The Canoe and Fishing Gear Owners Association of Ghana (CaFGOAG) has called on all stakeholders of fisheries across the country “to stand up for small-scale fisheries and help restore the health of the ocean.”

According to CaFGOAG, this can be done once a stop is put to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices.

IUU fishing is a term that represents a wide variety of fishing activities.

It is found in all dimensions and types of fisheries.

It occurs both in areas within national jurisdiction and on the high seas.

CaFGOAG, in a statement signed by its Chairman, Nana Kweigyah, to mark the occasion of World Fisheries Day 2021, assured artisanal fishers that it will continue to “make legitimate demands for adequate economic support for fishers and fish processors in order not to unjustifiably worsen living standards in fishing communities,” in the advocacy toward ending IUU in artisanal fisheries.

CaFGOAG also called on artisanal fishers to “be ready for change,” as it begins a series of “engagements aimed at lasting behavioural changes among fishers, as the surest way to end IUU in artisanal fisheries.”

It appealed to “the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MoFAD) and the Fisheries Commission (FC) to abandon the idea of increasing industrial trawl fleet, and urgently stop the destructive activities of industrial fishing vessels: harvesting of juvenile and small pelagic fishes; and dumping of fish.”

CaFGOAG emphasised: “Such practices remain huge barriers to behavioural changes required of artisanal fishers.”

It further appealed to the “MoFAD/FC, Civil Society Organisations/Non-Governmental Organisations, and Development Partners to consider some economic support such as paid community services for targeted small-scale fishers and fish processors to avoid the likelihood of relapse, as we work towards lasting behavioural changes.”

According to the CaFGOAG, with such support, it “can be assured of the fullest cooperation of artisanal fishers in the implementation of the 2022-2026 Marine Fisheries Management Plan, and the National Plan of Action to combat IUU fishing.”

November 21 each year is celebrated as World Fisheries Day.

It is celebrated in recognition of the contributions of persons involved with the fishery trade across the globe, millions of fish farmers and fisherfolk.