Ghana’s Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Mavis Hawa Koomson, and Liberia’s Director General of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority, Madam Emma Metieh Glassco have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to combat Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing activities.
Speaking at the signing ceremony in Accra on Monday, Hawa Koomson described IUU as a major challenge facing the sub-region, with far-reaching environmental and socio-economic consequences.
She cited the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development as saying that illegal fishing costs the West African sub-region USD23 billion per year and called for a united front to combat IUU.
The Minister also emphasized the need for sub-regional countries to implement the close season concurrently as a stock recovery strategy, stating that “sustainable management of the fisheries resources and ecosystem is thus a shared responsibility requiring effective collaboration among sub-regional countries.”
She acknowledged the Liberian government’s support for Ghanaian artisanal fishers and stated that “the signing of the MoU demonstrates our commitment to strengthen our countries’ collaboration.”