The President of the National Inland Canoe Fishermen Council, Jacob Kabori Tetteh Ageke, has revealed that the inland fisheries sector is being threatened by illegal mining activities, warning of imminent fish stock decline.
According to him, fisher folks on the Black Volta in the Savannah region were being chased away by illegal miners to allow them to mine in the water body.
Speaking on the sidelines of a stakeholder meeting in Kumasi on reviewing the new Fisheries Act, Mr Ageke explained that despite efforts to ward off the miners, they continue to ravage the water body, denying the fishers their daily source of livelihood. "Some of the illegal miners are using weapons to make sure our people move out of the communities or around the Black Volta, the places where they mine, that is the Savannah and Banda areas.
We are appealing to the authorities to make sure that the illegal miners leave for us to fish in the river," he said.