Deputy Volta regional chief fisherman, Seth Kedey, has hinted of a rise in the price of fish this festive season (yuletide).
According to him, the public would have to pay more for fish due to the unavailability of premix fuel at the various landing beaches along the country’s coast.
Seth Kedey who doubles as the national PRO for the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council (GNCFCGhana National Canoe Fishermen Council (GNCFC) gave the hint in an interview with the Ghananewsonline.com.gh on the sidelines of this year’s farmers day celebrations in Keta in the Ketu Municipality of the Volta region.
“It’s been more than four months without premix fuel, the premix is not there – we are buying from the regular pumps which is very expensive – you have to buy super and mix it with diesel to get premix to embark on your fishing expedition,” Seth Kedey said.
“We all know what petroleum price hikes come along with – prices of everything shoots up. In recent past you could buy a pan of fish for between GHC 400-500, but now that same pan of fish sells at GHC 1000 – whatever price we buy fuel to embark on an expedition, would have to be transferred to the customer,” he added.
Seth Kedey further added that the fisher folk are now helpless considering the current state of affairs with most of them now out of business, adding that, the few canoe owners who are able to afford the expensive fuel, incur huge debts here and there and that’s a source of worry.
He appealed to the government to do something about the premix shortage to keep the fisher folks in business in order to support their livelihoods and of their dependents.
Fishermen in all four fishing regions in the country have in recent times raised concerns about the shortage of premix fuel at the landing beaches, a situation they say was taking a toll on their operations. They have had to resort to the buying of the fuel meant for vehicles at cut throat prices to power their outboard motors to embark on fishing expeditions with nothing been done by the authorities to resolve the situation, they said.
By Leo Nelson