Following several years of aquatic weeds taking over the Volta Lake particularly at Kpong in the Lower Manya district of the Eastern region, the Volta River Authority has finally heeded the cry of the fisherfolk to clear the weeds. In spite of this, some fishermen have been speaking to Rite news, expressing their gratitude and relief over the action of the VRA.
They told Rite news’ reporter that they were happy that authorities have finally turned a listening ear to their plight to deal with the aquatic weeds at the Kpong Fishing Harbour which have been their bane for a long time now.
Extensive works are currently ongoing to rid the Kpong fishing harbour of the aquatic weeds which have taken over the place. The Volta River Authority which owns the river is championing the action. Though the two machines used for efficient clearing of the weeds have broken down in the middle of the exercise, manual labour is still being employed to do the job.
The problem of aquatic weeds has hindered the operations of the fishermen for so long. Some of them had in the past confided in Rite news and gravely lamented that fish catch in the Volta River has reduced to an all-time low yield due to the presence of the aquatic weeds. They told Rite news that until recently; aquatic weeds did not exist at Kpong and also believed the problem could be some punishment from the River gods for some misdeeds of the fisher folk.
Others complained of how the fishes took cover under the shrubs of the aquatic weeds making fishing very difficult which resulted in some unscrupulous fisherfolks taking resorting to the use of dynamites and other chemicals for fishing to maximize their catch.
The clearing of the weeds is hopefully expected to go a long way to address the problem of low catch and the employing of unorthodox means to harvest fish.
Source: ritefmonline.org
