Chinese fishing firm Rongcheng Ocean Fisheries is nearing completion on a USD 21 million (EUR 19.5 million) port project in the West African nation of Ghana, despite allegations that the firm has engaged in illegal fishing practices in the country’s waters.
The project has drawn criticism from international NGOs, which say they worry that projects like these allow China’s distant-water fleet to engage unfettered in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities. The local fishing community has expressed a bit more optimism, but also said there are worries that Ghanaians won’t see as many benefits from the project as China has promised.
Regarding the latter group, Ghanaian artisanal fishing representatives have expressed cautious optimism, saying that improvements are desperately needed regardless of who builds up infrastructure in the country.
“Fishing port infrastructure is necessary for artisanal fisheries. It provides improved landing sites for canoes and contributes to safety in the sector. Other essential services, including service centers, fishing input sales points, [and] storage facilities, are also beneficial to artisanal fishers,” Nana Kweigyah, the director of the Ghana Canoe and Fishing Gear Owners Association, told SeafoodSource. “Facilities for fish handling contribute greatly to fisheries post-harvest. Overall, port infrastructure enhances fisher livelihoods and contributes to development of coastal communities.”
Many countries in West Africa have attempted to secure external investments to improve aquaculture and fisheries infrastructure.
Neighboring Cote d’Ivoire recently secured a EUR 24.6 million (USD 25.9 million) African Development Bank (AfDB) loan to spur growth within its fisheries and aquaculture industries.
Also backed by the AfDB, the West African country of Benin recently launched a USD 36.4 million (EUR 33.7 million) aquaculture project aimed at increasing its domestic fish output.
Often, however, that external investment has come from China, which has established, or is seeking to establish, projects in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mauritania, Ghana, and elsewhere.
Though he emphasized the need for investment in Ghanaian ports, Kweigyah is also worried about the potential negative side effects of Rongcheng’s investment.
“While we appreciate the benefits, we are concerned about activities of industrial fishing vessels, particularly trawlers, which compete with canoes both within the inshore exclusion zone and over small pelagic species, as well as the ecological damages and their contribution to overfishing," he said.
Kweigyah added it is “disturbing” that the port is being developed by a fishing company which operates vessels involved in IUU activities.
“Having control or influence over the operations of the port would undermine enforcement,” he said. “It's quite a worrying situation that we have to raise with our government for a response.”
Rongcheng, which has operated in Ghana through a series of local subsidiaries, was fined USD 1 million (EUR 919,420) in 2019 for fishing illegally in Ghana. The company’s vessel, Lu Rong Yuan Yu 956, was detained but later released, and there has been no confirmation on whether the fine was paid.
Steve Trent, the founder and CEO of the Environmental Justice Foundation, agrees with Kweigyah’s wariness, telling SeafoodSource that the impacts of the Chinese distant-water fleet on Ghana have been “disastrous” and “intensifying them with this port will only bring further overfishing, illegal fishing, and harm to Ghana's people and fish populations.”
“Chinese vessels have repeatedly fished illegally in Ghana's waters, taking the catch reserved for local fishers, flouting the law and then refusing to pay the fines imposed on them for doing so," said Trent, whose organization has published research on overfishing’s effects on Ghana’s fishing sector. “The simple fact of the matter is that Ghana's fisheries should benefit Ghanaians, not the Chinese industry. To achieve this, however, Ghana's fisheries must be sustainable, legal, and ethical. On every one of those three counts, China has repeatedly failed – in West Africa and around the world. Our research has shown that time and again, when the Chinese fleet is fishing in Ghanaian territory, it's Ghana that loses out. There is no reason to believe this new port will do anything other than add to this history of needless harm."
In 2021, the E.U. placed a yellow card sanction on Ghana for what it described as the country’s failure to enforce penalties on fishing companies engaged in IUU fishing.
China has consistently signaled that expanding the country’s distant-water fleet is a priority, and besides West Africa, the fleet has also established a presence in South America and Pacific Island nations, among other locations.
