The Centre for Maritime Law and Security Africa has expressed concern about the rate at which the country is losing fisheries observers onboard fishing vessels in the ocean.
A 27-year-old observer named Emmanuel Essien went missing about four years ago and has yet to be accounted for. More recently, another fisheries observer, Samuel Abayitey disappeared while aboard a tuna vessel.
Tragically, his decapitated body was discovered washed ashore two weeks after his disappearance.
Commenting on the development, the Executive Director of the Centre for Maritime Law and Security Africa, Dr. Kamaldeen Ali says the silence of the Fisheries Commission and the Ministry of Fisheries over the disappearances is concerning.
He, therefore, called for a thorough investigation to unravel the mystery behind the disappearances.
“There must be a thorough investigation in this particular case and it must be detailed and unbiased because we must get to the bottom of what is happening. Two things – it could be an accident, it could be a homicide. He could be killed because of certain things observed while at sea. In both cases, that is unacceptable,” he said.
Again, he called for stiffer punitive sanctions on the fishing vessels and the Fisheries Commission over such disappearances.
Dr Ali also asked the state to pay huge compensations to the families of the victims.
