In order to promote education of fishers on the Fisheries Act, the Fisheries Commissions says it has collaborated with the Ghana Bureau of Languages to translate the Fisheries Act into five local Ghanaian languages.
According to the Commission, the translated versions of the Act will help fishers to read the Act in their local language.
The Chairman of Commission, Mike Akyeampong said despite the vigorous education by the Commission for fishers on the need to use prescribed methods in fishing, the issue of language barrier has been a major challenge.
Mr. Akyeampong was speaking to Adom News at a graduation ceremony for thirty (30) Nigerians from the Delta State who had come to Ghana to undergo training in Aquaculture in Ghana.
Mr. Akyeampong said that the Act, which has been translated into Ewe, Damgbe, Ga, Nzema and Fante will be launched soon.
He said the fisheries law has been strengthened to ensure that fishers who flout the law are dealt with.
The Chief Executive Officer of Kumah Farms Complex, facilitators of the training programme, Nana Siaw Kumah explained to Adom News that the move to train the Nigerians, forms part of efforts to reintegrate former rebels from the Niger Delta back into the society.
He called for government assistance to support aquaculture to help boost the increasing demand for fish in the country.
Nana Siaw noted that out of the over eight hundred thousand (800,000) tones of fish needed in the country annually, the nation’s fishing industry is able to cater for only 400,000, just meeting half of the demand, while the remaining is imported from abroad.