The annual volume of bush meat harvested in Ghana is estimated at 384,992 tons valued at 350 million dollars as against the total annual consumption also estimated at 225,287 tons and valued at 205 million dollars, authorities said.

Nana Kofi Adu-Nsiah, Executive Director of the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission, announced this at the launch of 2008 Close Season on hunting in Kumasi on Friday.

He noted that bush meat is also a trade item that contributes significantly to household incomes and the economy through income generation and protein production.

Nana Adu-Nsiah noted that under legislative provisions, hunters are required to obtain and pay for a license to hunt during the designated hunting season, adding that group hunting is outlawed and that different species are given varying degrees of legal protection through their inclusion in appropriate legislative schedules.

He said the Wildlife Division was responsible for licensing and enforcing regulations throughout the country and that bush meat traders were required to operate under the license issued by District Assemblies.

The Executive Director stated that the Wildlife Conservation Regulations L. I. 685 required that during the four months of August 1 to December 1 each year; there should be no hunting of wild animals with the exception of the grass cutter.

He said non-observance of the Close Season would undermine the sustainability and eventual existence of wild animals thereby depriving Ghanaians of a valuable resource for development.

He asked the public not to patronize the sale of bush meat, dead, alive or smoked except for grass cutters so that hunters would find it uneconomical to hunt those animals during the close season.

Nana Adu-Nsiah appealed to the Police and traditional rulers to arrest offenders by notifying the nearest Wildlife Division and other Forestry Commission Offices. Source: GNA - Ghana News Agency