By Edward Nyarko
Ghana is ready to work together with countries that share the Atlantic space to ensure that the increasing incidence of piracy, oil theft, trafficking and smuggling of drugs, arms and people, and unlawful dumping of hazardous waste in the sea is reduced to the barest minimum.
This assurance was given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, at the Ministerial Meeting on strengthening Atlantic Cooperation in New York.
According to the UN, one in five fish caught in the Atlantic comes from illegal fishing, translating into losses of up to $23 billion per year. That harms coastal communities that rely on sustainable fish stocks for food and income.
It fuels corruption and threatens the health and biodiversity of the oceans. Experts say the countries that border the Atlantic cannot take for granted the free and open maritime trade that employs so many people, the undersea cables that connect the world, the fish stocks and wildlife that sustain the world.
The US, on the sidelines of the 77th UN General Assembly in New York, led an initiative of 18 countries, including Ghana, Senegal, Britain, Canada, Spain, and Norway, among others, to step up cooperation in the Atlantic Ocean.
The US Secretary of Defense, Anthony Blinken, said the US will devote another $100 million next year to the effort, in addition to around $400 million already spent each year on maritime initiatives in the Atlantic.
Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, described the initiative as timely and said Ghana welcomes the objectives that seek to protect the marine environment and to ensure sustainable exploitation of marine resources.
