According to a recent research from the Environmental Justice Foundation, widespread illegal fishing and overfishing by Chinese-owned industrial trawlers are putting the livelihood of millions of Ghanaians at danger, and a culture of corruption has allowed these crimes to go unpunished (EJF).
EJF’s investigations expose widespread corruption and intimidation that lead to shocking unlawful fishing and atrocious human rights violations on fishing vessels in Ghanaian waters.
In order to bring the industry out of the shadows, avert the ecological and social crises, and ensure sustainable, moral, and legal fisheries in the Ghanaian fleet, EJF calls on the Ghanaian Government and its international partners to collaborate and take urgent action.
Over 200 fishing settlements may be found in Ghana, where approximately 3 million people rely on small-scale fishing for a living. Due in great part to the industrial trawl fleet’s illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, these livelihoods are now under danger.
According to EJF, Chinese beneficiaries are estimated to hold at least 90% of this, violating Ghanaian regulations on foreign ownership.
In a technique known as “saiko” fishing, these trawlers have been shown to unlawfully target small pelagic species, including those referred to as “the people’s fish,” and sell them back to the communities that would have caught them.
Originally, this illegal transaction was carried out mostly at night while at sea. Fish frozen in blocks were moved by trawlers into specially designed canoes which went on to sell it to local markets.
This practise seemed to have ended after government measures to prohibit the unlawful trade in September 2021. But rather than going away, the activity has just gotten more out in the open. Large quantities of juvenile demersal fish and tiny pelagic species that were packaged in cartons and sold at the country’s main industrial port for distribution elsewhere in the nation were monitored by EJF researchers.
The study is based on discussions with a Ghanaian crew who saw atrocities happen firsthand, video evidence, a network of sources, and analysis of vessel tracking information. Insufficient food was reported by every person surveyed, access to clean water was restricted for 94% of those surveyed, and physical violence was seen or experienced by 81 percent of those surveyed.
In addition, 92 percent reported seeing fish illegally dumped at sea, 81 percent claimed to have seen their captains illegally enter waters designated for canoe fishermen, 64 percent reported seeing non-target species being illegally targeted and taken, and 53 percent confirmed the use of illegally modified fishing gear.
Nearly 90% of the crew interviewed reported having witnessed corruption from officials, according to EJF, which allows for illicit fishing and human rights violations to occur in the nation’s waters unreported and unpunished.
According to EJF, the corruption web is so intricate and intertwined that without significant reforms, human rights protection and sustainability are impossible.
The Ghanaian government, in especially the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, has the power to stop this and guarantee sustainable fisheries, but in order to do so, it must build on its recent, praiseworthy successes in reforming some sectors of the sector.
tSeve Trent, EJF CEO and Co-Founder, said: “In recent months, the Minister of Fisheries, Mavis Hawa Koomson, has taken several positive actions and these are to be applauded. However, the extent of illegal fishing and corruption in Ghana’s fisheries across its largely foreign-owned industrial fleets remains 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 livelihoods and food security of millions of small-scale fishers.
“Although the need to act is urgent, the Ghanaian Government can take practical, cost-effective measures to ensure sustainable, transparent fisheries. Stronger oversight actions to tackle illegal fishing and an end to illegal landings will have immediate, lasting benefits for all Ghanaians.”
