For Kofi Armah, the day usually starts before dawn in Butre in the Western Region. The 48-year-old fisherman checks his canoe, looks through his nets and prepares for another day on the water.
He said he never knows what the sea will give him. Some days, the catch is enough to pay for fuel and food and leave something for his family.
On other days, he returns with so little that the cost of the trip takes much of what he has earned.
Armah told the Ghanaian Times that fishermen
now had to travel farther in search of fish, a situation he said was partly linked to declining catches and activities associated with illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
For him, fishing is more than a source of income. It is how he supports his family and meets the everyday costs of life.
He said he understood the need for measures to protect the marine environment and rebuild fish stocks, including the establishment of a Marine Protected Area (MPA), but was concerned about what the restrictions could mean for families whose livelihoods depended almost entirely on fishing.
“If they tell us not to fish in an area, we will obey, but what are we going to eat? We have children in school. We have families to take care of,” he said.
His concern is shared by others whose livelihoods depend on the fish brought ashore by fishermen.
Ama Aidoo, a 38-year-old fish processor at Butre, said her work started when fishermen returned with their catch.
She buys, processes and sells the fish, but said poor catches had affected her business as fish became harder to obtain and prices increased.
“When I spend more to buy fish, my profit becomes smaller. Therefore, the MPA gives me mixed feelings,” she said.
Aidoo said she supported efforts to protect breeding grounds and restore fish stocks, but livelihood support under the marine protection
programme should also include women who depend on the fisheries value chain.
The same fishery also supports people who do not go to sea.
Kobina Eshun, a net mender at Butre, repairs damaged fishing nets and depends on fishermen who use them.
“A torn net must be repaired before a canoe can return to sea. My earnings come from the same fishing activity that government is now seeking to regulate,” he said.
He said when fishermen made more trips, he had more nets to repair, but a reduction in fishing activity could affect his income.
Ekow Abban, a transporter who carries fish from the Butre landing site to markets, also depends
on the fish landed by fishermen.
“When fish landings are good, I have enough cargo. When catches fall, I spend more time waiting and make fewer trips. Fuel cost also affects my earnings,” he said.
The experiences of Armah, Aidoo, Eshun and Abban show how deeply livelihoods along the coast are tied to the sea. Any restrictions on fishing, they suggest, could have consequences far beyond the fishermen themselves, affecting the many people whose incomes depend on the fisheries value chain.
That dependence comes against a backdrop of growing pressure on Ghana’s fish stocks. A 2025 stock assessment by researcher Lawrence Issah Braimah estimated fishing mortality at 0.72, compared with 0.20 associated with maximum
sustainable yield, pointing to fishing pressure well above levels considered sustainable.
The assessment also put the number of canoes fishing at 14,462, compared with 9,000 considered sustainable.
For the thousands of people whose livelihoods depend on fishing and the wider fisheries value chain, the figures raise a difficult question: how can the sea be protected without undermining the incomes and businesses built around it?
It is against this backdrop that Ghana declared the Greater Cape Three Points Marine Protected Area on April 14, 2026.
The MPA covers 703.86 square kilometres and involves 21 coastal communities. It forms part
of Ghana’s efforts to protect marine ecosystems and contribute to the global target of conserving at least 30 per cent of land and ocean areas by 2030
At the declaration ceremony, the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Emelia Arthur, said the MPA would be managed through different zones, allowing controlled fishing in some areas while giving stronger protection to ecologically sensitive parts.
The zoning approach, she said, was intended to balance the need to restore marine resources with the livelihoods of communities that depend on fishing.
But for communities whose incomes are tied to
the sea, the success of the MPA will also depend on what happens to their livelihoods.
Joojo Solomon, head of the artisanal fishers, told the Ghanaian Times that livelihood programmes should be designed around the realities of coastal communities and should extend beyond fishermen to others whose incomes depend on the wider fisheries value chain.
He said ecotourism could be explored as one option, with community members trained as tour guides and supported to develop businesses linked to tourism and the coastal environment.
Such opportunities, he said, could complement carefully managed fishing activities within the MPA and provide other sources of income for
people whose earnings were tied to the coast.
Prof. Berchie Asiedu, Deputy Executive Director (Technical) of the Fisheries Commission, said the management plan being developed would take the livelihoods of people within the fisheries value chain into account.
He said the support would target fishers and others whose incomes depend on fishing, particularly those who could be affected by restrictions in the protected areas. While he did not spell out specific interventions, he said these could include skills training and alternative livelihood opportunities.
The aim, he said, was to protect the marine environment without cutting off the incomes of people who depend on fisheries. How fishing can continue within the protected area, he
added, would form part of the ongoing management discussions.
Dr Evans Kwasi Arizi, Chair of Ghana’s MPA Technical Advisory Committee, speaking at a Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority media forum in Tema, said the approach would seek to maintain fishing opportunities for communities that depended on the sea, with certain fishing methods permitted in designated zones.
Hook-and-line fishing, he explained, had been identified as one of the methods that could be allowed within such zones.
At Busua, Nana Frederick Ekow, Chief Fisherman, said the new arrangements would require fishers to know clearly where they could fish and what methods they could use.
He said clear information on the permitted areas and fishing methods would help local fishers plan their activities and adjust to the new management arrangements. Protecting the marine environment, he added, was important for the future of fishing communities whose livelihoods depended on the resource.
At Dixcove, Fiifi Amonoo, a canoe owner and fisherman, said the immediate concern was how the proposed arrangement would work in practice.
He said fishermen needed clear information on the zones, permitted fishing methods and any restrictions as the MPA moved towards implementation.
He also urged the authorities to ensure that
promised livelihood support reached affected households, particularly young people and others who could struggle if access to fishing grounds became restricted.
Mr Stephen Kankam, Deputy Director of Hen Mpoano, a Ghanaian organisation working on coastal and marine governance, said the success of the initiative would depend largely on how well the livelihoods of coastal communities were protected and supported as the management plans were developed.
He said communities whose livelihoods depended on fishing needed to be involved in decisions on how the marine area was managed, while those likely to be affected by restrictions should have access to viable alternative livelihood opportunities.
Without such support, he said, the measures
could deepen the economic difficulties of fishing households and weaken community support for the initiative.
Lessons from elsewhere
Ghana is not the first country to try to balance marine conservation with the livelihoods of fishing communities.
Kenya, the Philippines and Senegal have taken different approaches to protecting marine resources while allowing fishing activities to continue, with mixed results. Research in Kenya has found improvements in fish size, biomass and potential economic value in some protected areas, while other studies have documented income, food and social costs for communities affected by fishing restrictions.
In the Philippines, research on fishing households around marine protected areas found that some full-time and seasonal fishers experienced declines in income during the first one to three years after the areas were established.
In Senegal, research on the Joal-Fadiouth Marine Protected Area found differences between formal zoning arrangements and existing patterns of resource use, as well as gaps in the representation of some resource users in management structures.
Those experiences offer Ghana lessons as it begins its own experiment with marine protection — particularly on how conservation measures affect the people whose livelihoods depend on the sea.
Beyond the 21 communities covered by the MPA, other fishing communities are also watching closely.
Edward Afful, a fisherman from Apam in the Central Region, said the success of the Greater Cape Three Points MPA could influence whether other fishing communities would be willing to accept similar marine protected areas.
He said communities would first want to see the MPA properly implemented and producing results, including improvements in fish stocks and support for people who depended on fishing.
For Armah and other fisherfolk along the coast, the hope is that protecting the sea will not come at the cost of the livelihoods built around it.
The test for Ghana, therefore, will not only be whether fish stocks recover, but whether the
people who depend on the sea can continue to make a living as that recovery takes place.
This story was supported by Earth Journalism Network.
By Benedicta Gyimaah Folley
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