The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development as a means of monitoring fishing activities at sea held a Press Conference on the implementation of the Electronic Monitoring System ( EMS) in Trawl vessels.
According to the sector Minister, Mavis Hawa Koomson, the introduction of the EMS is to track activities of vessels at sea.
“EMS uses onboard video cameras, Global Positioning System (GPS) and Sensors to automatically track and verify fishing activities on board fishing vessels.”
She added that, “the data and information collected from EMS can be used to monitor and enhance compliance regarding gear deployment, transshipment at sea, verification of catch and bycatch including endangered species such as marine turtles and mammals; and collect biological data for stock assessment and fisheries management.
Madam Koomson hinted that the cameras of EMS record videos 24 hours a day and would record among others dumping of fish at sea by trawlers.
The piloting of the EMS would be for a period of 12 months after which the results would be used to scale up to cover all licensed industrial trawlers and tuna vessels operating in Ghana’s EEZ by December 2025.
