Ghana and other developing countries must petition the World Trade Organization (WTO) to push developed countries to withdraw subsidies on foreign industrial fishing vessels to stop them from overexploiting the fish resources of developing countries, Director of Environment and Natural Resource Research Initiative (ENRRI EfD Ghana), Professor Wisdom Akpalu has entreated. ENRRI–EfD, also called on …

Report defiant foreign fishing vessels to WTO for subsidy cut – ENRRI–EfD to government Read More »

A $120 million fish processing factory, which has been certified to export to the EU, is expected to give a major boost to fish farming in Kenya. The Kakamega Fish Processing Factory, a joint venture between the local government and the DAS Group of Sweden, was initially due to be built under the Fish Stimulus …

Kenya seeks to compete with Chinese farmed tilapia imports Read More »

Pirates have abducted nine crew members of Ghanaian-registered fishing vessels in separate attacks off the Gulf of Guinea. Five abductees in the first attack have been freed after an undisclosed amount was paid from a negotiated $1 million ransom demand by the kidnappers. Those released include a Korean, a Russian and three Chinese, who were …

Pirates on rampage in Gulf of Guinea – Ghanaian fishing vessel crew Abducted Read More »

Speaking at the first Hybrid Aquaculture Conference in West Africa, on the topic, ‘The challenges to aquaculture business in Ghana’, Mr. Pianim expressed frustration at the seeming double standards, which has backing in the legislature. Inconsistent policies, including the poorly-managed decoupling of the fisheries sub-sector from the wider food and agriculture ministry, are among the …

Poor policies hampering fisheries sector – Kwame Pianim Read More »

Armed Sierra Leone Navy sailors stationed on board the Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker carried out a series of covert at-sea raids on fishing vessels in the waters of the West African country of Sierra Leone, arresting five trawlers for illegal fishing. In the early morning hours of the 14th of March, two trawlers that had spent the …

Sierra Leone Navy arrests five fishing trawlers for illegal fishing (IUU) activities in the country’s Gulf of Guinea EEZ in cooperation with NGO Sea Shepherd. Read More »

Last year, the vessel Lu Rong Yuan Yu 956 was caught in Ghanaian waters with illegal nets and undersized ‘small pelagic’ fish on board – the staple catch of local canoe fishers. The US$1 million fine originally imposed is the statutory minimum under Ghanaian law. However, the owners have refused to pay. This is a systemic problem …

TRAWLERS CHARGED WITH ILLEGAL FISHING CONTINUE TO DODGE FINES IN GHANA Read More »

‘Saiko trans-shipments’ – where industrial trawlers transfer fish at sea to specially adapted canoes to be landed – are very clearly illegal under Ghanaian law, an analysis carried out by the Taylor Crabbe legal consultancy shows. EJF commissioned the analysis to put the matter definitively to rest. The real issue is enforcing the law to bring an …

GHANA’S LAW IS CLEAR: SAIKO FISHING IS ILLEGAL Read More »

Ghana’s sardinella fishery provides food and livelihoods for coastal communities and is more important than ever as coronavirus spreads. It is under severe threat from illegal targeting by industrial trawlers in a trade known as ‘saiko’. Now a report from the Environmental Justice Foundation has revealed that the samples of saiko sardinella it obtained were 99% juveniles. This …

GHANA’S FISHERIES COLLAPSING AS TRAWLERS TAKE YOUNG FISH, EJF REPORT REVEALS Read More »

An open letter from the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen’s Council and eight NGOs has called on Ghana’s President to intervene to end the damaging illegal fishing practice known as ‘saiko’. This practice is driving crucial fish stocks to the point of collapse and endangering Ghanaian livelihoods, nutrition and national security. Saiko is a severely destructive form of illegal fishing, where …

CANOE FISHERS AND NGOS URGE GHANA’S PRESIDENT TO CRACKDOWN ON ILLEGAL ‘SAIKO’ FISHING Read More »

The Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources has announced a temporary ban on the importation of tilapia fingerlings as a preventive measure against the Tilapia Lake Virus, a disease that is already killing tilapia in Tanzania, Egypt, Ecuador, and Colombia. The virus infects both wild and aquaculture populations of tilapia and presents symptoms of skin …

Rwanda Announces Import Ban On Tilapia Fingerlings Read More »