Tullow Ghana Limited and the Jubilee Partners have assured six coastal districts in the Western Region that they would ensure sustainable fisheries management to enhance the livelihoods of residents within their operational areas.

They pledged to improving safe fishing practices and vibrant oil exploration along the coastal areas.

Mr. Kwesi Amponsah Boateng, Social Performance and Public Affairs Officer of Tullow, said the company would co-exist peacefully with coastal inhabitants in the Region and live in harmony to promote socio-economic development of the country.

He gave the assurance at this year’s Regatta Competition held at Busua Beach in the Ahanta West District, to foster unity and cooperation among inhabitants in the six coastal districts in the Region and the operators of the Jubilee Oilfield.

The event, organized by the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council (GNCFC) and funded by Tullow Ghana Limited, was under the theme “Safe Fishing Saves lives”.

The participating teams, who were drawn from the Jomoro, Ellembelle, Nzema East, Ahanta West, Shama and Sekondi-Takoradi districts, competed in canoe racing, tug-of-peace, orange picking and filling of drums with sea water, generated a lot of excitements.

Mr. Boateng said the company had trained over 2000 fisher folks in livelihood enterprise projects such as soap-making, strategic management, mechanics, mentorship and other hand-on skills, to make lives more comfortable for residents in the coastal areas since certain portions of the sea were restricted from any fishing activities.

He said it had established a scholarship scheme where 50 students are sponsored annually by the company to study abroad and, therefore, entreated sons and daughters of fisher folks in the Region to apply so that they could benefit.

He stated that a technical training centre had also been established at the Takoradi Polytechnic, to train students in employable skills so that they could gain employment with any of the oil companies and other sectors of the economy.

The Western Regional Chairman of GNCFC, Nana Kojo Conduah, expressed gratitude to Tullow and its partners for their financial support in organizing the event for the past five years and asked for their continuous support.

He said fisheries resources were important to the protein requirements of Ghanaians as well as the overall socio-economic development of the country therefore all the citizenry must work diligently to protect them from destruction.

The team from the Nzema East Municipality won the tug-of peace, orange picking and filling of drums with sea water competitions while the Shama District team won the canoe race competition.

The teams that won various events were also given unspecified amounts of money.