Challenges of fisheries and the coastal environment
In most countries, fishery production from wild harvests has reached maximum sustainable levels or declined. Contributory factors to the latter are overfishing, poor management, the open access nature of the resources, loss of critical habitats, coastal sand winning, exploitation of immature fish and the use of destructive fishing techniques such as bomb fishing and fish poisoning. Open access with its resulting tragedy of the commons has been a universal feature of fisheries. This has led to overcapitalisation hence application of excess effort, degraded habitats and depleted resources worldwide. New approaches to management involve secure access privileges, community-designated fishing areas, zoning, national access agreements, licences and permits, and other forms of use rights or tenure.
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Weak governance, and the implications of such for changing open access policies, is widely acknowledged as one of the largest and most common problems within the sector. Factors characterising weak governance in the fisheries sector include corruption, inadequate management resources (physical, human and financial), poor enforcement of regulations, illegal fishing, inability to trace the origin of catches, lack of stakeholder participation in decision making and user conflicts. The inclusion of fishers in management can strengthen governance structure by creating responsible economic incentives for conservation, engender behavioural change and reduce the need for extramural enforcement. A stronger, corruption-free institutional framework will allow for capture of economic rent and reinvestment in management.
Sand mining is a type of open-cast mining that provides material for the construction sector in Ghana. The construction sector in the coastal areas of Ghana relies heavily on coastal sand and pebbles in the building of houses, bridges and roads. No sand is cheaper and easier to obtain for the construction of buildings in the coastal zone than beach sand. This makes the industry very attractive especially for those who do not want to work within the confines of the law.
Coastline retreat is a major threat to human beings . During the last decades, coastline erosion has increased in many locations as a consequence of human activity. Coastal erosion has been identified to be a global problem with at least 70 per cent of sandy beaches around the world receding. Coastal erosion is not alien to the 550-km-long Ghanaian coastline. It has been a serious problem dating back to the 1970s, and continues to threaten many historical sites, tourism facilities, communities and many important social infrastructure. The government has over the years spent huge sums of money in engineering ventures targeted at protecting coastal communities from inundation and the threat of the sea e.g. in Keta and Ningo-Prampram areas.
There is also loss of coastal vegetation such as mangroves, cacti, and raffia palm and coconut trees. Coastal erosion, sand mining and the Cape Saint Paul wilt disease have contributed to 80 per cent decline of coconut and other vegetation over the last 40 years. The clearing of vegetation on the beaches to create pathways for trucks is a common practice by sand miners which destroys many species of vegetation and associated animals.
Another challenge is marine pollution by oil spills, untreated sewage, heavy siltation, eutrophication (nutrient enrichment), invasive species, persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals from mining activities. Pollution by plastics is also widespread and on the increase with fatal consequences for countless sea creatures.
A look at Jomoro
A study conducted in the Jomoro District found that it had 28 landing beaches and 208 canoes in 2014. These have increased and the number of fishermen has also increased.
Major fish species landed here are burrito, barracuda, cassava fish, bumper, herrings and silverfish. The price of the fish is set through haggling and bargaining with the Konkohemaa (queen fishmonger) who relays the cost to prospective buyers. The Ewe fishermen do not spend long periods at sea so their catch is relatively fresh and the most preferred by fishmongers and consumers. Fishermen from other ethnic groups stay longer and allegedly their landings are often deteriorated. When the catch is low, the person who prefinanced the expedition has the first right of purchase.
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Post-harvest losses are usually higher during bumper harvests because of lack of storage facilities but the losses are being incurred at this time when there are low catches, because of the use of chemicals to catch the fish. This is easily detected as fish caught with chemicals have a reddish colouration, deteriorate faster and break up easily during smoking. Such fish are best detected during smoking.
The chorkor smoker is used in the smoking of fish. “Alokoba” and “baya” (forest hardwood species) are two most popular hardwood used for smoking fish. The smoked fish is packaged in large aluminium pans and transported to Agona, Tikobo, Anyinase, Elubo, Sowudadiem, Warf, Kumasi and Accra and other market destinations, usually on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
There is increasing interest by fishermen in fish culture. Fisheries officers should be trained to assist interested fishermen to go into this venture. Also there is the need to train the Fisheries Commission staff at the landing beaches in fish identification. In addition, more personnel should be recruited and provided with basic equipment to facilitate data collection for proper management of the fisheries sector in Jomoro. Thursdays are fishing holidays at the Jomoro area.
Environmental and fisheries issues
There are underhand dealings in sale of premix fuel. Fuel is first sold to middlemen who then add their margins before selling. Many of the middlemen do not even own canoes/boats. There is, therefore, frequent shortage or hoarding of premix fuel and fishermen have to supplement with commercial fuels. There is also a strong political bias in the setup and operations of the Landing Beach Committee. This increases the cost of the fishing.
There is a complaint that the FEU is not visible. The fishermen wondered how ordinary fishermen could manage to outwit such professionals. The Jomoro chief fisherman was specifically mentioned and praised by President Kufuor for stopping illegalities. It is believed that the FEU has informants within it who warn some of the trawlers in advance before setting out on operations.
The Fante fishermen engage in light and chemical fishing when purse seining while the Ewe fishermen do beach seining. Because of the general low catches in the fishery, the Ewe fishermen have also gone into light fishing. This practice had been discussed at the district assembly but it still continues. The Fante fishermen said if they stopped light fishing, fishermen from Axim would do it in Half Assini waters.
According to the fishermen, light on the oil rig attracts all the fish and also brings skin diseases to the people of the area. Seaweeds also often invade the area thus worsening the situation.
Fishmongers incur losses because after they have bought the fish, the men continue to pick fish from the bowl. Also, the women have often complained about the bad quality of the fish. Sometimes when it is very bad, the price is reduced.
Sanitation on the beach is maintained at the individual level. There are community efforts but some individuals keep breaking the law. Although there is a public latrine, some of the people do not patronise it. Relatively, more men defaecate on the beach than women do. It was reported that the beach was once a turtle nesting area.
Focus on Esiama
About 25 canoes operate at the main landing beach at Esiama but none of these boats is registered. Some of the fishermen go out to sea overnight and others go and return within the day. The gear used here are ali net, tenga, adaliboa, set nets. The distance travelled to the fishing grounds depends on the type of gear being used. Some fishermen go as far as Benin or Cote d’Ivoire to fish and when they lose their bearings as happens sometimes they seek help from crew of other vessels or the stars are used as a guide. Fishermen who travel farther from their base carry ice chests on board their vessel. The ice is produced and sold by women.
When going out to sea, one has to have sim cards of all the mobile phone networks and change to the appropriate sim card as and when needed. The mobile phones are used at sea for communication with family, other crew and colleagues at the landing beaches.
Fishes landed at Esiama include the African moonfish, bone fish, redfish and cassava fish. The Konkohemaa negotiates and arrives at the final price. In times of scarcity the fish is shared among all interested fishmongers. The fish is either smoked or frozen. The chorkor smoker is the commonest oven used for smoking fish in Esiama. There are communal ovens (Morrison’s oven) built by the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) which requires smokers to provide their own fuelwood. However, the smoking process is slow so the chorkor smoker is preferred. Dead coconut trees and coconut shells are used for fish smoking. Fish that is deteriorated is salted and dried on palm fronds on raised platforms.
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Destination markets for fish from this town are Agona Nkwanta, Half Assini, Anyinase and Dormasi. When there is a bumper harvest, it is announced on the local radio station (Westend FM) to inform prospective buyers. Unsold fish is kept in warehouse cold store till the next market day. In case of an accident, the truck owner pays a third of the cost of damage.
The beach was usually cleaned by communal labour until Zoomlion Company (ZOIL) took over the job. However, individuals see to maintenance of clean working areas. Defaecation on the beach in this area is strictly prohibited.
Environmental and fisheries issues
One of the major sources of conflicts in the fishing industry is the crossing of fishing nets belonging to different crews. Such disputes are usually settled at sea but they sometimes result in a fight at sea. When reported, the dispute is settled by the chief fisherman and the offending party is made to pay two-thirds of the cost of damage.
At night, some trawl vessels switch off their lights and move into inshore areas to fish thus competing with artisanal fishers. In addition they pose a danger to canoes which sometimes run into the trawl vessels and also destroy gill nets set by canoe fishermen.
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The authority of the chief fisherman at Esiama is no longer recognised by users of the landing beaches including the non-fishing folk. There is evidence that the beach area is being eroded steadily with sand mining taking place along the beaches. There are no public latrines close to the beach so persons working at the beach have to find an alternate place of convenience.