Fishermen have been cautioned to closely comply to the closed fishing season exercise by the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development’s Fisheries Enforcement Unit.
Commodore Francis Ayiteyvi Nyarko, the unit’s national coordinator, claims that his staff has sent out enough people to patrol the coast and make sure that no fishermen go fishing at this time.
The government opened the 2024 closed fishing season on July 1st for both industrial trawlers and artisanal fishers.
The marine police, navy, and other security agencies are on board to make sure the drill is carried out successfully, Commodore Ayiteyvi Nyarko told the reporters.
He issued a warning, saying that anyone caught violating the terms of the closed season will face legal repercussions.
“Anybody that we arrest, we will hand them over to the police for the appropriate action to be taken against them. The enforcement team comprises the Marine Police, the Navy, MCS personnel and then any other security personnel that may be available.
“Now we are doing this in close collaboration with the Navy in particular. The police are strongly behind us. So it is teamwork. For them to accept that this closed season has come to stay, it is a law that we are enforcing, so we don’t expect them to do the things we don’t want them to do.”
