IAEA holds African training course on seafood in Accra

A Regional Training Course on Risk Assessment for Seafood and Health aimed at supporting an integrated approach for marine pollution opened in Accra on Monday.

Participants, who are from 12 African countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Benin, Cameroun, Cote d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Namibia, Tunisia, Kenya and South Africa, are expected to share knowledge and be able to impart the knowledge acquired to others in their respective countries.

They are also expected to acquire the requisite techniques to be able to predict risk and create awareness in their various countries and help control the epidemics.

The two-week course is being organised by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in collaboration with Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) and the Department of Marine and Fisheries Sciences, University of Ghana.

The workshop is a follow up project on Enhancing Regional Capability for the Assessment of Contamination in the Marine Environment which was approved under the 2007-2008 IAEA Technical Cooperation Programme cycle.

Its objective is to improve regional capabilities for using nuclear techniques to assess contamination of the marine environment around the African continent with a view to promoting its sustainable management.

Dr Kwame Aboh, Deputy Director General of GAEC, explained that the IAEA project was introduced to deal with marine water contamination.

He said the release of pollutants including heavy metals such as mercury and other toxic chemicals into the various water bodies were endangering the lives of human beings and seafood.

He said by equipping scientists with the requisite risk assessment tools, they would be able to control direct exposure of aquatic fish to pollutants as well as predict and educate the public and policy makers to take the right action.

Dr Aboh said it was well known that marine contamination did not have borders and for that reason Africa, which is almost entirely surrounded by oceans and seas, must deem it essential to adopt a regional approach to address marine contamination issues.

He brought to the attention of participants the negative human activities and their impact on the sea, seafood and aquatic life in general.

He said the current environmental challenges that Ghana faced was a result of the oil find, illegal mining and logging as well as improper disposal of industrial waste.

Dr Aboh said improper disposal of heavy metals including Led and mercury could had long term health implications such as cancers and brain damages in children after consuming contaminated foods.

He said the massive destruction of land and water resources currently on-going in the country was unacceptable owing to their future negative health implications.

Dr Aboh called for enhanced advocacy and education to influence policies that would arrest the situation to save the environment including that of marine from further destruction.

“We can only do this if we pay particular attention to mathematical models,” he said.

Dr Aboh called for the use of ecological tools in achieving positive results that would help safeguard seafood.

He appealed to all participants to give the initiative a high premium to monitor, influence policy and produce results.

Mrs Matilda Asiedu, Head of Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Ghana, said seafood was one major micro nutrient in individuals’ daily food and working together to fight the canker would help solve the problem of contaminated food and water at all times.

“This step when taken worldwide would help improve health conditions,” she said.

Dr Elvis Nyarko, Course Director and National Project Coordinator of IAEA, said Led poison in children foods leads to mental disorders and so it was necessary for all to come on board to help fight the menace across the globe.

Source: GNA