The Chief Fisherman of Gomoa Nyanyano, Nana Afful Awotwe II has appealed to government to dredge the gateway through which the lagoon enters the sea to allow water from the lagoon flow freely into the sea to avoid the incidence of death in that fishing community.
According to him, the tributary is so choked that it blocks the lagoon from flowing into the sea.
In an exclusive interview, he told a reporter of Journalists for Community Development (JCD), that due to the copious volumes of water that get blocked in the lagoon, people are easily drowned in the lagoon with the least mistake.
He said last year alone, six people were drowned whilst this year, four people have so far been drowned.
As if by coincidence, not too long after the arrival of the reporter, the police also arrived to remove a dead body which had been swept ashore by the sea.
The fisherman said the problem has been reported to the authorities but no solution has been reached.
He however appealed to government to expedite action to help address the problem.
He revealed that Nyanyano has no landing sites for canoes in the community.
According to him, this has often led to the destruction of their canoes and nets durring windy and rough tidal conditions. “During such periods, the sea also carries our canoes away”, he added.
Again, Nana Afful said there are more than three hundred people engaged in salt minning activities in Nyanyano.
Unfortunately, anytime the volume of water in the lake increases, it causes flooding in the area, thereby making it impossible to engage in salt mining activities.
He bemoaned that situation negatively affects the livelihood of the people and asked government to urgently called for assistance.
On illigal fishing, the chief fisherman expressed worry about the manner in which some fishermen use unorthodox means (chemicals, lights, etc) for fishing.
He asked government to pay attention to illegal fishing with the seriousness it deserves.
He referred to illigal minning and the seriousness that government attaches to it and asked for the same attention for illigal fishing, explaining that both practices have a negative and destructive affect on the environment as well as the wellbeing of the people.
He therefore condemned the practice of illigal fishing and said perpetrators should be brought to book.
He said government should fight illigal fishing with all the seriousness it deserves untill the practice is completely brought to an end. According to him, the authorities are not doing enough in dealing with the menace in this country.
He charged them not to relent in their efforts in fighting the menace.
The fisherman expressed his disappointment and said when perpetrators of this illigal act are arrested, they are left off the hook.
He sighted an instance and said somewhere this year, the minister for fisheries charged the fishermen to arrest and hand over any fisherman engaging in that practice to the police.
According to him, his men arrested some of them and handed them over to the police.
Unfortunately, when they were arraigned before court, that same minister told the court to release them and return all their equipment to them.
He said the action by the minister was disappointment them, describing it as a disincentive to the process of fighting illigal fishing in the country.
Concluding, Nana Afful asked the authorities to immediately take steps to address the problems of the choked lagoon and the lack of landing sites to help resolve the mayhem that is aflicting their business and the people of the community.
Source: Kojo Aidoo
aidookojo@yahoo.com