EU Threatens Total Ghana Fish Ban Upon Illegal Incident

Written by Makula Dunbar

Jun 04, 2014

The European Commission (EC) has warned that henceforth any incident of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by a Ghana-flagged vessel will result in a total ban on fish products exported from Ghana to EU markets.

Consequently, the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MoFAD) has threatened to sanction any local vessel found to be engaged in IUU fishing.

Addressing stakeholders in the fisheries sector at a press conference in Accra yesterday, the sector minister, Mr Nayon Bilijo, said the EC issued the warning in May this year.

The purpose of the press conference, according to the minister, was to update stakeholders in the fisheries sector on the progress MoFAD had made in its discussions so far with the EC and also announce specific policy actions the ministry intended to take to deal with IUU fishing incidents.

MoFAD dialogue with EC

According to him, Ghana and the EC had been discussing a range of corrective actions that Ghana had to take to meet its obligations as a trading partner of the EC.

“These corrective actions are: enhancing the fisheries legislative framework, the adoption of a national plan of action against IUU fishing, the adoption of a fisheries management plan and strengthening of our monitoring, control and surveillance systems,” Mr Bilijo said.