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FRIDAY, AUGUST 5 will forever remain etched in the minds of fisher folk in Elmina along the coastal belt of the Central region. That fateful day, 14 naval personnel including police and soldiers from the Sekondi-Takoradi Naval base in the Western region stormed Elmina in the afternoon to seize fishing nets banned under the Fisheries Act. The presence of the naval team at the Elmina shore created fear in the entire community and for the fishermen who were repairing their fishing nets for the next day since they are in the bumper harvest season. Journalists were not spared by the navy officials who made it very difficult for them to take pictures. A journalist from Coastal Television, a local TV station in the region had his camera seized after filming the raid. DAILY GUIDE gathered that the naval personnel who were fully armed arrived in a Ford Ranger pick-up with registration number GE 155 Y to ensure that no fisherman used the banned nets for fishing in the region. When the paper got to the town, the angry fisher folk were castigating the navy and government for disturbing them at the start of the fishing season. �This is the third time that the navy has chased us on sea and on land. Why should such a thing happen? If we stop fishing will the government look after our kids for us or they want us to turn into thieves?� they questioned. According to some of the fishermen, the navy had discriminated and politicized the seizure of the nets saying nets belonging to some fishermen believed to be NDC sympathizers were not seized and that only that of New Patriotic Party (NPP) fishermen were confiscated. They alleged that the navy had allowed people using the �saiko, wokye and tainga boats and nets� to continue with their activities and were arresting those using canoes and nets with relatively low incomes. The aggrieved fisher folk have warned the navy to ensure that the right thing is done and at the right time, adding that they will face them boot for boot if they allow any saiko boats to violate the said ban. �If the government and navy want to arrest us then they should arrest all of us and not a section of fishermen and leave the others. We are all one people with one blood,� they added. They said during the tenure of former President Kufuor, they were given the opportunity to fish in abundance even though they were harassed. They noted that it is only the NPP government who can relieve them of the pain and the harassment they have been through in the past two years since the NDC who came to power promising to ensure that fishing activities boom. They added that they would campaign and vote for the opposition NPP and its flag bearer, Nana Akufo-Addo to enable the party win the 2012 general elections The fisher folk appealed to government to plead with the navy to allow them continue with their daily activities since it was causing great harm to the fishing industry.