Fisheries Ministry to cut down fish importation into Ghana

The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development has pledged to cut the importation of fish into the country.

The move,according to the Deputy Minister, Moses Anim, it will adequately support local fish farmers to boost fish production in the country.

“Let me reiterate that where we are today, with all the challenges of post-covid, the countries that will survive are those that will increase their import substitution. We need to reduce importation of fish”, he said. He stated that Ghana cannot generate the import of importing fish. “I still stand by the word that if you want to import fish, look for your forex to do that. We cannot generate forex in this country and others will use it to go and import. It will mean we would have to increase production in aquaculture here,” he said Speaking at a Dinner and Awaorganized organized by the Chamber of Aquaculture Ghana under the auspices of the Ministry and the Fisheries Commission, Mr. Anim called on researchers and academia to partner with industry players in improving the sector. “I decided to keep some catfish, not for commercial purposes but to learn about the difficulties in the sector. I can say for a fact that experiencing the challenges firsthand has enlightened me. What do we do then? It’s up to us to work together. Academia, researchers, and stakeholders need to come together and solve the bottlenecks, remove the hurdles o,n the way and make sure that cost comes down,” he stated. Chairperson of the Chamber for Aquaculture Ghana, Dr. Ruby Asmah indicated the maiden edition of the Aquaculture Awards was to acknowledge stakeholders that have survived the turbulence of the sector and industry players that have contributed to the recovery process. “This programme is to acknowledge the efforts of people who have worked tirelessly in the sector. The aquaculture sector in Ghana has had its ups and downs and I think the most difficult period was when the disease outbreak occurred in 2018”. Dr. Asmah said the situation compelled some farmers to go down while others gradually recovered. “To a lot of people, that appeared to be a critical moment. Some went down and never came up again but others survived. We’re seeing some of them recovering”. He maintained that there a need to critically observe players in the industry to support them. “I was looking at the production figures and I was pleased to see how they are up again. Thpromotionerefor is people in the background who have worked tirelessly to see the industry progress,” she said.