The Ghana Tuna Association (GTA) has expressed concern over the current fishing license regime, describing it as too expensive.

The Association said its previous concern over the amount and dialogues to have it reduced yielded no results.

Speaking in an interview , the Association’s president, Frank Aihoon, said the US$135 per gross registered tonnage (GRT) for industrial vessels and tuna boats – which was imposed on the industry in 2020 – has been eroding gains of fishers, particularly in the tuna sector.

The previous license fee hike, from US$35 to the current rate, compelled the Association at the time to initiate a court action against the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development.

At the time, the sector ministry said the increment implemented to protect fishermen and reduce depletion of the country’s fish stock.

But Mr. Aihoon argued that the pole and line fishing technique, which is the dominant tuna fishing method among Ghanaian fishers, is collapsing and not lucrative as it was due to current prevailing factors in the tuna industry.

This method, he said, is less expensive than purse seine net fishing, which most Ghanaian fishers cannot afford due to price of nets involved.

The Fisheries Commission grants six different types of licencing to various categories of fishers in the country. The categories of licences include artisanal fishing, aquaculture and recreational fishing, canoe fishing, foreign fishing vessels, Tuna fishing and licencing for research vessels.

“Among these categories of the licencing regime, the tuna licencing rate is one of the highest and it is impacting us negatively,” Mr. Aihoon said.

The Tuna fisheries industry

Tuna fishery is one of the most important fishery sectors in the country. There are about thirty registered tuna vessels in Ghana operating with average annual tuna production of about 74,000 tonnes, according to data from the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA).

Ghana’s tuna fishing vessels catch lots of varieties, including pelagic and migratory species. Most tuna vessels are operated on joint-venture basis, with Ghanaian owners having at least 50 percent of the shares as required by the Fisheries Act 625 of 2002.

The country is a major exporter of fish and one of the countries in West Africa that structurally exports fish and fishery products to the European Union (EU).

As the country’s tuna is endorsed and approved by the EU, Italy accounts for 73 percent of Ghana’s tuna exports; France, four percent; and Spain, three percent.

Source : B&FT