SAVES OUR WHALES - COALITION TELLS MAHAMA

A dead creature

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu
Monday, November 25, 2013

The Save Our Whales And Marine Mammals Coalition has appealed passionately to President John Mahama and his government to urgently act on the unprecedented deaths of whales on the shores of the Western Region within a short period.

From 2012 to date, about 20 sea creatures mostly whales have been washed ashore, raising concern about what might be going on in the seas of Ghana. 

Some environmentalists have attributed the problem to the ongoing oil exploration.

A letter jointly signed by almost all heads of the various civil society groups with advocacy interests in Natural Resource and Environmental Governance (NREG), particularly Fisheries, Oil and Gas said they were concerned about the situation and wants the President to act without delay.

The statement said “we are concerned that the unprecedented beaching of 20 decaying whales with as many as 19 in the Western Region alone since oil exploration and production commenced in 2009 is worrying and requires immediate investigations.”

“Companies exploring, exploiting and producing hydrocarbons in Ghana have all failed to conduct an exclusive fisheries assessment as required by the Fisheries Act 625 of 2002, Section 93, we therefore implore your good office to order the requisite agencies and institutions to take appropriate steps to have the provisions complied by.”

The further coalition said “that there is no marine protected zone in Ghana as required by the Fisheries Act 625, exposing our rich living marine resources to destruction.”

“We thus make humble demand that the necessary scientific studies are conducted with the legislation passed to safeguard the resources from being destroyed.”

The coalition said that the vocation of the fishers and its entire value chain risks destruction by the oil exploration and related activities if measures were not employed to safeguard the sector.

The coalition also said that in the development of the legislation and governing instruments, both laws and pending bills, the fisheries sector was and had been completely ignored and thus risking  the livelihood of 10 per cent  of the country’s population, destroying the main source of affordable animal protein, impacting negatively on food security and increasing  import bill for fish.

“We undersigned humbly request Your Excellency, the authority in whom all natural resources of the country are vested, that you take immediate measures to have all the responsible ministries, departments and agencies to act with dispatch to save our whales and marine mammals and the fisheries.”