Fisheries Ministry Inaugurates Landing Site Committee

The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MOFAD) has inaugurated a nine-member Landing Site Committee to assist management to supervise the construction of landing sites in some selected coastal areas of the country.

The committee is tasked to review all designs of the landing sites, review the work of consultants on landing site construction, advise management on the objective, supervise the construction, bring on board any other issue that will help the landing sites and submit quarterly reports to the sector Minister.

The Committee members are Prof. Francis K. Nunoo, Ag. Chief Director, MoFAD and Chairman of the Committee; Michael Arthur-Dadzie, Director, Fisheries Commission; E.M. Mensah, Chairman, Fisheries Commission Board; Alfred Y. Tetebo, Special Advisor on Marine; Thomas Insaidoo, Head of Projects, Fisheries Commission; Capt. Inusah Abdul-Nasir, Ghana Maritime Authority; Mr. Collins Owusu Ansah, Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority; a representative of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Enock Boadu Amo, Secretary to the Committee.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony in Accra, yesterday, Hon. Francis Kingsley Ato Codjoe, Deputy Minister, MOFAD, said government was determined and committed to constructing 14 landing sites in selected towns along the coast and at important fishing landing sites in-land.

The landing sites, Hon. Codjoe said, would have a fish market, cold storage facilities, repair facilities and Day Care Centres and Clinics, among others, to enable the fishers access some basic first aid at the landing beaches and to also improve sanitation to meet international standards for export.

He noted that the landing sites would serve as useful entry points for participatory development planning in artisanal fisheries because they were geographically placed where the majority of stakeholders came together from crew to boat owners, money-lenders to mechanics, fish processors to consumers and from local sedentary to migratory fishers, adding that landing sites were effective and efficient starting points to improve the livelihoods of a large variety and number of people.

He disclosed that funds had been allocated under a Chinese facility for the construction of the James Town mini harbour and indicated that the Ministry of Finance had given approval for MoFAD to take the necessary steps to clear the site, provide access route and all the necessary steps to fulfil government's side of the agreement with the Chinese.

Hon. Codjoe expressed the hopethat members of the committee would bring their diverse expertise to bear to ensure that the objective for instituting the Committee was achieved.

Source: ISD (Eva Frempon-Ntiamoah)

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