Fishermen at the Jamestown Fishing Harbour have issued a December 31 ultimatum to authorities, warning of a symbolic protest if the facility’s cold storage plant remains non-functional, despite the harbour having been open to the public for over two years.
The Chief Fisherman of Jamestown, Nii Armah Wulu, told Accra-based Citi News that the prolonged delay has compounded the community’s struggle with post-harvest losses, forcing some to resort to unsanitary preservation methods that were subsequently banned by city authorities.
The frustration centers on a key component of the $60 million Jamestown Fishing Harbour complex, which was commissioned in September 2024 as a flagship project to modernize artisanal fishing in the historic district . While the harbour features a state-of-the-art fish market and improved quays, the cold store—designed to stabilize fish prices and reduce waste—has remained dormant.
“Management continues to assure us that efforts are underway to operationalise the facility. However, frustrated by the prolonged delay, we have resolved to wear red bands in protest if the cold storage facility is not operational by the end of the year,” Wulu said .
A Cycle of Losses
The operational gap has created a cascading economic problem for the fishing community. With increased fish landings at the new harbour, the absence of functional cold storage means surplus catch cannot be preserved for later sale. According to Wulu, fishermen had resorted to drying excess fish along the streets to prevent spoilage, but the practice was halted following concerns from city authorities regarding public health and sanitation .
The situation highlights a broader challenge in Ghana’s fisheries sector, where inadequate cold-chain infrastructure contributes to significant post-harvest losses. The Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Emelia Arthur, recently emphasized that poor handling and storage not only reduce incomes for fishers but also limit the availability of quality protein for consumers .
A Promised Upgrade
The Jamestown facility was intended to be a transformative intervention. Funded and constructed with Chinese support, the harbour was designed to provide safe docking, a modern marketplace, and crucially, a 200-tonne capacity cold warehouse to replace the unsafe practice of beach landing and immediate sale .
When the harbour was handed over, officials touted the cold store as a solution to the exact problem now plaguing fishermen: the inability to hold stock when market prices fluctuate or when catches are abundant. Fishermen had previously expressed hope that the facility would end the era of forced quick sales at depressed prices .
For now, the red bands serve as a warning. The fishermen are demanding that relevant authorities expedite the operationalization of the facility before the end of the year, warning that their patience—and their livelihoods—cannot withstand another season of avoidable waste.
