Some irate fishmongers at the Bosumtwi-Sam Fishing Harbour in Sekondi on Friday subjected five naval officers from the Sekondi Naval Base to severe beatings. As a result of the beatings, one of the naval men sustained a deep cut on the head. The five naval men, Daily Guide learnt, were part of a task force mandated to ensure that fishermen at the various beaches and landing sites complied with fishing regulations. The Navy has confirmed the attack on its men, saying that some of them were hospitalized. Daily Guide gathered that members of the task force were at the fishing harbour to carry out their routine checks on fishermen who used illegal methods to fish. According to a reliable source at the fishing harbour, the unfortunate incident occurred when the fishmongers allegedly attempted to prevent the naval men from seizing a generator believed to have been used by a fisherman for light fishing, which was illegal. In the process, the fishmongers allegedly pounced on the naval men and purportedly subjected them to severe beatings. When contacted, Opanyin Yena, a fisherman at the fishing harbour who claimed he was present when the incident took place, denied the allegation. According to him, the naval man with the deep cut sustained the wound when he slipped at the sea shore and hit the back of his head on a stone while returning with a generator he had seized from a boat. He mentioned that the naval personnel, about 15 in number, stormed the fishing harbour on Sunday morning and without any explanation, started carrying away the generators from some of the canoes at the harbour. Opanying Yena explained that the fishermen did not use the generators for light fishing, as perceived by the naval personnel, explaining that the generators were used to start the engines of the fishing boats and pump water out of the boats. Speaking to Daily Guide, Lt. Alfred Martey, Public Relations Officer of 2 Garrison Command in Takoradi, confirmed that the five naval men who were part of the task force were assaulted by some fishermen on Friday morning at the fishing harbour. He mentioned that the task force consisted of personnel from the Ghana Navy, the Ghana Police Service, Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and officials of the Fisheries Department. He indicated that the naval men who stormed the fishing harbour at about 8:30.a.m to ensure the fishermen applied the proper fishing methods were severely beaten to the extent that one of them had to be admitted at the hospital. He noted that when members of the task force got to the fishing harbour and started their routine inspection, they saw a generator in one the fishing boats christened ‘Osoro Akasa’, so the naval personnel decided to seize the generator and hand it over to the police to be used as evidence. The Garrison PRO added that all of a sudden, some fishermen and fishmongers pounced on the naval personnel and started beating them with all kinds of objects and in the process five of the naval personnel got injured. He said four of them were treated and discharged at a hospital while one of them whose condition was critical, was still on admission at the hospital.