Fishing closed  season or closed area?

Ghana has been experiencing drastic decline in its small pelagic fish (ancho­vies, sardinella, mackerel) for more than two decades. The fishing closed season, as prescribed by Section 84 of the Fisheries Act, 2002 (Act 625), was sanctioned by the government in 2016.

Due to the shared nature of the small pelagic fish stocks, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo and Benin have joined in a regional fishing closed season under the auspices of the Fisheries Committee for West Central Gulf of Guinea.

The fishing closed seasons embarked on in Ghana from 2016 (for fishing trawlers), and from 2019 (for canoes and semi-indus­trial vessels) may not have met fully the desired outcomes. The canoe fishers requested President John Mahama during his campaign tour in fishing communities in 2024, to revoke the fishing closed season because it had not sustained catches and had also brought eco­nomic hardship during the fishing closed season.

Ministerial directive on 2025 fishing closed season

In March 2025, the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Devel­opment announced the exclusion of canoes in Ghana’s 2025 fishing closed season. The directive in­dicated that only semi-industrial vessels and industrial trawlers will participate in the 2025 fishing closed season, whilst the govern­ment considers the implementation of closed areas or marine protect­ed areas (MPA) in place of the fishing closed season. It is not clear what scientific analysis informed the decision to revoke the fishing closed season in 2025.

Factors for unfulfilled

outcomes of fishing

closed seasons

The outcomes of the fishing closed season may not have been fully realised because of the fol­lowing:

● Short period of im­plementation of fishing closed season: The fishing closed seasons have been implemented by the canoe fleet for a short cumulative period: only six months in seven years. Trawlers have implemented it for 15 months in eight years. The 2015-2019 National Marine Fisher­ies Management Plan proposed a progressive increase of fishing closed seasons up to five months per year.

● Excessive fishing effort: There is excessively high fishing effort applied by all fishing fleets. In the late 1990s when the highest catch, 270,000 MT, was obtained, it was not because the fishing effort was high, but because fish stocks were abundant. On the con­trary, the 16,000 MT obtained in 2016 was by a rather high fishing effort.

● Intense levels of illegal fishing: There is also intense levels of illegal, fishing in Ghanaian marine waters by all fleets prior to and after the closed fishing period. There is, however, weak controls in terms of surveillance, arrests and prosecution of offenders.

Prospects of the

proposed closed areas

(MPAS)

The Minister indicated that closed areas or MPAs may be implemented instead of the fishing closed season. MPAs, like fishing closed seasons, are intended to protect and enhance the produc­tivity of fish stocks. It implies that the proposed MPAs must be scientifically delimited, with the in­volvement of relevant institutions, and necessary awareness created among stakeholders.

When MPAs are being imple­mented, fishers will be prevent­ed from fishing in them. This may lead to conflicts among the teeming canoe fishers, because of the reduced area for fishing. Fishers will resort to illegal fishing, and breaching of the MPAs as is experienced in the advisory and exclusion zones around oil and gas installations in the sea.

Designated MPAs must be monitored regularly to assess their status and health. This will involve collecting data on various aspects of the marine environment, in­cluding species abundance, habitat types, water quality, and human activities. Collected data must be analysed to identify trends and patterns, which can then be used to inform management deci­sions. Findings from monitoring programmes need to be commu­nicated to stakeholders, including fishers.

CONCLUSION

The current fishing effort in the marine sector is beyond the maxi­mum sustainable yield limit, and it has been recommended to reduce it by a third (NMFMP 2015-2019). Allowing canoes with such a high effort fish throughout the year will place extreme pressure on the fish­ery. It is likely to generate conflicts among fishers, amidst the use of illegal fishing methods, and MPA restrictions.

Fishers should be educated to be fully aware of the declined small pelagic fish stocks, and the need to reduce fishing effort considerably. There should rather be a combina­tion of fishing closed seasons and closed areas, and not the outright revocation of the fishing closed season. This should be coupled with intensified monitoring, con­trol and surveillance, and prose­cution of fisheries offenders, and punitive sanctions.

The impacts of environmental degradation, i.e., pollution from illegal mining currently affecting important rivers which drain into the sea, and dumping of plastics, should be brought under full control.

It is also necessary to support fishers to wean into other liveli­hoods, e.g., agriculture, aquacul­ture, and eco-tourism, to ease the pressure on fisheries resources.

The writer is fisheries moni­toring, control and surveillance expert

1. In March 2025, the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development announced the exclusion of canoes in Ghana’s 2025 fishing closed season.

BY GODFREY BAIDOO-TSIBU