CRC
1 February 2019
Aug 18-21: Conference on Fisheries and Coastal Environment in Accra, Ghana ...read more1 November 2018
Nov 8: CRC to host RIMTA’s Annual MeetingCRC will be hosting the RI Marine Trades Association’s annual ...read more25 October 2018
Nov 8 and Nov 9: Game of FloodsCRC is teaming up with Providence, RI Emergency Management Agency – ...read moreThis report is the result of the livelihoods baseline survey as part of the USAID-funded Integrated Coastal and Fisheries Governance (ICFG) Program for the Western Region of Ghana (Hen Mpoano). The survey aims to provide a baseline for interventions to be implemented as part of the Hen Mpoano project by: 1. Establishing a baseline of the status of livelihoods of households in target communities (assess income levels and sources, seasonality issues, assets, vulnerability) 2. Establishing a simplified nutritional baseline of households in target communities and fish species consumed 3. Identifying opportunities for livelihood diversification in the target opportunities Income diversification is a means to cope with risks and seasonality related to agriculture and fisheries. Poverty is multi-dimensional as it not only relates to income and consumption levels, but also to a lack of basic needs (access to shelter, health, and sanitation) and the ability to cope with shocks. Understanding poverty therefore requires the analysis to go beyond measuring income, to include factors such as education levels, health status, ownership and control over capital, financial and natural assets and access to social networks. The livelihoods survey conducted for the Hen Mpoano project aimed to encompass all these dimensions.
read moreAs part of the Sustainable Fisheries Management Project (USAID-SFMP) anti-Child Labor and Trafficking (CLaT) program in the Central Region of Ghana, Friends of the Nation (FoN) organized a series of ten (10) radio advocacy outreach programs between October 2016 and September 2017 aimed at • Increasing public awareness on issues (reasons and implications) of the problem, • Contributing to making the issue socially unacceptable,• Improving public awareness on the works of government agencies in local and national efforts to combat CLaT, especially as it affects the fishing industry; and also Human Trafficking activities in the country.
read moreThis report provides an update of the status of the small pelagic fish stocks of Ghana through 2017. It was led by the FSSD, reviewed and validated by the Science and Technical Working Group (STWG) in June of 2018. The data used in this assessment were provided by Fisheries Commission/’s Fisheries Scientific and Survey Division (FC/FSSD) and the Fridjoft Nansen survey program. Annual landings of sardinella have declined from 100,000 tonnes. in mid-1990s to 19,000 tonnes. in 2017 as fishing effort increased from 8,000 in 1990 to 13,650 canoes in 2017. This drastic decline in landings is caused largely by the artisanal fishing fleet, which operates without proper management controls in an open access. In addition, the unit of effort of a canoe is more efficient today than in the past due to advanced technologies, modern fishing nets, powerful engines and big capital investments. For example, the average size of a purse seine was about 200-300 meters long in the 1970s but today it is 3 times larger - between 600-1000 meters in length and the average crew members on a canoe doubled from 10 to 20 fishermen. Canoe gross tonnage and capacity increased by 2.5 fold (from 2 to 5 metric tons) while the Catch per Unit Effort (CPUE) declined dramatically and the cost and timing of a fishing trip increased as fishermen spend more time searching for fish offshore.
read moreThis manual is intended to contribute immensely to the development of fisheries, and the value chain in Ghana, improve profitability; and gains to fisheries law enforcers, fishermen, and fish processors would be quantitatively demonstrated.
read moreThe pace of overcapacity and overexploitation of fisheries resources is exacerbated by capacity-enhancing subsidies such as fuel and engine subsidies. The premix fuel subsidy and tax waivers cost the Government of Ghana US$44 million annually. It is a ‘capacity-enhancing’ subsidy, meaning it promotes increased fishing effort, overexploitation of fish stocks, lowers fishing productivity in the long run, and makes fishermen, boat owners and everyone in the fishery sub-sector poorer. The outboard engine subsidy is also a capacity-enhancing subsidy that is costing the people of Ghana over US$4.5 million/year. Fisheries actors would be better off without the capacity-enhancing subsidies and funds used toward these programs could be redirected to programs that promote conservation, research, monitoring, and enforcement of fisheries which are referred to as beneficial subsidies. However, outright removal of subsidies could result in severe short-term socio-economic consequences. Based on the analysis in this report, phasing out capacity enhancing subsidies in fisheries is recommended, while at the same time redirecting investment toward programs that will make fishermen and fisheries stakeholders better off in the medium to long term.
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