The FEU is composed of personnel from the Ghana Navy, the Ghana Air Force, the Fisheries Commission, the Attorney-General’s Department, the Marine Police of the Ghana Police Service and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), reports GhanaWeb.
The unit is mandated to monitor, control and provide surveillance of all fishing operations within Ghana’s fishery waters.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony and orientation workshop for personnel of the FEU, the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Mr Nayon Bilijo, charged them to arrest and prosecute people caught flouting the regulations governing the activities of fishing, as prescribed in Section 94 of the Fisheries Act 2002.
“Available estimates indicate that illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing accounts for 30 per cent of the total global fish catch, causing economic losses of between $10 and $23 billion annually,” Mr Bilijo said.
