Film Reveals Extent of Ghana’s Fishing Crisis

Abiodun Oba I

A new film has been released on the crisis in Ghana’s fisheries and the illegal practice of “saiko” – where industrial trawlers sell fish to local canoes at sea. This is driving the collapse of Ghana’s inshore fishery, on which millions of Ghanaians rely for food security and income.

Ghana’s fish stocks are in steep decline, with landings of key species for local consumption at their lowest recorded level since 1980. Traditional fishing communities have been hit hardest, with average annual income per canoe dropping by as much as 40 percent in the last 10 to 15 years.

The release of the film, Ghana: A Fishing Nation in Crisis was produced by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) and Ghana-based NGO Hen Mpoano with funding from the E.U.-funded Far Dwuma Nkɔdo Project, and its release was timed for the world’s first awareness day for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, June 5.

Steve Trent, EJF’s executive director, says: “The implications of the imminent collapse of Ghana’s small pelagic fishery cannot be overstated. Over two million people in Ghana rely on fisheries for their livelihoods, with limited alternative sources of income or employment. Should the resource disappear, mass migration and social upheaval can be considered a very real prospect.”

The film will premiere on Ghanaian TV, and after the screening, a panel, including academics and representatives from the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council and the Fisheries Commission; will discuss the urgent need to protect Ghana’s fish stocks.