Closed Fishing Season: Fishers at James Town blame surge in thievery on sea closure

Fishermen at the Jamestown Landing Beach in Accra are bemoaning the increase in theft cases in the area.

They blame this development on idleness and hunger induced by the close fishing season.

Speaking to 3news.com’s Stanley Nii Blewu, they lamented that because they don’t go to sea anymore, they are unable to generate income to make ends meet which renders them famished.

“The closure of the sea has really disturbed us. Some fishermen have now turned to thieves and stealing from people. Just this dawn, cell phones belonging to five individuals have been stolen. If fishing is in season, the fishermen will not have an appetite for stealing,” one of the fishermen said.

Thirty-five year old Kojo Adjumako, fisherman and a father of nine children, confessed defying the order because of hunger.

He said, “I secretly went fishing at dawn because I was hungry. I shouldn’t have gone, but I could not bear hunger anymore.”

A video obtained from the fishermen shows how industrial trawlers also over-harvest juvenile fish and later dump them into the ocean after they had died.

The fishermen, have recommended stringent monitoring regime for industrial trawlers when the fishing season resumes.

Meanwhile, some fish processors have taken the opportunity of the close fishing season to increase the prices of their fish. They attribute this increment to the cost of the fish, oil, and fuelwood.

A canoe owner and a financier of operations of some canoes at the Jamestown Landing Beach explained that she hoarded stock during the fishing season and now sells them at high prices.

“It is evident that prices of fish have soared. Previously, a carton of fish sold between 1,500 and 2000 cedis, but now the carton costs 2,500 Cedi,” she noted.

The close fishing season will be observed by artisanal fishermen for a month, while industrial trawlers will observe it for two months.

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