Developing fishing communities - the premix fuel factor
The world has come to the age of realisation that hunger, poverty and exploitation are not God-given but man-made and can, therefore, be unmade. The local and or artisanal fishermen and women in Ghana have long held on to that belief and accepted the challenge.
Advertisement
Fisher folks in Ghana have and continue to play a cardinal role in the sustainable development of the country. In addition to providing jobs to over two million citizens involved directly and indirectly with local fishing, fish also serves as food with high nutritional value.
Spread across 550 kilometres from Aflao in the East to Half Assini in the West together with over 1,662 communities over the Volta Lake, stretching the Afram plains in the South into the Northern regions, the impact and importance of these artisanal men and women could not have been better recognised by the state and government.
Premix fuel
That perhaps, underpins the rationale behind the introduction of Premix fuel by Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings under the NDC Government in 1992 and which was improved upon by the late former President Prof. John Evans Atta Mills of blessed memory, in May 2009, with the introduction of Landing Beach Committees (LBCs), to empower fisher folks to oversee the sale and distribution of Premix fuel the local fishing communities.
Fisher folk in Ghana continue to play a cardinal role in the sustainable development of the country.
An outstanding feature of the LBCs is the arrangement through which 57 per cent of the margins on the sale of the Premix fuel is set aside for community development.
Prior to the establishment of the LBCs, the laudable idea by government of supporting or subsidising the price of fuel for fishermen and, to a large extent, for transportation in some parts of the riverine area had been thwarted and abused by middlemen and businessmen who engaged in the diversion and hoarding of the Premix fuel and selling it at exorbitant prices to fishermen.
National Premix Fuel Committee
The current government, under President John Dramani Mahama, has continued with the support to the fisher folk by streamlining the operations of the National Premix Fuel Committee and empowering it to ensure that Premix fuel is made available and affordable to the fishermen all year round.
Under the very watchful eyes of the president, the current National Premix Fuel Committee under the chairmanship of Mr Kweku Sersah-Johnson has put in place measures that have enabled and encouraged the LBCs to go strictly by regulations demanding of them to use the 57 per cent of the margins for community development.
Some fisher folk mending their nets in Cape coast
This has led to the construction of a number of development projects across the fishing communities by the LBCs, including cold stores, community centres, roads, sanitary facilities (toilets and baths), extension of electricity, welfare schemes for the poor and needy in the communities and a host of others.
Government interventions
It is informative to mention that in addition to subsidising the Premix fuel to enhance the wellbeing of the fishermen and their communities, the government, under the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, has also rolled out a number of interventions and programmes to the direct benefit of the fishermen and the fishing communities. These include but are not limited to the subsidisation of the price of outboard motors and fishing nets, the facilitation of soft loans and provision of aluminium pans and wire mesh for the fishmongers, as well as the establishment of scholarship schemes for the children of the fishermen.
Some fisher folk mending their nets in Cape coast
The intervention includes the establishment of an insurance scheme for fishermen, the subsidisation of the cost of tricycles for the landing beaches for the transportation of their catch, the establishment of cold stores, construction of landing sites and the establishment of a fish processing factory at Elmina.
Safety of fishermen
In addition to catering for the economic and social well-being of the fishermen, the government also takes their safety as a matter of serious concern. It is estimated that over 5000 people lose their lives annually through storms and other calamities associated with fishing worldwide. To mitigate or prevent such unfortunate occurrence in Ghana, the National Premix Fuel Committee, in collaboration with the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), has embarked on a safety campaign and sensitisation tour of LBCs throughout the country.
At such sensitisation fora, the fishermen and fishmongers are educated on the need to take precautionary measures in the sale and proper storage of premix fuel as well as the need to wear life jackets especially for those who ply their trade on the Volta Lake. The fishermen are also educated on the legal and sustainable methods of fishing to avoid the use of chemicals, light and other harmful devices, which can lead to the depletion of stock from the sea and rivers.
According to Flt Lt Nii Tackie (Retd), a member of the National Premix Fuel Committee and the President of the National Fishermen Council of Ghana, these support programmes by the government are meant to develop and lift the fishing industry in the country to the required and standard.
The writer is a Fishing Consultant
