The four-year project, which would be carried out in partnership with the Canoe and Fishing Gear Owners Association of Ghana (CaFGOAG), the Fisheries Commission of Ghana, and the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC), is funded by the PEW Fellows Programme in Marine Conservation at the Pew Charitable Trusts.
The project is led by Dr. Ife Okafor-Yarwood, a Lecturer in Sustainable Futures School of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews, as part of her PEW Marine Fellowship and supported by Mrs. Josephine Laryea Asare for her PhD research.
Mrs. Asare, reading a speech on behalf of Dr. Okafo-Yarwood, stated that their collaborators had been strategically chosen to include fisher folk groups at the grassroots level, a policy-making institution at the national level, and a regional fisheries advisory body, to ensure they avoid the culture of exploitative research, leaving room for the research findings and further action plans to be shared with participating regions and communities.
She added that a data collection team has been recruited from the local community, comprising individuals familiar with the social realities on the ground who have received extensive training on research ethics and methodologies and handling sensitive data responsibly.
She indicated that some equipment would also be donated to CaFGOAG and FCWC to ensure they continue contributing to the dissemination of the research findings and engaging with relevant agencies as needed on the issues raised from the research.
Dr. Okafor-Yarwood stated that fisheries were vital to food security and the livelihoods of millions of people in West Africa, with over three million people relying directly and indirectly on fisheries in Ghana alone.
“Despite this, the region’s fisheries suffer from overexploitation, including illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, pollution, and the impacts of climate change. In Ghana’s response to the decline of several important fisheries, the government, among other management measures, is implementing closed fishing seasons, including a one-month-per-year closure for small-scale or artisanal fishers. Although intended to improve natural resource sustainability, the closure has had broad economic and social impacts.”
The Sankofa project would investigate the gendered socio-economic effects of the fisheries closure on fisher-folks in the four coastal regions of Ghana to understand how the policy affects communities, highlighting its impacts on women, who typically process, distribute, and sell artisanally caught fish.
“As part of the project, we will work with community leaders to identify practices inspired by local ecological knowledge that can be integrated with state-sanctioned management interventions (influenced by scientific knowledge) to inform the development of more sustainable and locally appropriate marine conservation measures for equitable fisheries livelihoods.”
Nana Kweigyah, the president of CaFGOAG, said the project prioritised fisheries participation and gives fishers space to participate in the process, identify with it, and be proud of it.
He noted that it was common knowledge that Ghana’s fisheries sector was not doing well, therefore the introduction of the closed season as one of the measures to help replenish the fish stock, adding however that the measures have some effect on the fisher-folks.
He added that there was a need to engage with the stakeholders for them to appreciate the implementation, its challenges, and how to co-manage the sector.
Mr. Emmanuel Kwame Dovlo, the Director of the Fisheries Scientific Surveying Division of the Fisheries Commission, said the Commission had long recognised the traditional practices and the value of knowledge of the fishermen.
Mr. Dovlo acknowledged that scientific knowledge was not more important than traditional knowledge, which had been used to conserve marine space over the years.
He said his outfit fully supported the project, which would help the various stakeholders in managing the fisheries sector better.
