The Director-General of the Ghana Maritime Authority, Thomas Kofi Alonsi, has noted that strategic interventions undertaken by the Authority has led to the decrease in illicit maritime activities in Ghanaian waters.

According to Mr Alonsi, the installation of the Vehicle Traffic Management Information System (VTMIS) has given the maritime authority and other naval institutions the capacity to monitor the entire cost of Ghana, as well as the Volta River.

Following the installation of the VTMIS, some sensitive maritime infrastructural installations such as the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP), the Tema Oil Pipeline, the Aboadze Oil Pipeline, the Ghana Gas Pipeline, the Jubilee Oil Field among others, as well as fishing prohibited zones.

With the effective monitoring regime established, illicit maritime activities such as piracy in Ghanaian waters have reduced drastically, Mr Alonsi said.

According to him, “Ship owners and operators have developed confidence in operating in our waters.”

He also said the Authority had acquired two patrol boats to improve surveillance of the Ghanaian coast, particularly within the exclusive economic zone.

To improve maritime sanitation and combat the pollution of Ghana’s sea, the Authority procured three waste skimmers to extract plastic waste from the ocean, as this will deal with the menace of water hyacinths, which threaten the safety of vessels on Ghana’s water bodies.

According to the Director-General, this came at a cost of about $800,000. Two of these vessels are currently operating on the Volta Lake, with the third operating at Ada.

Commenting on the recent shipping accident involving the MV Comforter II in the Central Region, Mr Alonsi assured that the results of the inquiry into the accident would be made known once investigations conclude.

The accident claimed the life of the captain, Cai Yuanqu, a Chinese citizen, with seven crew members currently unaccounted for, as well as a fishing observer from the Fisheries Commission.