture production would have increased from the current 27,750 metric tons in 2012 to 130,000 metric tons and would have generated an estimated 220,000 jobs across the value chain.
Mr Mike Acheampong, Chairman of the Fisheries Commission, said aquaculture was the answer to illegal fishing, which had been a problem for all.
He said aquaculture started in Ghana in 1953 and had been doing well until recently and urged all stakeholders to embrace the plan to ensure its successful implementation.
Source: GNA