Fishermen at Elmina have rendered an unqualified apology to the Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Minister, Mavis Hawa Koomson.

According to the fisherfolks, their attitude was unruly and unpardonable, hence their apology to the minister.

The fishermen on Tuesday rejected food items given to them by the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Mavis Hawa Koomson when the minister and her entourage toured some coastal communities to distribute outboard motors and some food items.

Not only did they reject the food items, but they also booed and jeered at the minister and her entourage until the bags of rice and gallons of oil meant for the fishermen were packed back into a pick-up truck.

The reason for the fishermen was that the Minister had told them she won’t entertain light fishing on the sea after the end of the closed season.

At a news conference at Elmina on Friday, Chief fishermen of Elmina, Nana Badu, said they were ashamed of their actions and vowed not to allow such an embarrassing spectacle to recur.

They implored the Minister to forgive them their wrongs so, together, they could chart a new path for the progress and development of the fishing industry.

“We have apologized to the Omanhen of the Edina Traditional Area for such an embarrassment, and it is so that we also apologize to the minister. Our actions were embarrassing, to say the least,” he said.

Nana Badu asked the minister to forgive them since they would want to work with her and ensure that the challenges in the fishing industry were resolved.

Some elders of the fishing community took turns to express to apologise but insisted the light fishing was not a method of fishing that was destroying the fishing industry.