Practise of Pair Trawling, Navy Cann't Cope. Says Chief of Naval Staff, (Agust 25, 2008) Front Page

Story:Michael Donkor
THE Ghana Navy has confirmed the involvement of large foreign vessels in the practice of pair trawling in the county’s territorial waters, but says it can do little to arrest the situation.
Reacting to allegations that pair trawling by foreign vessels had thrown Ghanaian fishermen out of job, the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Arthur Riby Sampa Nuno, said two things accounted for the inability of the Navy to check the situation — the blessing from the Ministry of Fisheries for the practice and the lack of the appropriate vessels to ward off the perpetrators of the practice.
The naval chief said a letter dated October 17, 2007, which the navy received from the Ministry of Fisheries, stated that the ban on pair trawling had been lifted for some licensed fishing companies to engage in it.
He said the Ghana Navy worked in collaboration with the Ministry of Fisheries and that since the former had written to them on the lifting of the ban, all they could do was to allow those foreign vessels to continue with their pair trawling.
However, the Chief Director at the Ministry of Fisheries, Mr Emmanuel Mensah Quaye, confirmed the letter but explained that it was to allow only three companies which had been licensed to experiment with pair trawling for a limited period after which their licences would be withdrawn. He promised that the licences would be withdrawn by the end of this year.
On the second reason, Rear Admiral Nuno said those involved in the practice were using more superior vessels than those being used by the Navy
He said the Naval personnel usually encountered the fishing vessels on the high seas but the superior vessels used for the pair trawling sped off leaving the naval ships behind.
He said the ships of the Ghana Navy were very old, with some having been in use for more than 60 years.
He mentioned some of the old naval ships as GNS Anzone and GNS Bonsu.
Rear Admiral Nuno explained that some of the ships were not functioning well because there were no parts to replace the old ones.
He said Ghana had one of the best and highly professional naval personnel, who were ready to work and defend the country even at their peril but lacked the resources to effectively carry out their mandate.
He said the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) of the Ghana Navy was also not functioning because the license to operate it had expired.
Rear Admiral Nuno said the much publicised money to be released by the government to acquire logistics for the Navy to enable it to function to its fullest had not been received yet.
Rear Admiral Nuno said despite these challenges faced by the Navy, there was hope for the future, since discussions were underway for the Navy to acquire new ships.
He said a delegation from North Korea was in the country holding talks with the Ghana Navy to build new ships for the service.
He expressed the hope that with the oil find, the Ghana Navy would be adequately resourced to perform effectively.
Earlier in an interview with the Chief of the Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. J.B. Danquah, he said the government had secured a deal with the United States of America for them to assist the Ghana Navy.
He said consequently, the USA had promised to give the Ghana Navy five speed boats.
He said out of the five, the USA had shown strong commitment to bringing three of the boats any time soon.
He said this would be followed by a joint military training between the Ghana Navy and the US Marines on how to use them.