The late Major Courage Quashigah (rtd), a former Ghanaian Health Minister, had his own definition of food security.” Good, quality, nutritious food, hygienically packaged, available in sufficient quantity all year round, and located at appropriate places at affordable prices.” This may no longer hold in his nation.
Over the years, its coastal economy has been undermined by foreign fishing fleets involved in illegal trawling and transshipment. These acts drain national revenue, damage ecosystems, and threaten food security and sovereignty.
Ghana has been battling with illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, so prevalent in the Gulf of Guinea. Fishing activities break national and international laws as foreign vessels fish in Ghanaian waters without permission. Most often, catches are not wholly reported to authorities to evade taxes or quotas.
Then, it’s not uncommon to find fishers involved in acts that may run contrary to applicable conservation or management rules. Industrial trawlers are seen operating outside local fisheries management regulations. These industrial trawlers apply destructive and illegal fishing methods, which may include double trawling. Fish stocks are depleting as a result of large-scale operations carried out by vessels originating from Asia and Europe.
This anomaly, which threatens the sustainability of small-scale fishing and marine biodiversity and undermines food security, costs the nation an estimated $23.7m in lost revenue annually. Again, about $200m worth of fish is imported annually in a country whose coral reefs were in the past so rich with pelagic fishes – fishes that thrive in parts of the sea that are far from the shore.
Fishing Industry In Ghana.
An overview is necessary to capture the prevailing worrisome dynamics of Ghana’s fishing industry. Fishing in Ghana is made up of both ocean as well as freshwater fishing. The fishing industry has been expanding due to increased government interest. Types of fishing methods include industrial and marine artisanal fishing carried out in the ocean, and inland canoe fishing found around the Volta Lake.
The fishing sector contributes significantly to the national economy, which includes employment, livelihood support, poverty reduction, food security, foreign exchange earnings, and resource sustainability.
The sector contributes about 3% of the total GDP, and 5%of the GDP in agriculture. About 10% of Ghana’s population is engaged in various aspects of the industry. Inland fishing centers like Lake Volta and Weija, and other fishing communities in the Eastern region like Sumuner and Agaradzi, contribute to the small-scale fishing industry in Ghana.
Existential Threat.
Whereas inland fishing in Ghana thrives, its offshore counterpart seems to be in troubled waters. For instance, Dnomabor Fishing Village is located along the Atlantic coast in the Central region. Known for its vibrant fishing activities and historical significance, it was once the fisherman’s delight due to bounteous catches as fishers go to the sea. Today, most artisanal fishermen are unhappy as their toils bring in little catch, but plenty of trash – plastic waste, sewage, and chemicals dumped into the sea, which drive the fish away.
Former president of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, who was in France for a One Ocean Summit, noted that the health of the planet and the people was inextricably linked to the health of the oceans. Sadly, they face the threat from pollution and over – over-exploitation.
The former president decried his country’s enormous expenditure on fish imports and revenue loss due to IUU fishing activities. He mentioned that Ghana and its neighbors, Togo and Benin, had signed a pact to implement a Joint Fisheries Observer Programme as part of efforts to ensure safe, secure, and legal fisheries across the Gulf of Guinea. He noted that the plan would include fish catch certification, the reactivation and installation of vessel monitoring systems ( VMS), information identification systems (AIS) in vessels, port and beach inspections, and sea patrols.
It was such National Plan of Action to reduce the menace of IUU in the nation’s ocean space, that prompted nations such as Ecuador, Germany, Vietnam and Ghana, with support from the United Nations Environment Programme, to convene the Ministerial Conference on Plastic Pollution and Marine Litter in Geneva, Switzerland to proffer solutions that would help to clean up ocean spaces and opportunity to create more wealth. A clean ocean creates a healthy ecosystem where life can thrive.
Maritime Security and Political Will.
Ms. Emmanuelle Lecuyer of the European Union-funded Enhanced Maritime Action in the Gulf of Guinea Project (EnMar), first disclosed Ghana’s $200m annual loss as a result of foreign fishing vessels operating illegally in the country’s waters.
In a three – day training programme on maritime security and the blue economy ( the sustainable use of oceans, seas and fresh waters to drive economic growth), the joint effort by the Gulf of Maritime Institute ( GOGMI) and EnMar, brain – stormed on how to promote accurate and urgent reporting on Maritime Security while emphasizing on the vast opportunities and gains of the blue economy–one that creates jobs, and supports communities while protecting marine eco- systems. Many will be gainfully employed in sectors such as fisheries, aquaculture, shipping, tourism, and renewable ocean energy.
In his contribution, the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Godwin Livinus Bessing, was worried that the financial loss from illegal fishing was made worse by poor political will.
The Executive Chairman of Guinea Maritime Institute, Vice-Admiral (rtd) lssah Yakubu, was concerned with the strategic and economic importance of the region, vis-à-vis the complex and interconnected nature of the marine threat, which needed regional and international corporation.
Artisanal Fishery and a Landmark Legislation.
On August 19, 2025, President John Dramani Mahama signed into law a new Fisheries Act aimed at regulating and restoring depleted pelagic fish stocks, and tackling the aforementioned illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in Ghana.
Eric Baah, who spoke for the nation’s Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture, said, ” The new Fisheries and Aquaculture Act introduces bold reforms aimed at ensuring sustainability, compliance, and improved livelihood, especially among small-scale fishers. The Act expands the country’s inshore exclusion zone (IEZ), strengthens enforcement mechanisms like mandatory electronic monitoring systems on industrial fishing vessels, and imposes higher penalties for those caught fishing illegally.”
The IEZ expansion from 6 to 12 nautical miles (11 – 22km) off the coast is the change that persons who are members of the small-scale fisheries value chain are looking forward to. The government believes that the exclusion of industrial fishing vessels from waters within the newly expanded IEZ will preserve breeding grounds and stop the near collapse of the pelagic fishery, promote the livelihood of about 120,000 artisanal fishers. These artisanal fishermen do not have enough technology and other means to compete with their counterparts from Asia and Europe.
Counting The Losses.
Fish makes up more than 60% of animal protein in Ghanaian diets. Dwindling stocks of small fish like sardinella and mackerel are of enormous concern to fishers and scientists. Researchers analysing Fisheries Commission Data for landed catches from 1998 – 2018 discovered that these important fishes are beleaguered with overlapping pressures such as overfishing by an increasing canoe fleet.
Jojo Solomon, secretary to the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen’s Council, notes,” We artisanal fishers need the extension because of the rampant and consistent incursion( by trawlers) into the IEZ over the years.” Many artisanal fishermen who are overwhelmed by the activities of these better-equipped fishers are giving up and venturing into other businesses. They are frustrated and despondent.
The United Kingdom-based NGO, the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), an international organization working to protect the environment and defend human rights, explains that trawlers have, over time, encroached into Ghana’s nearshore waters, despite the IEZ being exclusively reserved for small-scale fishing. These competitions for fish have frequently caused collisions between trawlers and canoes, destroying fishing gear, resulting in injuries, deaths, and loss of livelihoods.
Co-operation and Opposition.
The expansion of the exclusive zone was vigorously opposed by the country’s Industrial Trawlers Association, whose members are most often Ghanaians fronting for other nationals. The trawlers are usually licensed in Ghana, flying Ghanaian colours, but owned and administered by Chinese fishermen and a few other foreigners.
Evans Arizi, a fishery scientist, says,” as trawlers are going to have to fish within deeper waters, they will have to adjust their fishing gear to reach the bottom to harvest the resources that are there, and that might come with huge costs. This may lead to some trawler owners being pushed out of business.” Regarding the new Act, he wants the reforms to include the introduction of the Electronic Monitoring System EMS which makes use of video cameras, sensors, and GPS on industrial fishing vessels to tackle illegal fishing. It is worth noting that Ghana piloted an EMS in 2023. The project ended abruptly in 2024 when the US government cut most of USAID funding globally.
This may be so, but Jojo Solomon of the Canoe Fishermen Council argues that though the new law says that the industrial vessels no longer operate within 22km of the shore, illegal fishing may continue-acts of impunity. “lt is the responsibility of the government to strictly enforce this new law.”
Illegal Fishing and Corruption.
According to a recent investigation by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), fisheries that millions of Ghanaians depend on may collapse as a result of a culture of corruption that has allowed these infractions to go unpunished. The investigation mentions bribery and intimidation, human rights abuses on board fishing vessels, and mind-boggling illegal fishing.
Ghana is home to over 200 fishing communities, with 3 million people in the fishing business. For these, their livelihood is at risk as a result of criminal fishing methods by industrial trawler fleets, which EJF says are at least 90% owned by Chinese nationals who flout Ghanaian laws on foreign ownership.
There is also the vexatious practice of “saiko” fishing. It is an illicit trade where industrial trawlers go for small pelagic species that normally should be the preserve of artisanal fishers. It is a clandestine practice because of its criminal nature. They catch them and then sell them to the communities that would have caught them. These are criminally ripped off with the knowledge of corrupt government officials.
The EJF report also mentions interviews in which the Ghanaian crew in these trawlers witnessed abuses and other inimical acts. 92% had seen fishes dumped illegally at sea, 81% witnessed their captains illegally entering waters reserved for canoe fishers, and 53% testified to the use of illegally adapted fishing gear. Almost 90% of crew interviewed witnessed series of systemic corruption so disturbing that sustainability and human rights defense are impossible without adequate reforms.
Steve Trent, EJF CEO and co – founder applauds the current Ghanaian Minister of Fisheries, the Hon. Mavis Hawa Koomson, for embarking on several positive actions.He said, ” However, the extent of illegal fishing and corruption in Ghana’s fisheries across its largely foreign-owned industrial fleets is highly damaging, presenting a direct threat to the livelihoods and food security of millions of Ghanaians, and threatening the collapse of Ghana’s fisheries. The illegal targeting and landing of small pelagic species and juvenile fish completely undermines the livelihood and food security of small-scale fishers.”
Government Crackdown & Collaborations.
The European Commission in 2013 and 2021, in collaboration with the European Unions IUU Fishing Regulation, threatened a ban on exports to the EU if Ghana failed to deal with the issue of IUU fishing and the landing of IUU seafood at port.
The Global Fishing Watch, in collaboration with TM -Tracking, has provided intelligence to the Ghanaian government to help strengthen monitoring, control, and surveillance of their waters and support enforcement operations. In 2020, their data and analysis helped a 36-hour fisheries operation by the Ghanaian navy. This was assisted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Skylight, a maritime monitoring and analysis platform from the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence. The joint effort represented a novel collaborative opportunity for intelligence-led sea patrol, an idea of the Joint Analytical Cell.
The Global Fishing Watch collaborates regularly with Ghana and other West African nations to supply transparent data, analysis, and intelligence to fight IUU fishing and protect the rights of small-scale fishers.
Ghana’s Trailblazing Efforts
Large-scale poaching by foreign vessels has severely depleted fish stocks in Ghana’s 200 nautical-mile maritime Exclusive Economic Zone. Hence, in 1992, the government passed a fishery law to reduce overfishing and help protect the marine environment. Fishermen were banned from catching specified fish, while all fishing vessels were required to be licensed. The law also provided for a regulatory body and a Fisheries Advisory Council.
Whither Ghana’s fishing industry?
Ghana’s fishing industry has its problems, but they do not diminish the nation’s trail-blazing and pioneering maritime reforms in the Gulf of Guinea. These reforms serve as a model for other neighboring nations that are interested in sustaining fisheries, aquaculture, food security, and sovereignty.
Even with the spate of endemic and systemic corruption, which is the bane of many African nations, Ghana’s legal, administrative, and technological reforms are in the right direction, yielding success.
The nation is consolidating the control of its marine environment and economy, and transforming its blue economy from one of less – than – average to one of sustainability. This is due to the political will of those who govern, and the goodwill of the governed, corruption notwithstanding.
