Fisheries ministry signs agreement with FAO to strengthen sector
The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development has signed a $500,000 technical cooperation agreement with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on strengthening routine fisheries data collection in the West African sub-region.
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The move is also to support the efforts of fisheries committees of the West, Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) to enhance evidence-based decision making in the management, planning and development of the fisheries sector through a reliable statistical information system.
The Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Ms Sherry Ayittey, signed on behalf of the ministry, while Dr Abede Haile, the FAO representative to Ghana, initialled on behalf of the organisation.
Aim of project
The project is aimed at developing appropriate and cost-effective, sample-based surveys for the artisanal fisheries sector, enhancing the national fisheries information system and also formulating mechanisms for the exchange of information between the FCWC and its member countries.
Dr Haile said the project would also analyse the current data collection systems for marine industrial and artisanal catches in six countries, such as Ghana, Benin, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia and Nigeria.
He added that the initiative would further produce fisheries and resource monitoring system inventories for the beneficiary countries.
Approach
According to him, the approach to be adopted involved the use of modern technologies as mobile phones and tablets for data collection through the ad-hoc development of application for collection, storage and transmission of data collected in the field by enumerators.
The FAO representative said the project was expected to significantly contribute to a better understanding of the exploitation of fish stocks and livelihoods of fishing communities.
Neglect
Ms Ayittey said the development of tools and methodologies for data collection and analysis for the fisheries sector had suffered long years of neglect and under-funding from the government.
According to her, the conventional data collection methodologies that were primarily designed to monitor large-scale commercial fisheries in temperate waters were not adequate when applied to the fisheries sector in West Africa.
She said the initiative by the FCWC and the FAO would go a long way to address such challenges.