Agbezome-Joma (GAR), Oct. 27, GNA - Mr Ronald Abrahams, Principal Basin Officer of the Water Resource Commission (WRC) has appealed to the government to ban stone winning along the banks of the Weija Lake. He claimed that such activities by Construction Pioneers (CP), a stone quarrying company, along the lake is having negative effects on the resource.

He said the operations had contributed immensely to environmental degradation and the weakening of the fringes of the lake. Mr Abrahams was speaking during a sensitisation programme for fishermen of the lake, organised by the Weija Lake Protection Association (WLPA) on Wednesday. He urged the fishermen to desist from using harmful chemical in fishing.

"I will also appeal to you guard against sand winning and also desist from activities which tend to pollute the lake as it supplies about 60 per cent of the water needs of the Western and Central Regions," he added. Mr Gerhard Dogbe, Secretary, WLPA urged the fishermen and the local inhabitants to protect the lake from poisonous chemicals or oily substances.

He said the Association had been empowered to maintain a minimal task force to regulate all fishing activities on the lake and also protect trees that have been planted along the banks. Nii Ayaa Ayi, Chief of Agbezome-Joma appealed to estate developers in the area to construct places of convenience in their homes and also desist from using the lake as their rubbish dump, which could affect the water body. WLPA used the occasion to form a six- member Community Based Fishing Management Committee, which was empowered to formulate bye laws that would control fishing in the lake.