Minister of Fisheries, Mrs. Gladys Asmah, on Friday expressed misgivings about poor management of pro-poor credits targeted at women in the Volta Region. She said reports available to her indicated that bank managers whose facilities were contracted as conduits of such interventions haggled months-on-end about procedures and qualification portfolios, until applicants lost interest and the monies returned to chest.
Mrs Asmah who was addressing a sod cutting ceremony for the construction of a fish landing site at Vodza, a fishing community near Keta, said this disturbing trend was causing “incalculable harm” to women in the region.
The Minister said the 16.1 million dollar facility to be built at Vodza was one of the 14 fishing infrastructure beef-up projects being constructed countrywide at a total of cost of 148 million dollars.
Components of the site include, gear storage and nets mending area, administrative block, toilets, fuel depot, changing rooms, cold store, blast freezer and refrigeration facilities, fish market and day care centre.
Mrs Asmah said a management authority would be set up to manage all the facilities.
She stressed that pair trawling remained banned in the country and that owners of trawlers caught in the act would be sanctioned.
Mr Francis Kpodo, Volta Regional Chief Fisherman appealed to government to facilitate credits to mitigate losses of fishermen during the September 4, 2008 tidal waves.
Mr Edward Kofi Ahiabor, Keta Municipal Chief Executive, lauded the project which he said had come as a big relief after a harbour conceived as part of the Keta Sea Defence Project was dropped by the previous government.
He said the project represented the biggest boost to economic development of that littoral area, where about 90 percent of the people fend on fishing and related jobs.
Mr Clemence Tetteh Lortsoh, Keta Municipal Fisheries Officer, said the facility would stop the daily risks fishermen took, swimming into their boats, anchored meters into the sea and also prevent anchored boats and gears from being crashed by buffeting currents.
He said there was the need for fishermen in the area, which lay between the sea and the lagoon, to adopt aqua culture to offset the world trend of depleting fish catch.
