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The fishing industry last Friday received a boost when President John Agyekum Kufuor cut the sod for the commencement of fishing harbour and landing sites for the James Town fishing community.
The project is valued at $16.5million. Same projects would be built in thirteen (13) other fishing communities along the Atlantic coast of the Western, Eastern and Central regions and the shores of the Volta Lake in the Volta region.
The overall projects is valued at the cost of $148 million which include six (6) cold stores, breakwater site administration and management, fish market, fishnet mending shed, fishnet storage facility, ice making plants, workshops, fuel depots, power stations, toilet blocks and day care centres to address the needs of market women in each of the beneficiary communities mentioned above.
President Kufuor in his address said his administration was touched by the potentials of the fishing industry as a tool in alleviating poverty, hence the need to revive and modernize the sector to improve on the economic activities of players in the industry.
The construction of the aforementioned facilities was against the backdrop of the President’s pledge at the beginning of his tenure of office to promote fishing activities across the country.
The commencement of the projects have brought sigh of relief to players in the fishing industry as many expressed the belief that the construction of the projects would go a long way towards achieving the millennium development goals.
“The construction of these modern fishing harbours and landing sites would go a long way to modernize fishing especially in the artisan and the inshore sector of the fishing industry. The safety of the boats and the crew would be enhanced just as the handling, processing and preservation of catches for optimum marketing and good pricing regime”, noted Joe Kramo, Information Director of the Ghana Inshore Fisheries Association.
“In this regard, the government’s policy of poverty reduction would be achieved in the near future”, he added.
The facilities when completed would enable a much cleaner and more hygienic way of fish handling and storage operations that are in compliance with main stream requirements of the European Union.
“The facilities when properly used would allow for a substantial more efficient fisheries sector, reducing post harvest losses and boosting higher returns”, noted Jan Oomen, Director of the International Projects at DHV of the Netherlands who initiated feasibility studies of the projects.
He challenged players in the sector to strike the right balance between producing for local and international markets in order to maximize profits as it was one of the barriers facing the fishing industry.
The Minister of Fisheries, Mrs. Gladys Asmah in her address expressed the hope that the construction of the new facilities would revive the sector to improve living conditions of those associated with the industry.
According to her, various prudent measures her ministry implemented have resulted in bumper harvest of raw tuna to feed the fish canneries.
Touching on the construction of the new projects, the sector minister said 80% of the contract cost paid to the consortium for the design and feasibility study of all the 14 projects was paid through the ministry’s internally generated funds whiles the other 20% was paid from the Food and Agriculture Budgetary Support (FABS), from CIBA of the Canadian High Commission.
According to her, the government, committed to make the sector more vibrant has started the process of taking over the Tema Boatyard which was divested in 1996.
According to her, the inability of the company to refurbish canoes and boats had put the fishermen in danger, a situation she said had led to the lost of more than 40 boats and canoes over the past two years.
The project is valued at $16.5million. Same projects would be built in thirteen (13) other fishing communities along the Atlantic coast of the Western, Eastern and Central regions and the shores of the Volta Lake in the Volta region.
The overall projects is valued at the cost of $148 million which include six (6) cold stores, breakwater site administration and management, fish market, fishnet mending shed, fishnet storage facility, ice making plants, workshops, fuel depots, power stations, toilet blocks and day care centres to address the needs of market women in each of the beneficiary communities mentioned above.
President Kufuor in his address said his administration was touched by the potentials of the fishing industry as a tool in alleviating poverty, hence the need to revive and modernize the sector to improve on the economic activities of players in the industry.
The construction of the aforementioned facilities was against the backdrop of the President’s pledge at the beginning of his tenure of office to promote fishing activities across the country.
The commencement of the projects have brought sigh of relief to players in the fishing industry as many expressed the belief that the construction of the projects would go a long way towards achieving the millennium development goals.
“The construction of these modern fishing harbours and landing sites would go a long way to modernize fishing especially in the artisan and the inshore sector of the fishing industry. The safety of the boats and the crew would be enhanced just as the handling, processing and preservation of catches for optimum marketing and good pricing regime”, noted Joe Kramo, Information Director of the Ghana Inshore Fisheries Association.
“In this regard, the government’s policy of poverty reduction would be achieved in the near future”, he added.
The facilities when completed would enable a much cleaner and more hygienic way of fish handling and storage operations that are in compliance with main stream requirements of the European Union.
“The facilities when properly used would allow for a substantial more efficient fisheries sector, reducing post harvest losses and boosting higher returns”, noted Jan Oomen, Director of the International Projects at DHV of the Netherlands who initiated feasibility studies of the projects.
He challenged players in the sector to strike the right balance between producing for local and international markets in order to maximize profits as it was one of the barriers facing the fishing industry.
The Minister of Fisheries, Mrs. Gladys Asmah in her address expressed the hope that the construction of the new facilities would revive the sector to improve living conditions of those associated with the industry.
According to her, various prudent measures her ministry implemented have resulted in bumper harvest of raw tuna to feed the fish canneries.
Touching on the construction of the new projects, the sector minister said 80% of the contract cost paid to the consortium for the design and feasibility study of all the 14 projects was paid through the ministry’s internally generated funds whiles the other 20% was paid from the Food and Agriculture Budgetary Support (FABS), from CIBA of the Canadian High Commission.
According to her, the government, committed to make the sector more vibrant has started the process of taking over the Tema Boatyard which was divested in 1996.
According to her, the inability of the company to refurbish canoes and boats had put the fishermen in danger, a situation she said had led to the lost of more than 40 boats and canoes over the past two years.
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