If you ignore a problem over a long period, it becomes part of the status quo. This is what we have done when it comes to protecting the fish stock in Ghana’s waters. We have allowed Illegal Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing to remain with us and all we have done to stop it is to go it alone as if by so doing, the troubles associated with it would go away.
Experts say, “Illegal fishing takes place when vessels or harvesters operate in violation of the laws of a fishery. This can apply to fisheries that are under the jurisdiction of a coastal state or to high seas fisheries regulated by Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMO).”
The Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO’s) Fisheries and Aquaculture Department says illegal fishing has caused losses estimated at $23 billion per year with about 30 per cent of illegal fishing in the world occurring in Indonesia alone.
“Unreported fishing is fishing that has been unreported or misreported to the relevant national authority or RFMO, in contravention of applicable laws and regulations,” according to experts. They also define unregulated fishing as “fishing by vessels without nationality, vessels flying the flag of a country not party to the RFMO governing that fishing area or species on the high seas, or harvesting in unregulated areas.”
To solve this problem, Ghana must work with her neighbours to find a lasting solution. What we have been doing so far is to adopt “the gnaw and blow” attitude to fight a problem that has a gargantuan effect on the national economy, and that is not the way to cut the roots of IUU.
Our diplomats from the West and Central Africa regions have not thought it wise to discuss IUU like they do with piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. And this may be due to the fact that they are only concerned with oil bunkering, its associated crime and risks to ships that operate in the region. What they need to know is that fishing is a big attraction in these areas and it has given a big boost to IUU.
Ghana had the chance to kill the canker and put in some measures but it looks like we went to sleep. As a consequence, we are paying the price many years later. Under President John Agyekum Kufuor, there were talks by officials of the then Ministry of Fisheries to fight IUU fishing in our waters. There were huge plans and committees were set up within the ministry to bring the phenomenon to an end. Only the Good Lord can tell what has happened since then. Since we were not able to provide a solution and the issue has come back to haunt us, it shows that if ever there was a good time for us to interrogate why national policies are not implemented on a long-term basis, the time is now!
The mere fact that the ministry in charge of fisheries is talking about IUU in 2017 as if it is something new, gives me the impression that there is a problem with how our top people handle issues of national importance. It demonstrates clearly that when one political head leaves office, every programme put in place is forgotten. This must not be allowed to continue because it takes us back many years.
Now that the issue has come back to stare us in the face, does it mean that we are going to formulate new policies instead of just going back to the old files? That is if the old files are readily available. The question one needs to ask is: ‘was the IUU fishing issue contained in the handing over notes from one administration to the other?’ And if it was, what did their representatives in Parliament do to sustain pursuance of the issue through questions raised on the floor of the House? This is just one of the reasons why we must ensure that there is some continuity in the way we solve national issues.
In 2006, the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) described IUU as “as one of the most serious threats to the achievement of sustainable fish stocks,” and said studies at the time, put the worldwide value of these illicit catches at up to $9 billion a year. The EJF said, pirate fishing operators were stealing from the seas and oceans and thus, “undermining attempts at sustainable management; causing massive damage to the marine environment; and jeopardising the food security and livelihoods of poor coastal communities in developing countries.”
The FAO said about 75 per cent of commercially important marine stocks are currently overfished, or are being fished at their biological limit. “As the global demand for fish and seafood continues to grow, an incentive exists for fishermen to ignore such handicaps in an attempt to make lucrative short-term gains, albeit at the expense of longer-term environmental, economic and social objectives,” said the FAO
It notes that with a single bluefin tuna fish selling in excess of $100,000 on the Japanese sashimi market, operators are cashing in on the vast profits to be made. The phenomenon has been allowed to thrive because the FAO says, it substantially minimises the operating costs for vessel owners who can avoid paying for licences, on-board observers, vessel monitoring systems or catch documentation systems. The IUU fleets specifically target commercially valuable species, such as tuna, Patagonian toothfish, shrimp and lobster. However, the FAO says, IUU fishing can also decimate far less lucrative stocks, but ones that nonetheless provide very important food sources and employment opportunities for people in developing countries.
What has made it easy for IUU fishing to remain unchecked is the inability of national and international controls to be put in place because of the use of various strategies including Flags of Convenience. These flags of convenience, which enable a vessel to fly the flag of a country other than the country of ownership, make it virtually impossible for unscrupulous ship owners to be caught and punished for illegal fishing.
In addition, there is also insufficient Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) in Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) and on the high seas; Ports of Convenience, and uncontrolled at-sea trans-shipment.
In the West African sub-region, there is virtually no monitoring at sea from Senegal to Nigeria-apart from Ghana that is making some attempts which is not enough. IUU fishing can thrive in areas where monitoring, control and surveillance activities (patrol boats, surveillance aircraft, satellite monitoring, onboard observers, etc.,) are insufficient. So like oil bunkering, we have allowed the phenomenon to thrive.
In fighting IUU, none of the countries in the region can do it alone. A good example to buttress this are reports in the past that any attempt by Ghana’s navy to deter some of the vessels engaged in IUU only sends them back into neighbouring territorial waters and that ends it all. Since countries bordering Ghana, do not seem to have the capabilities, it is about time that ECOWAS took the trouble to start talking about IUU so that when the fight against piracy is intensified, we would not only be looking at commercial and oil liners but fishing vessels as well.
What has made it easy for IUU fishing to remain unchecked is the inability of national and international controls to be put in place because of the use of various strategies including Flags of Convenience.
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