President John Dramani Mahama has announced plans to roll out a national beach-cleaning initiative that will employ and pay young people from to help restore the cleanliness across Ghana’s shoreline.

The initiative forms part of broader efforts to support the fishing sector and protect the marine environment.

Addressing the National Conference of Chief Fishermen and Queen Fishmongers at the Accra International Conference Centre on November 21, President Mahama highlighted the need to have clean beaches.

He announced the governments intention to launch a new Clean Beach Initiative to help drive this movement.

“We’re also going to launch an initiative for clean beaches,” he said.

He added that they will employ fisherfolk and encouraged them to play a central role in driving the programme within their communities.

President Mahama explained that government intends to directly employ young people to carry out daily cleaning activities along the beaches.

“You can give us your children, we’ll employ them to help clean the beaches for us,” he said.

“We will pay them a monthly allowance.”

The President also urged the fishing leadership to take a stronger role in safeguarding Ghana’s marine ecosystem.

He urged them to act as “guardians of our marine resources,” and stressed the need for community education, discipline, and collaboration with enforcement authorities to curb illegal fishing practices.

The President also disclosed that government is taking steps to boost maritime security capacity.

“We’re also in the process of acquiring the new off shore patrol vessels for the Ghana navy to be able to patrol our shores,” he said.