Abstract

Where there are multiple users of fisheries resources, conflicts often occur that need careful management. Usually, industrial or merchant vessels destroy fishing gears of artisanal vessels (canoes) by accident in Ghanaian coastal waters. Sometimes, industrial vessels are said to consciously destroy fishing gears of competing artisanal vessels. One outstanding cause of conflicts/disputes occurs when industrial vessels, having a passage or in the process of fishing within the Inshore Exclusive Zone (IEZ) or 6 nautical miles from ashore, destroy artisanal vessels’ fishing gears. Majority of incidents were either never reported or reported but lacks evidence. Disputes are most times informally settled amicably whenever there is mutual agreement (herein referred to as “gentleman agreement”). In this study, the total number of accident at sea cases reported from 1993 to 1996 and 2017 to 2019 is evaluated. Eighty-eight (88) cases involving canoe and inshore (7), canoe and trawler (51), canoe and tuna vessel (21), canoe and merchant vessel (8) and lastly, inshore and trawler (1) were successfully settled by the arbitration committee in Tema, Ghana from 2005 to 2020. A total amount of two hundred and thirty-seven thousand six hundred and eleven Ghana cedis (GH ₵237,611) [GH ₵1 = US $0.17; 3 May, 2021] was paid by the defaulters as compensation to the victims. To enforce the fisheries laws, all artisanal vessels using illegal/unapproved gears do not get compensated whenever their gears get destroyed. There is the need for all stakeholders in the fishing industry i.e. artisanal, inshore, industrial as well as merchant vessels to strictly adhere to safety protocols or preventive measures in fish resource exploitation while at sea in addition to lessons taken from cases of incidents at sea. Payment of compensations to affected persons must be expedited in the shortest possible time to enable them bounce back to business.

Keywords: Conflict; Accidental; Compensation; Destruction of equipment; Fishing vessel; Merchant vessel