A Ghanaian fisheries observer attached to a fishing vessel, identified as Samuel Abayitey, has gone missing.
He reportedly disappeared from the tuna vessel, Marine 707 about two weeks ago.
He was working as one of Ghana’s frontline defenders against overfishing and other illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing by some trawlers.
The Deputy Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Moses Anim, confirming the issue, said the ministry has launched an investigation into the case.
“It has come to our attention, and we have launched an investigation into the matter. We will get to the bottom of the matter,” he told JoyNews, monitored by The Ghana Report.
He was reported missing after failing to return to the cabin he shared with three Chinese crew members.
A police investigation found “no signs of violence or anything incriminating”.
Essien’s younger brother, Bernard Essien, claimed that two weeks before his brother’s disappearance, he had written a statement to the Ghana police.
He attached a video of the crew of a trawler he had been working on engaging in the illegal transfer of fish from a trawler to a large canoe.
The failure of the authorities to find out what happened devastated his family and shocked Ghana’s fishing community.
The family, after calling on the government on numerous occasions to help find their relative accused the government and police of failing to help them locate their relative.