Efforts to protect country's ports(Page 32) July 7, 2008

Story:Michael Donkor
THE Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) has initiated a programme to prevent ships from foreign countries that are not seaworthy from docking at the country’s ports.
Known as “Port State Control Programme” it would also ensure that such ships did not operate within the territorial waters of Ghana as practised in the other regional blocks of the world.
The Director General of GMA, Mr Issaka Peter Azuma, said this at the opening session of a three-day workshop organised by the GMA in collaboration with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in Accra yesterday.
The workshop which is on “the London Convention” is being attended by representatives from seven West African countries, namely Ghana, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Nigeria, Liberia and the Gambia.
It is aimed at increasing the awareness of the effects of dumping of dangerous materials within the Gulf Stream.
Mr Azuma said the authority would not compromise with the port state control measures on unseaworthy ships especially crude oil carriers and chemical tankers.
He said the authority would also intensify work on its audit programme on operators of reception facilities and off-shore monitoring systems in order to prevent possible pollution of the marine environment of the countries in the sub region.
The Minister for Harbours and Railways, Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, deplored the dumping of dangerous materials into the Gulf Stream and called for the application of the provisions of the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution at combating such unlawful practices.
Prof Ameyaw-Akumfi said the timing of the workshop was opportune and relevant within the context of Ghana’s oil find and the consequential shipping and related maritime activities that would soon take place in the country’s territorial waters.
He said as a result, they all need to consider the possible negative impact associated with some of these activities on their maritime environment and design proactive measures to combat or prevent their occurrence.
Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi said government had initiated work towards the installation of an electronic surveillance system with the coverage range of up to 200 nautical miles into the sea and a complete coast line stretching from Axim to Ada to enable the authorities to survey and monitor on a 24-hour basis.
He said the technology had been found to be more technically and economically feasible than any other means.
Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi said the GMA would play a lead role in collaborating with the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority as well as the security agencies to effectively implement the maritime security surveillance project.