By Laudia Sawer
Tema, Nov. 22, GNA – Civil society organisations (CSOs) in the maritime sector have called for urgent bold action to protect and restore Ghana’s marine resources as the world commemorates Fisheries Day 2025.
This was in a joint press statement issued by the HELP Foundation Africa, Fisheries Alliance, CSOs SDG 14 Platform, and Nsemkafo Consult, and signed by Mr Kwadwo Kyei Yamoah, Executive Director of HELP Foundation Africa.
It stated that the celebration by the CSOs was on the theme: “Reviving Ghana’s Fisheries for a Sustainable Blue Economy and Thriving Coastal Communities.”
It said they were joining millions around the world in recognition of the critical role that fisheries play in food security, jobs, coastal livelihoods, and the sustainable blue economy.
It noted that fisheries remained a lifeline for more than three million Ghanaians, including artisanal fishers, processors, traders, and coastal families, yet the sector faced severe challenges that threatened both livelihoods and national food security.
According to the CSOs, key challenges in the sector included declining fish stocks, indicating that scientific assessments continue to show that small pelagic species, especially sardines, anchovies, and mackerel, were on the brink of collapse due to overfishing and weak enforcement.
It added that Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing, which includes practices such as juvenile fish landings, light fishing, illegalities by industrial trawlers, use of illegal nets, and others, continued to deplete fish stocks and undermined fishing livelihoods.
Other challenges it identified were weak governance and inconsistent enforcement, climate change impacts, socioeconomic vulnerabilities, and post-harvest losses and poor infrastructure.
They recommended the enforcement of fisheries regulations fairly and consistently, strengthening monitoring, control and surveillance with improved vessel tracking, and the implementation of stricter measures against all forms of IUU fishing, including juvenile fish landings, ensuring that artisanal fishers were protected from industrial trawler encroachment.
It further called for the implementation of science-based fishery management, the reintroduction of closed seasons for all fishers, limiting fishing effort through licensing reforms and implementing gear regulations for all fishers, including artisanal fishers.
It also called for the support and improvement of fisheries co-management structures that truly and practically empower local communities in decision-making.
The CSOs added that to accelerate Ghana’s blue economy transformation, there was the need to diversify economic opportunities through ecotourism, aquaculture, seaweed cultivation, and marine renewable energy by strengthening public–private partnerships to unlock sustainable financing for coastal development, while promoting circular economy models to reduce marine waste and pollution, including plastic waste.
They added that there was a need to empower women in fisheries, support women-led cooperatives and leadership in fisheries governance, improve safety, hygiene, and value addition in fish processing, and expand access to microcredit, trade finance, and modern processing technologies for women.
To address climate and environmental threats, they called for the protection of marine habitats such as mangroves and estuaries through restoration programmes, the integration of climate adaptation strategies in national fishery policies, addressing the pollution and impacts of illegal mining (galamsey) on freshwater and marine fisheries, and investment in coastal resilience infrastructure to safeguard communities and landing sites.
“World Fisheries Day 2025 is a reminder that Ghana’s fisheries can recover, but only with collective action, strong political will, and responsible stewardship.”
They called on the government to lead bold policy reforms and invest in sustainable blue economy pathways, and also for fisherfolk and community leaders to champion responsible fishing and protect marine ecosystems, while the private sector and financial institutions should invest in modern technologies and blue economy initiatives.
They added that development partners and non-governmental organisations should support capacity building, research, and community resilience, while all Ghanaians must value and protect the ocean as a national treasure.
GNA
Edited by Christian Akorlie