A natural resource economist, Prof Wisdom Akpalu has called for an immediate withdrawal of the government’s subsidies on premix fuel to help save the country’s fisheries sector.
According to him, the subsidies on the premix fuel are seriously contributing to overcapitalization and over-exploitation of the country’s fish stocks.
He explained that fuel cost constituted about 70 percent of the total fishing cost, particularly in the artisanal sector, and that subsidizing the premix would therefore encourage more fleets (canoes or boats) in the sector.
He said “First of all, we have overcapacity in our fisheries. Currently, we have between 12,000 and 14,000 that are in our waters as seasonal canoes. But we need only about 8000 to 9000 canoes to optimize rent to be able to generate the highest benefit possible from our fisheries.”
Speaking in an exclusive interview on the ATLANTIC WAVE on Thursday, he said it is high time government redraws subsidies on premix fuel as these subsidies are wasteful.
“Why do you continue to subsidize an industry that has too much capacity? And here we’re talking about the fishing industry where the rate at which we are extracting the resource is higher than the rate at which the resources are replenishing themselves. Why would you continue to subsidize as an industry? He questioned.
He indicated that fisherfolks have overcapitalized the fisheries and there are too many canoes on the waters.
As such he said, “We don’t have to make it easier for them to go up there and catch more fish and decrease the stock.”
Read also: UCC Level 600 Optometrist student opens his first art shop on campus
Source: Enoch Chanimbe/ATLFMNEWS
