This decision follows a month-long closure of the fishing season as a government measure aimed at restoring depleting fish stocks.

A ceremony at the Akplabanya Beach Site in the Ada West District of the Greater Accra Region symbolically marked the reopening of the sea for artisanal and inshore fleets.

The Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Mavis Hawa Koomson, officially declared the sea open and called on all stakeholders to engage in the conservation of Ghana’s marine resources.

“The closed fishing season is a strategy adopted by the ministry and the fisheries commission to aid in the recovery of over-exploited fisheries resources, rebuild depleted fish species, and reduce fishing pressure on these resources,” she said.

“I urge the people of Upper Manya in the Ada West to move forward with a renewed dedication to conserving our precious marine resources. May this season bring abundant catches and prosperity to the fisheries and aquaculture sector,” she added.

According to them, the illegal fishing activity (saiko) is putting most of them out of business and as a result they are unable to feed themselves and their families.

“For years we have spoken against saiko, but the relevant authorities have ignored us and not addressed our grievances, but you see there is going to come a time when we will stand up for ourselves because we are going hungry,” said two representatives of Artisanal fishers on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem show on Friday morning.

“We don’t want to make politics out of the situation but the truth is that since this government came to power, none of our regulators be it the ministry itself or the fisheries commission have sat with us to listen to our grievances, not even for once,” they fumed.

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“We are aware that there is someone representing artisanal fishers at the Fisheries Commission, but we don’t know who that person is and not for once he even approached us to ask us what our problems and challenges are,” they lamented.

Speaking further, they asserted that, because of saiko, they are now unable to catch popular fish like salmon.

He said a single catch of a trawler used by Chinese nationals is more than the combined 65 catches of an artisanal fishers.