The 2004 National Best Fisherman, Opanin Yena, has served notice that he will sue government over the ban on all fishing activity.

According to him, the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture took the decision without factoring in concerns expressed by the fishermen.

To that end, he said, fishermen are unhappy with the ban and will, therefore, resort to the court to compel government to lift the ban.

The Ministry has said that fishermen caught fishing during the closed season will be fined between $500,000 and $2million.

The one-month ban affects all fishing except for Tuna. The Ministry announced the closed season on Friday, 13 July 2018 as part of measures to ensure stock recovery to curtail the depletion of Ghana's fish stock.

Sector Minister Elizabeth-Afoley Quaye announced that the ban starts from 7 August to 4 September 2018 and will affect all fleet.

She said: “It is needful that people are sanctioned when they don’t comply with the law but that is not the interest of government, our duty is to make people comply voluntarily to the closed season.”

“A person who engages in fishing during a closed season declared, commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than $500,000 and not more than $2million in respect of a local industrial or semi-industrial vessel; or 100 penalty units and not more than 500 penalty units in any other case and in addition, any catch, fishing gear or vessel or any combination of them used in the commission of the offence, maybe forfeited to the state.”

But the fishermen have said the ban is a bad decision that will negatively affect their lives.

Mr Kwabena Badu, who represents a group of fishermen at the Elmina Landing Beach, said the sector minister has disappointed the entire coastal belt of the country with her bad policies.

According to him, the minister takes decisions without considering the collective interest of fishermen in Ghana.

Mr Badu told Ghana Yensom on Accra 100.5FM hosted by Chief Jerry Forson on Monday, 16 July that: “We are disappointed in the Minister, Afoley Quaye, for the kind of polices she has introduced. She gathers NGO practitioners in hotels and holds workshops for them rather than spending those resources in meeting the fishermen on the programmes and policies of the government.”

Contributing to the discussion, Opanin Yena told Chief Jerry Forson on the same show on Wednesday, 18 July 2018 that: “I'll sue government over this decision.”

He added: “This decision was taken without the concerns of the fishermen, it is a bad decision that must be reversed.”