The Ghanaian government’s planned month-long ban on fishing in August to allow fish stocks time to recover will now be postponed by a year, Ghana Web reported.

Francis Ato Cudjoe, the African nation’s deputy fisheries minister, previously said that the ban would begin on Aug. 7. However, the news service reported that Elizabeth Naa Afoley Quaye, Ghana’s minister for fisheries and aquaculture development, has since decided to delay implementation to 2019 after meeting with industry stakeholders.

Ato Cudjoe, said that the fishing season had been closed, as previously announced, to achieve “sustainable fishing and also help replenish the depleting fish stock in the marine sub-sector”.

But fishermen have expressed reservations about the move, arguing that it will deprive them of their livelihood.

Source: Undercurrent