AQUACULTURE COMPLEX FOR WESTERN REGION (PAGE 22)

THE government in collaboration with a Chinese company is to establish an aquaculture complex in the Western Region.
In this regard, more than 2,000 acres has been acquired off Asemasa near Beposo in the Shama District to start the project.
The Minister of Fisheries, Mrs Gladys Asmah, announced this at the inauguration of the Western Regional Fish Farmers Association at Enchi in the Aowin Suaman District of the Western Region.
She expressed the hope that when the aquaculture project begins, fish farmers, especially those in the Western Region, would take advantage of it to benefit immensely from the project.
Mrs Asmah further announced that the government had within the past two years injected more than GH¢1.5 million into the sector, which had made it possible for a number of fish farmers to benefit from the input credit scheme.
She said under the scheme, many farmers had benefited from fish pond construction, fish seed and fish feed credits.
The minister regretted that over exploitation of both the marine and inland fishery resources had led to the continuous decline of the total annual fish catch of about 450,000 metric tonnes.
In order to arrest the decline in fish production, she said the ministry had since 2005 embarked on vigorous fish farming programmes not only as wealth and job creation ventures, but also to produce enough fish to make up for the country’s fish production and requirement deficit.
"Very significant steps have since been made not only to boost the existing structures, but also to attract the youth to go into fish farming. More than 500 existing and prospective fish farmers throughout the country have benefited from the ministry’s aquaculture training programme both locally and abroad," she said.
Mrs Asmah said a couple of months ago her ministry provided a pond digging machine and a compactor to the Wassa West Fish Farmers Association at Tarkwa to enhance the development of fish ponds construction in the Western Region.
Mrs Asmah said she was informed that the interest and enthusiasm in fish farming in the region was high resulting in as many as over 2,000 fish farmers emerging and also the formation of over 22 fish farmers groups in the region alone.
"I am, therefore, not surprised that the hard work exhibited by the fish farmers has given birth to the inauguration of Western Regional Fish Farmers Association," she said.
Mrs Asmah expressed the hope that the inauguration of the association would pave the way for further development of the aquaculture sector in the Western Region and more importantly the injection of the needed assistance from the government and the donor partners.
She said the government for its part was much committed to the provision of the necessary infrastructure, logistics and other relevant technical support to facilitate the promotion, development and management of aquaculture in the country.