Closed season: Assemblyman, two others arrested for non-compliance
Three people have been detained by the police and navy team from the Fishing Enforcement Unit (FEU), Marine Headquarters in Tema, for participating in illegal fishing. Seth Abelia, an Assemblyman from the Avedzi and Teshie Electoral Area, as well as Agbesi Atisu and Attitso Attitsogbui were detained at around 1500 hours on July 12 by…
Three people have been detained by the police and navy team from the Fishing Enforcement Unit (FEU), Marine Headquarters in Tema, for participating in illegal fishing.
Seth Abelia, an Assemblyman from the Avedzi and Teshie Electoral Area, as well as Agbesi Atisu and Attitso Attitsogbui were detained at around 1500 hours on July 12 by members of the FEU team who were in Aflao to monitor compliance with the ongoing fishing closed season that began on July 1.
According to investigations by the Ghana News Agency, the crew of the Holy FM canoe with the registration number VR-KS-086-AVM arrived to Abeliakope, a suburb of Aflao, with a haul of fish, but they ran to avoid capture.
The GNA also learned that the three suspects were detained and transported to the Marine Headquarters in Tema to assist with the inquiry when they subsequently revealed themselves as the canoe’s owners.
Fisheries Commission and the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development instructed inshore and artisanal fleets to respect the one-month closed season and industrial fleets to observe the two-month closed season.
The closed season directive intends to prevent overexploitation of the fisheries resource and to give the fish population a chance to repopulate in order to prevent a potential collapse of the fishing sector owing to reduced stocks.
The GNA visited various beaches during the first week of the directive, and it was evident that fishermen were following the rules since they had hung up their gear in anticipation of lifting the regulation in August.
