8 April 2021
The Centre for International Maritime Affairs, Ghana (CIMAG) wants the government to protect and conserve the country’s water resources from all forms of pollution.
Some fish were found along the shores of the Osu Castle beach on Friday.
Similarly, over 80 mammals melon-headed whales have washed ashore at the Axim-Bewire beach in the Nzema East Municipality on Sunday.
This attracted many residents, some of whom picked them up either for consumption or for sale.
CIMAG in reaction to the development said it is “certainly alarming and immediate steps must be taken by the authorities to ensure the retrieval of the dead fish from the homes of people and those that already ended up in the markets.”
“More awareness should be created via the media in the affected areas, especially in the local dialects. This cannot be business as usual,” it added.
It further urged the government to put in place adequate measures to “ensure that our fisheries resources are not completely depleted in the next few years since that will leave thousands of people especially the fisher folks completely impoverished.”
“The fisher folks are already overburdened with a high cost of fuel and other fishing equipment, therefore if the water resources are not adequately protected from all kinds of illegal activities, it is not only the fisher folks who will be disadvantaged, but Ghana’s fish imports would also escalate, thus exposing more Ghanaians to excruciating living conditions.”
The think tank also called on the relevant authorities to expedite investigations to get to the bottom of the matter.
“We want a transparent group of both State and Civil Society Organizations -including fishermen – to establish the cause of the ongoing fish kills, to eliminate this cause.”