The National Best Fisherman, Mr Kojo Sortoh Mensah, says in spite of the ban on pair trawling and the launch of a national operation to curb it, some foreign and local vessels are still engaged in the practice. He has, therefore, called on the Mills Administration to ensure strict enforcement of the law. Mr Mensah stated that with the hardship imposed by the illegal practice, any delay in enforcing the ban would aggravate the situation and cause irreparable damage to the local fishing industry. Speaking to the Daily Graphic at the Albert Bosumtwi-Sam Fishing Harbour in Sekondi, the best fisherman commended the ban on pair trawling and the introduction of the anti-pair trawling exercise. He, however, called on the current administration to intensify the hunt for those who tried to break the law because "fishermen are suffering". Last December, the government launched an exercise, code-named "Operation Stock Control" under the Anti-Pair Trawling Operations of the Ghana Armed Forces, meant to ensure vigilance in the country's territorial waters “to deter and stop pair trawling activities in the country once and for all". "Pair trawling in general is not entertained in any country," Mr Mensah said. He further alleged that the vessels engaged in pair trawling were bringing herrings and cassava fish, which they were .not allowed to catch, to the Ghanaian market, depriving Ghanaian fishermen of any catch. He further explained that those types of fish were seasonal and that this was the time to allow them to breed. Mr Mensah pointed out that pair trawling was being done everyday throughout the whole year in the country's territorial waters and that it did not allow the fish to spawn. He said the success or otherwise of the government’s action now "will be felt in the next fish season in July, August and September". Contributing, the Secretary of the Sekondi branch of the Ghana Inshore Fisheries Association, Mr Emmanuel Nii Botchey, noted that pair trawling would collapse the fishing industry and create unemployment among fisher folks. He said since pair trawling started in the country around 2000, most of the canoes could not go fishing, since anytime they went fishing they could not make any meaningful catch.. "Our stand is that the government should allow the fishing vessels to do single trawling as is being done by the wooden boats," he emphasised. According to Mr Botchey, single trawling would enable more wooden boats to go fishing, since they were likely to make meaningful catches. Many other fishermen the Daily Graphic spoke to at the harbour were against pair trawling in the country's territorial waters. The Commander of the Sekondi Naval Base, Commander Sam Walker, when contacted, said the operation to check pair trawling activities was ongoing. The Western Naval Command and the Ghana Air Force last December embarked on an operation to protect the fish stock in the country’s territorial waters. The move was to ensure that the country's fishermen derived optimum benefit from the country's maritime resources and halt the depletion of fish stock by those engaged in pair trawling. The programme was also intended to provide the much needed relief for Ghanaian fishermen who had been subjected to severe harassment and considerable logs of income as a result of pair trawling. Source: Daily Graphic