Artisanal fishermen at the Lower Prampram Beach area of the Ningo-Prampram District are resorting to the use of super (petrol) mixed with other oils, including engine oil, as alternative to premix fuel.
This is due to the shortage of premix fuel, which fishermen use to power their fishing boats and canoes.
There have been some concerns and agitations from fishers across the country over challenges in the supply of premix fuel to the various landing beaches, which the National Fisheries Association (NAFAG) has stated that it was engaging the authorities on.
Nii Tetteh Nartey III, the Prampram Chief Fisherman, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Prampram, said due to the unavailability of the premix fuel, fishers had no option but to rely on other oils to run their activities.
Nii Nartey said the supply of the premix was a big challenge for them in recent times, adding that without the fuel they could not go fishing.
He indicated that in a bid to sustain themselves and their dependents they spend more on getting alternative fuel, affecting the price of the fish on the market.
He explained that in a week a canoe could make use of more than one drum, which contains between 60 and 70 gallons of fuel for fishing depending on the distance.
“We have over 300 assorted canoes here, each of them can employ between 10 and 18 people depending on their sizes, having no premix fuel means all these people who do not have any alternative means of livelihood will be unemployed,” he added.
The Chief Fisherman, therefore, pleaded with the Government to ensure that the premix fuel was supplied in abundance to make the fishing work easy, and attractive to the youth.
Touching on other issues, he said scores of fishers and trawlers were still indulging in the use of light to fish even though it was illegal and called on authorities to be vigilant in tackling the menace to reduce the negative effect on the fishing sector.