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The importance of fishing for traditional life in Ghana's coastal villages

Martin Freimuller, cook on board the MV Greenpeace, recently travelled to Ghana with a film and camera crew to speak to the local fisherman of Ghana to document the effects of pirate fishing on their way of life and fish stocks.

Under the guidance of Noble Wadzeh from Friends of the Earth, we visited a number of fishing villages along Ghana's southern coastline, on the Atlantic Ocean. In each case, the local fishermen's story was the same: their fish stocks are in rapid and serious decline due to a combination of fishing in Ghanaian waters and, more recently, pirate fishing vessels operating in the international waters of the Atlantic ocean.

Noble, our main contact in Ghana, has been working for the last two years with traditional fishing villages to maintain a sustainable way of fishing and to fight primarily against the big trawlers that are destroying their stocks.

Pirate fishing in international Atlantic waters poses a new threat, although little information is available locally about this - the pirates operate outside relevant international conventions to conserve fish stocks and do not report their catches.


Ghana, formerly known as the Gold Coast, (gold is still an important export) is situated in West Africa, washed to the south by the Gulf of Guinea and bordered by the Ivory Coast to the west, Burkina Faso in the north and Togo, to the east. Our first and remotest stop is Keta, a village very close to Ghana's eastern border with Togo. It's a 2 day journey by pick-up truck from Ghana's capital, Accra.

Keta is located on a sandbar that separates a large lagoon from the ocean. The village is suffering from severe erosion problems, with the sandbar being gradually washed away by the sea. For the last half hour of our journey we have to carry all our gear through the scorching midday sun, since the road does not extend down to the village. The warm welcome we receive from Chief Francismore than makes up for it!

The welcome involves a ceremony with the local gin. First a little is spilled on the floor for the ancestors and then the cup is passed around, speeches are held and we are shown around the village by the chief and his deputy.


This ceremony, which greets our arrival in every village, at whatever time of day, is an important social custom and crucial introduction, for it is only with the Chief's blessing that the fishermen are willing to talk to us and we are able to film.

Today is Tuesday and a non-fishing day. This is an old tradition to give the fish a break and the villagers an opportunity to fix their nets and boats. We listen to stories from the fishermen, for whom fishing has been a way of life for as long as they can remember. One fishermen tells us the importance of fishing for him:

"The fishing industry has been a traditional occupation for us, and our grandfathers and ancestors have been doing it all along. We have also inherited it from them and that has been the gatekeeper of our life - what we use to sustain our families and our children and we also try to transcend it into tradition. We try to make it live on, to teach people. The taxes we get from the industry is what we use to develop the community in our own small way and that has been a sustenance to our life."

David Ely, who works for the Technical Services for Community Development and is also a member of an international collective in support of fish workers which is based in India with another office in Brussels, has been working for the last 10 years with local fishermen, who fish using the traditional wooden canoes.

Until the late 1950s, early 60s all the fish in Ghana was caught the traditional way - by wooden canoes (artisanal fishing).

Today 75% of the fishing fleet is still artisanal, with technological innovations bringing outboard motors and more sophisticated fishing gear to the remaining fleet and leading to increased access to fishing grounds and a dramatic rise in the fish caught.

David tells us that there are over 5,000 Ghanaians directly involved in the artisanal fishing sector, with about 8,000 canoes in operation. When you include all those connected with them - such as processors and fishmongers - then the number of Ghanaians who depend for their lives on the sea, rises to about 3 million out of a total population of 17.1 million.

Fishing affects not only the financial well-being of the fishing communities. Noble notes that the dwindling fish stocks dramatically affect the whole social structure of these communities and is very distressful to them.

Alfred Tetebo from the Directorate of Fisheries in Monitoring and Surveillance Division, tells us: "Generally, in a season where fishing is good, you can see that the people look cheerful.

They put up houses… those who are not married, you find them marrying, some even marry second wives… But sometimes when the season is not good, we hear of petty stealing… when you go to the communities, the people are moody, you can see if from their faces. They are always complaining about the fishing season."

He adds that fishing provides 60% of the animal proteins consumed in Ghana and represents 5% of the agricultural production. Lately the catches have been bad. Everywhere we go, we hear the same story - that fish stocks have declined at a dramatic rate, fishermen come in with small catches and some species which were well known only 50 years ago cannot even be found today. Even in the seasons where they can expect to catch more, they are still finding that the fish are just not there in the same numbers as previous years.

The role of women

During our visit to Keta the women are smoking the sardines and anchovies. Women play an important role in the fishing sector. While it's the men who catch the fish it's the women who manage the processing and retailing of fish, often organising themselves into cooperatives. The women often also finance the purchase of fishing gear and provide money to buy the fuel for the men to go to sea.

All too soon we have to leave again, since Accra is about 250 km away. On our return journey we witness a serious car crash between a petrol truck and a taxi with death incurred. The driving is manic and busy and accidents like this are common place.

The following day, we head west from Accra, to the village of Mumford, which is situated on a hill in dense rainforest. I feel as though I am entering another world. Clay ovens used for smoking the fish are dotted around and we are once again welcomed in the traditional manner - lots of gin and even more smiles.

These fishermen don't have many opportunities to be heard and throughout our trip are generally very keen to let us know how they feel. Once again we learn that the few boats that came in had landed very few fish. The main fish caught in the seasonal fisheries are crab, sole, anchovies and sardinella.

The industrial fleet concentrates on the pelagic fish species - especially skipjack and yellowfin tuna as well as some bigeye tuna and Atlantic black skipjack. The tuna is sold for export, and not consumed locally.

We continue on our travels, almost as far as the border with the Ivory Coast. We stop in the only hotel just before midnight, where a room cost 3 dollars and is a bit basic. John, our photographer, walks in and wonders where the towels are, which keeps us all amused!

Noble soon talks to someone on the street and it doesn't take long for the shopkeeper to arrive and open his store to sell us 4 towels. In time everything can be arranged here - the pace of life is so much slower than back home - the people have so much time compared to us. I have to say that I could all too easily get used to this more leisurely pace of life, although our itinerary does not allow us much chance to take advantage of it.

The next day, Thursday, we are up at 5am to go to the village of A Hobre which is built completely from mud and palm leaves. Even at 5:30 a.m., we are once again greeted with the official welcome, gin and smiles. There is huge excitement from the children of the village, who have never seen a white face before and can't take their eyes off us.

The men are launching their boats into the surf and the women are busy smoking fish and preparing fufu,the local staple. The answers to our questions are once again the same.

Is pirate fishing affecting artisanal fishing and the fishing industry?

On the way back to Accra we visit Elmina, a bustling port with a couple of old castles which were used to keep slaves in the old days before they were shipped out to the Americas. Elmina is the only town with some tourism and we were not very welcome to take pictures there because the people believe that we just use the pictures to show back home how poor they are.

It is here that we meet Monika, who is a very influential woman in the town community and works for the Department of Fisheries. She is also involved in various women's groups, which teach the women how to maintain the quality of the fish. She tells us how the trawlers and pirates, fishing illegally within Ghana's waters have affected the local fishing communities:

"All the fishermen are complaining that there is no fish because of illegal fishermen in our waters catching their fish and even yesterday, they wanted to make a demonstration because they wanted to make it known to the government that they are destroying their livelihoods."

She tells us that the Department of Fisheries in Elmina receives many complaints requesting that legal action is taken. While many local fisherman give reports of the activities of trawlers, these reports are unofficial. David Ely informed us that there is inadequate information on fish stocks due to the lack of scientific research and the absence of government involvement. Nevertheless, from the data which is available and the testimonies of the local fishermen, there can be no doubt that species are declining at a dramatic rate.

David also tells us that trawling is very important in the industrial sector and it is here that a lot of money can be made. The pirate vessels are a very serious problem not only because they deplete the fish stocks, but because they also discard their bycatch into the sea, making it impossible for the local fishermen to do meaningful fishing. He says that because trawling has drifted inwards to the coast, it is destroying the sea beds where the fish lay their eggs. Some of the local fishermen have reports of being harassed by the pirates and having their nets confiscated and then destroyed.

The industrial fishing fleet and tuna cannery at Tema, Accra's main port

We spend our last day in Tema where the industrial fishing fleet is based. The fishing industry is an important part of Ghana's economy employing many people and generating US$18.7 million in exports. We try to get an interview with a representative from Pioneer Food Cannery Ltd., one of the largest tuna processing centres in Africa. The company has annual exports of $60 million to its key African and European markets. Our request is, however, turned down, because the company is owned by Star-Kist which is in turn, a subsidiary of Heinz and we would need permission from the US headquarters. We were, however, allowed to go on board two of their boats to film. These boats are basic, about 25 metres in length, equipped with freezers and use pole and lines.

Next stop was the Ministry of Fisheries who were aware of the problem of pirate fishing but did not want to make official statements, since there is so little information available about them.

What can be done to sustainably manage Ghana's fisheries?

The existing mechanisms of control are governed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS), to which Ghana is a signatory and the international treaty has been incorporated into national law. However, Ghana has very limited resources and like many countries in the Gulf of Guinea has no way to effectively patrol and control its waters. Alfred told us that gradual steps are being taken to improve this. However, he also pointed out that in the area of migratory fish stocks, managing resources by one country is simply not enough: fish stocks know no national boundaries.

On a national level, Ghana's Department of Fisheries has formed a Directorate consisting of the following additional government institutions: the navy, customs service, police, attorney general and the harbour authorities. The aim is that together they will monitor fishing activities, mainly through the harbours. They also have plans to organise fishing communities into community-based Fisheries Management Committees, teaching them to understand the science of fishing so that they can take initiatives at the community level.

Enforcement

As to how the measures to be adopted are to be enforced, Alfred advises that at a national level, a team will be formed to actively patrol the seas, check the seaworthiness of vessels, inspect the fishing gear and catches, which can all be done under the existing laws.

According to Alfred, those caught who have infringed the laws are sent to the courts for prosecution. However, the plan is to reform the law to allow for administrative measures to be taken. At the community level, community tribunals are also being established to expedite cases at the national and community level.
Someone else we spoke to, however, told us that currently the navy is supposed to patrol Ghana's waters. In fact there is only one patrol boat, which lets illegally operating fishing vessels go, once they have donated some of their catch and provisions to the navy.

I came home with a deep respect for these peoples living together with nature. The friendly way I was welcomed in Ghana is something I will never forget.