A stakeholder meeting in Ghana has marked a turning point towards implementing the global guidelines on tenure rights, to save the country’s declining fishing industry and safeguard national food security.
Stakeholders and decision-makers at the meeting on 5 April, co-organized by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Hen Mpoano, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), recognised that that core principles of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) and the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF Guidelines) should be implemented to secure the rights of small-scale fishers.
Chairman of Ghana’s National Canoe Fishermen Council, Nana Jojo Solomon, said: “Recognition and respect for all forms of legitimate tenure rights in Ghana – whether or not formally recorded – is urgently needed. The VGGT and sister SSF Guidelines together represent a unique step towards this.”
Steep decline
Ghana’s fisheries are in steep decline, with landings of key species for local consumption at their lowest recorded level since 1980. Traditional fishing communities have been hit hardest, with average annual income per canoe dropping by as much as 40% in the last 10 to 15 years.
Small-scale fishers face loss of access to landing sites as a result of coastal development, and encroachment by offshore oil development into traditional fishing grounds. Infringements upon tenure rights also arise from the illegal and destructive practices of industrial fishing vessels.
The Ghanaian government has requested that the FAO analyse its existing laws through the lens of the VGGT and SSF Guidelines, to identify areas for improvement and strengths to be built on. This comes as Ghana undertakes a revision of its fisheries law framework and prepares to implement its policy on fisheries co-management.
Watch the film from EJF and Hen Mpoano on Ghana’s fisheries: Ghana’s Fishing Sector and the Voluntary Guidelines on Governance of Tenure.
