At dawn, veteran fisherman Joseph Odonkor prepares his canoe for another day at sea, however, despite his decades of experience, each day brings a growing sense of dread as Ghana’s marine waters, once teeming with fish, are now alarmingly going barren.
The marine resource depletion, experts have blamed on a surge in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, mostly by Distance Water Fishing Vessels (industrial foreign vessels), operating under the radar, scoop up massive quantities of fish, leaving little behind for the local communities who depend on the ocean for survival.
The stakes are high as Ghana finds itself in a desperate fight to protect its marine resources before they disappear entirely, with the European Union (EU) in 2021 warning to issue Ghana a yellow card should the country consistently fail to tackle the menace of illegal fishing.
The ‘yellow card’ is an official warning issued by the EU to its trading partners falling short of tackling IUU fishing. It is a precursor to a red card, which will mean a total ban of seafood exports to the EU.
The Fisheries Management Plan of Ghana (A National Policy for the Management of the Marine Fisheries Sector 2022-22026) indicates that industrial bottom trawlers are steel boats of up to 30m overall length.
The 2020 statistics from the Fisheries Commission indicated that there were 76 active vessels, contributing to an estimated annual catch of 37,507mt in 2019.
Mrs Mavis Hawa Koomson, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MoFAD), however, stated in 2023 that out of the 76 registered trawl fishing vessels, only 30 were able to meet the gear specification and other seaworthy requirements for the renewal of their licenses to go to sea.
She said the gear specification directive was to prevent trawlers and tuna vessels from catching small pelagic fish and allow the juvenile fish to pass through the nets to help sustain the country’s depleting fish stocks.
Illegal fishing is fishing without authorisation or in violation of established laws, regulations, or fisheries management organisations; unreported fishing involves catch whose product has not been reported or misreported to the competent authorities; and unregulated fishing involves a vessel without a nationality with a false nationality.
A report by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) reveals that Ghana misses out on between $14.4 million and $23.7 million annually in fishing license fees and fines from trawlers, as about 90 percent of the Ghanaian trawl fleet is owned by Chinese corporations that use local ‘front’ companies to register as Ghanaian, circumventing the law.
Fish stocks in Ghanaian waters have been severely depleted due to overfishing, as stated by Mr. Jens Otto Krakstad, a senior researcher with the Institute of Marine Research in Norway and cruise leader for the research vessel Dr. Fridtjof Nansen.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), fish stocks within the Gulf of Guinea region have declined by over 50 percent in the last 30 years, with Ghana’s marine fish catch depleting from 420,000 tonnes in 1996 to just over 200,000 tonnes in recent years, which is particularly pronounced in small pelagic species, such as sardinella, decreasing by 86 percent between 1990 and 2020, pushing artisanal fishing to the brink of collapse.
DWFVs, particularly those from China and the European Union, have been found to be exploiting Ghanaian waters, using unsustainable practices including bottom trawling, capturing enormous quantities of fish, and destroying marine habitats, and responsible for about 60 percent of the total fish catch in Ghana’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
It is estimated that Ghana loses about $50 million annually due to IUU fishing activities impacting the artisanal fishing sector, which employs over two million Ghanaians directly and indirectly.
In Tema Newtown, for instance, many fishers report a reduction in daily catch by up to 75 percent over the past decade, drastically affecting their income and livelihoods.
As many local fishers lack access to the necessary resources, such as modern fishing gear, cold storage facilities, and reliable markets, to compete effectively with the DWFVs, it limits their capacity to improve productivity and income, further marginalising them within the fishing industry.
It also impacts Ghana’s revenue through uncollected taxes, reduced fish exports, and the decline of the artisanal fishing sector, which is a vital part of Ghana’s economy and exacerbates poverty in coastal communities, contributing to social instability.