Accra, Aug. 13, GNA- Mrs Mary Chinery-Hesse, Chief Adviser to President John Agyekum Kufuor, on Wednesday announced that the government was in the process of acquiring six patrol boats for the security agencies and Ministry of Fisheries to combat illegalities perpetrated within the country's territorial waters. She noted that in addition to the drug menace which had reared its ugly head in the West Africa sub-region, there was also the problem of illegal unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing which was on the increase.

Mrs Chinery-Hesse was speaking at the opening of the Seventh Bureau Meeting of African Ministers of Fisheries Bordering the Atlantic Ocean (ATLAFCO).

Ghana is the first English-speaking country to host the conference, which is being attended by about 100 participants drawn from African states and ATLAFCO partner organizations outside of Africa. Mrs Chinery-Hesse noted that in addition to the drug menace which had reared its ugly head in the West Africa sub-region, there was also the problem of illegal unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing which was on the increase.

"Foreign vessels are not only poaching our fish but also using our waters as transit for their trade in hard drugs," she said. Mrs Chinery-Hesse noted that Ghana had since 2005 executed the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS), which required every vessel to have working transponders, a device that enabled vessels at sea to be monitored from offshore, before being registered.

She, however, noted that the VMS had neither proved to be enough in deterring the high incidence of poaching nor had it broken the back of the drug menace in the territorial waters. Mrs Chinery-Hesse said whereas government was committed to fighting the insanity in the sub-regional territorial waters, there was the need for cooperation among neighbouring states to effectively combat the two menaces.

"Let us join hands through our regional bodies to mount effective surveillance and patrol to deal with this IUU fishing and drug trade taking place in our waters."

Mrs Chinery-Hesse said the importance of the fisheries sector to the economy could not be overemphasized, adding that the sector contributed 4.5 per cent to GDP, employed 2.2 million Ghanaians and in 2007 alone generated 169.3 million US dollars for the Ghanaian economy. But she noted that the rate of irresponsible and IUU fishing posed a threat to the country's fisheries resources and aquaculture. Mrs Chinery-Hesse said government had shown its commitment to securing the future of the fisheries sector and aquaculture by establishing the Ministry of Fisheries to ensure that attention was paid to the sector.

Ms Gladys Asmah, Minister of Fisheries, said IUU fishing had put the country's fishery resources under siege and "our marine resources have been over subscribed" adding that "We must act now or never". She noted that due to greed, commercial activities and irresponsible fishing practices, the fishery resources of the country had been overexploited to the extent that in recent times, there had been lower catches of fishes.

Ms Asmah said there was the need for a concerted effort in the areas of technology, information, human resources sharing and collaboration to protect the sector for posterity. She said due to the recent huge shortfall between actual catch and total requirement for consumption, government had since 2005 pursued aquaculture with vigour, but there was need for heavy investment in the sector. Ms Asmah expressed the hope that the ATLAFCO conference would produce strategic plans geared towards effective regional and international co-operation to stem IUU and thereby preserve the marine resources.