An Executive Member of the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council, Dominic Dadzie, has alleged that Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) are giving premix allocation, a situation he laments contributes to the scarcity of the product at landing beaches.
According to him, this arrangement has become a great source of worry to fishermen as they end up buying the product from agents of these MMDCEs at exorbitant prices.
“I can tell you that DCEs have been given premix allocation and it is sad. These people do not have boats. Some don’t even know how fishing is done and yet they get considerable amount of premix. Now, they end up selling the product back to the fishermen at unbearable prices. This is sad.”
He mentioned that, “apart from this arrangement is the biting issue of shortage. As I speak some landing beaches have been without premix for months”.
Mr. Dadzie revealed that the current premix shortage “is also because there is a huge debt that government must clear. So there is a huge premix debt”.
Speaking at the dialogue series organised by Media General’s Takoradi-based radio station Connect FM on the theme ‘Premix, Illegal Unreported and Unregulated IUU Fishing Practices’ at the Sekondi Landing Beach, Mr. Dadzie expressed worry that the current formula used in distributing premix to the fishermen have been overly politicised.
“Just look at the current make of the premix committee. It is made up of representatives of the party of the day. It is only the Chief Fisherman that we can conveniently say is not political.
“So other fishermen said to be of the other divide struggle to get premix. So, imagine what will happen when another party comes to power. It’s a bad precedent we are setting. So if these arrangements don’t change, we will always struggle with the product getting to the right people”.
Western Region Director of the Fisheries Commission Joseph Yeboah, on his part, stated that the Ministry of Fisheries is concerned about the supply of premix and is working tirelessly to resolve it.
“As I speak, we are looking at digitalising the supply of premix. What it means is that without a card, one will not be able to buy the product. Unfortunately, the fishermen are not coming forward to embrace this innovation. We brought 500 cards and only 200 have so far been collected. So we are indeed concerned and working to resolve the premix issues.”
According to him, the growing number of fishermen has also affected the supply of premix.
He, therefore, entreated fishermen to be judicious in the use of the little allocation that they get.