The Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) has rated Ghana as a poor performer in marine fisheries transparency.
FiTI, an international, multistakeholder partnership that promotes transparency and participation in fisheries governance, has been performing country-by-country studies via the Taking Stock assessment series, which provides investigative analysis highlighting where their fishery transparency efforts currently stand.
The report, “Taking Stock: Online Transparency of Fisheries Management Information in Ghana, released on 24 April, 2023, found Ghana lags in several aspects of fishery transparency behind other African countries, including Mauritania, Cape Verde, and the Seychelles, where FiTI is based. Its poor ranking is mainly because a majority of data required for open and inclusive fisheries management remains inaccessible to both domestic and international seafood value-chain stakeholders, according to FiTI.
The report found there is evidence Ghanaian authorities collect and collate considerable information on the country's fisheries sector, including detailed information on both small- and large-scale fisheries, as well as the post-harvest sector. However, the government has not “prioritized sharing this information with the public,” FiTI said.
“Our assessment showed that, for example, the [Ghana] Fisheries Commission produces an annual report, but this is only distributed in hard copies,” FiTI Executive Director Sven Biermann said. “This is not seen as sufficient from a transparency point of view, as not all fisheries stakeholders – in particular those outside of the capital – may receive such information or are even aware of it.”
The study reported that 58 percent of 39 evaluated transparency elements, such as the enforcement of labor standards and fisheries management plans, within Ghana have “no public access,” 15 percent have “weak public access,” 15 percent have a classification as “not produced,” 9 percent have “moderate access,” and a mere 3 percent have “strong public access.”
Biermann said the government of Ghana, which he does not consider to be “data-deficient,” stands to benefit immensely from disseminating the data via online media, such as government websites, “given the country’s high internet usage.”
Biermann said International Telecommunication Union (ITU) data estimates 69 percent of all individuals in Ghana used the internet in 2021, which is significantly higher than the average for other Sub-Saharan African countries, at 29 percent. The global average among other “lower-income countries,” according to the data, is 45 percent usage, and even the global average of internet usage stands at just 60 percent, emphasizing that the majority of Ghanaians would have ready access to fisheries information if it were available.
The FiTI assessment, completed in collaboration with the Centre for Maritime Law and Security Africa (CEMLAWS Africa), a nongovernmental organization based in Ghana that promotes transparency in the maritime industry, issued several findings it said require urgent government action if Ghana’s marine fisheries are to attain better transparency.
For example, Ghana does not regularly publish detailed information on the status of its fish stocks, despite both widespread concerns about overfishing and the government’s stated commitment to rebuilding fish stocks.
Even though the government conducts regular surveys, “there are no regular reports issued by the government of Ghana on the economic and social importance of the fishing sector, including estimates of the number of people engaged in artisanal fisheries and the important role of women in the sector,” the report said.
Furthermore, the government rarely publishes data on revenues from the fisheries sector, including earnings from industrial fishing companies, making it “impossible for people to understand what contribution fisheries make to the national budget and whether there is a public dividend.”
Some of the information that is accessible to the public, such as Ghana's vessel registry for the industrial fishing sector, is not up to date, and information on vessel licenses solely covers six months in 2022, the report found.
“There is also no public information on the beneficial ownership of vessels, despite this being mandatory information for fishing companies to supply for gaining a fishing license,” it said.
Ghana Deputy Fisheries Minister Moses Anim termed the report “a wake-up call” for the Ghanaian government and an indication that the authorities may finally take action on the four concrete recommendations outlined in the report. These include publishing online data that is not publicly available, such as the complete and updated fishing vessel registry, a list of key laws and policy documents, data on fish exports and imports, as well as data on scientific stock assessments.
Ghana also needs to address existing information gaps, such as the collaboration between the Ghana Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MoFAD) and the Ghana Statistical Service, for easy collation of information on the post-harvest sector, Anim said.
In addition, the report recommends that both the MoFAD and the Fisheries Commission should have a centralized data portal for fisheries, instead of each providing information on varying websites. And the report suggests Ghana should commit to online publication of annual reports on fisheries, including clear information about implementing the country's fisheries management plan.
CEMLAWS Africa, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit institution based in Ghana aiming to improve ocean governance and maritime security in Africa, called for Ghana to commit to the improvements outlined by FiTI.
“[Ghana requires] a certain level of digital infrastructure to be able to host the information and make it available,” CEMLAWS Africa Executive Director Kamal-Deen Ali said after the report was released. “It requires a certain level of technical expertise or personnel dedicated to the job of making the information available.”
University of Cape Coast Professor of Coastal Management Denis Aheto said that Ghana needs independent data on fisheries “to validate whatever information is provided from the Fisheries Commission in terms of effort and catch for effective decision-making.”
This report is one of 10 completed Taking Stock assessments, with other countries including Mexico, Bangladesh, Ecuador, Mauritania, and the U.S. having undergone previous evaluation from FiTI.
Photo courtesy of Environmental Justice Foundation
