FISHING RESUMES CLOSE TO OIL RIG (BACK PAGE)

THE warnings and public education to fishermen not to fish near the oil rig at Cape Three Points has not yielded any positive results.
Some of the fishermen are still tying the ropes of their fishing boats and canoes to the anchor of the oil rig.
This has necessitated an emergency stakeholders’ meeting to discuss the problem and find ways to resolve the issue because the operators of the oil rig have reached an advanced stage of testing the wells, something that could pose great threat to life and property of any fisherman who goes near the oil rig.
Representatives of the Western Regional Co-ordinating Council, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), the Ghana Navy, Tullow Ghana, the Ministry of Fisheries and fishermen from Sekondi were expected to address concerns pertaining to the danger posed to the operations of the oil rig by the fishermen.
The Lead Geophysicist of the GNPC, Mr Richard Addo Darko, told the Daily Graphic before the meeting in Sekondi, that the stage the company had reached in its operations was very risky to the fishermen.
Showing pictures on the latest development to this reporter, Mr Darko said some fishing boats and canoes sighted near the rig recently bore the inscriptions Jesus is my helper, Great Messiah, Omo Omo, and El- Shaddai.
Mr Darko alleged that one of the fishing boats, El-Shaddai, seemed to be the most notorious, since it was always sighted near the oil rig.
According to Mr Darko, most of these fishermen were believed to have come from Dixcove, Axim, Sekondi and Shama.
Mr Darko said the GNPC had been organising community education from Half Assini to all the other coastal towns but some of the fishermen were still recalcitrant.
The Deputy Western Regional Minister, Mr Kwasi Blay, reiterated the need for the fishermen to stay out of where the oil rig had been located, since their activities were hampering its smooth operations.
The Flag Officer Commanding the Western Naval Command, Commodore Frank Daley, noted that the fishermen were showing gross indiscipline by going near the oil rig after several warnings.
The Chairman of the Sekondi branch of the Ghana Inshore Fishermen Association, Mr Francis K. Eshun, said members of the association had been advised not to go near the oil rig and that anyone who flouted this advice would be fined $1000.
A representative of Tullow Ghana, Mr Oliver Mccredie, said the company operated in an industry where “safety is our priority, no doubt about”.
The Western Regional Director of Fisheries, Mr Alexander Addo, said even though education was not going down well with the people, there was still the need to constantly educate the fishermen on the implications of their activities near the oil rig.
Three companies are currently engaged in oil exploration and production in what is now called Jubilee Field. They are Kosmos Energy, Tullow and Anadgo.