Results and Strengths of the CBFMC Programme

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3.10 Results and Strengths of the CBFMC Programme

3.10.1 Current status of CBFMCs The initial forty CBFMCs set up by the Fisheries Commission have all collapsed, most of them becoming inactive after one year of operation. In the Western Region the CBFMCs in Axim, Sekondi, New Takoradi, Abuesi and Asanta were revived by the FoN in 2008. Apart from Sekondi, where a number of stakeholders are still at post, the other communities have the chief fisherman and council and few of the women leaders carrying on their traditional functions and attending meetings and workshops organized by FoN in the name of the CBFMC. Members of Sekondi CBFMC had their last meeting in January, 2010.The CBFMC here may be described as relatively active in the sense that most of the members are representatives of fisher associations and deem it fit to present their association’s problems to the management committees for deliberations. Hence they are regular in attending meetings. Representatives on the Sekondi management committee appear to have a total understanding that the co-management concept is in their own interest and hence their continued participation. Discussions at Axim Apewosika revealed that they had a total of four landing sites. Each landing site had its own chief fisherman and Konkohene and councils. Inspite of these four landing sites, Axim had only one CBFMC whose membership was drawn from the different landing sites. All four chief fishermen were joint chairmen of the CBFMC. This, discussants claimed, was a problem because some chief fishermen did not agree that problems in their area should be handled by other chief fishermen. It appears then that Axim should have CBFMCs to manage each landing site and between which there should be collaboration if regulations could be successfully enforced. 3.10.2 Blending state with traditional authority The inclusion of the chief fisherman as chairperson of the CBFMCs has ensured that the state always has a focal person in the fisher community through which discussions could take place and information channeled to fishers. This is appropriate as traditional societies recognize and acknowledge traditional authority. 3.10.3 Using traditional religious mores The chief fisherman also draws on his traditional authority to use traditional religious sanctions to implement decisions on illegal fishing methods. Here there have been success stories told at Axim and Abuesi where fishers were asked to swear an oath in the name of the Sea god not to engage in illegal fishing practices using dynamite, DDT, carbide and light. The belief among fishers was that those who swore but went back to use these illegal practices would be struck at sea by lightening. Oath swearing became popular along the west coast but fishers went back to illegal fishing practices when they realized that colleague fishers from other parts of the country came into their waters and used illegal methods to fish. The use of traditional religious mores to prevent fishers from using illegal fishing practices has worked better than using fisheries bye-laws. The idea will be to ensure that this means of sanctioning offenders will be instituted in all fishing communities along the coast. 3.10.4 Execution of community projects The insanitary conditions at the beaches that necessitate regular clean ups had become another point of contact for CBFMC members. Beach cleaning was done regularly when the CBFMCs were very active. Presently this has either been left to the chief fisherman to organize or to the ZOIL beach cleaners. In areas where ZOIL has taken over beach cleaning, 18 management committee members, although appreciating their work, have also complained that this was their function. The CBFMCs have embarked upon community electrification projects particularly to light up the beaches at night. They have also organized search and rescue operations for fishers in distress at sea and helped in locating relatives of bodies washed onto their beaches. CBFMCs have also set up arbitration panels to resolve conflicts between fishers both at sea and at the beach. In addition, they have helped school going children found loitering at the beaches to get back into the classrooms. 3.10.5 Existence of bye-laws All CBFMCs studied had developed bye-laws on fishing through community interactions and had presented them to their respective DistrictMunicipal Assemblies for processing and onward transmission to the Attorney General’s office for gazetting. As already indicated elsewhere in this document these laws cover among others beach fouling, loitering of school children at the beach, illegal fishing, social order, fishing taboos and equipment to take to sea. Although implementing the bye-laws has been difficult because they have not been gazetted, fishers are aware of them.

3.11 Constraints of CBFMCs