In the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Fisheries Commission has admonished fishers and fishmongers to adopt personal hygiene to ward off the disease.

Fishmongers who travel from place to place to sell their fish must wash their hands frequently where there is soap and water available, use a tissue to cover their mouths and nose when coughing or sneezing and use hand sanitizers.

Madam Rebecca Sackey-Mensah, an officer at the Marine Fisheries Management Division in Accra, gave the advice at the Fisheries Closed Season Stakeholders Dialogue at Agona-Nkwanta in the Ahanta-West Municipality.

The dialogue afforded the stakeholders the opportunity to solicit views on the ideal month for this year's closed season.

The Fisher to Fisher Dialogue is being sponsored by the USAID.

Madam Sackey-Mensah said the World Health Organisation (WHO) had identified the scourge as a pandemic and said as preventive measures were adopted during the Ebola outbreak, same must be done to mitigate the Coronavirus in the country.

She advised fishmongers, fishers and other stakeholders to avoid handshakes and observe all the precautionary measures as directed by the President.

The Western Regional Director of Fisheries, Professor Godfrey Baidoo-Tsibu, warned that the use of DDT and Dynamite among other things for fishing made fishes toxic, which could kill consumers.

Mr Abaka Edu, the Secretary, Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council (GNCFC), said to ensure a successful Closed Season, which was the spawning period of the fish stock, it behoved on the Government to ban the trawlers on the high seas, who destroyed the juvenile fishes.

Madam Henrietta Eyison, the Municipal Chief Executive of Ahanta-West, whose speech was read on her behalf, asked the fishermen to sacrifice in the short term and gain in the long term by allowing the juvenile fishes to grow.

She said the Government would dialogue with fishermen on how best to leverage on pre-mix fuel to boost fishing activities in the country to ensure food security.

Madam Eyison tasked the fishermen to pay their dues to make the association flourish.