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IR 4: Applied Management: Improved Management of Marine Resources to Reduce Over-exploitation, to conserve Biodiversity and Provide Other Benefits
SFMP will work at three ecosystem scales of management for three types of fisheries stocks. Priority in the first two years will be on the small pelagic fisheries, with a demersal fisheries and
marine spatial plan in the WR linked to community-based estuarine management plans in following years. Integrated community resilience and marine biodiversity conservation actions
will be implemented. The nested approach to design and implementation will enable a synchronized and mutually reinforcing flow of information across national, regional, district and
local levels. Improvements in the smoked and dried fish value chain will be undertaken in targeted communities in the Central and Western region.
Key outcomes and results expected over LoP as described in the Program Description include the following:
Four fisheries management plans developed andor adopted and implemented at different ecosystem scales national small pelagics plan, Western Region Demersal Plan,
Community based plans for the Pra and Ankobra estuarinemangrove systems Approximately 3,000 people, a majority of whom are women, benefiting from diversified
livelihoods, access to micro-credit, adoption of more profitable fish smokers and product value additions
Several fishing communities more resilient to climate impacts Capacity of more than a dozen district authorities to promote and support resilient
community policies and initiatives.
4.1 Small Pelagic Fisheries Management
Activity Lead: Najih Lazar
Activity Team: CRCAccra, Friends of the Nation, Hen Mpoano, URICRC
As noted in IR1, the initial priority is to engage stakeholders to
consider immediate actions to turn around this fishery on the verge of collapse
. MOFAD and FC developed, in consultation of stakeholders, a National Fisheries Management
Plan 2015-2019 as one of the outputs under the ongoing West African Regional Fisheries Project. The plan has been reviewed and approved by cabinet within the legal framework of the
Fisheries Act 625. Many of the proposed actions of the NFMP coincide with the short and long-term strategies outlined by SFMP to end overfishing, cap effort and rebuild major depleted
fish stocks in Ghana. However, the NFMP provides a general framework for managing all marine species but did not address an efficient framework for implementation of proposed
measures and their bio and socio-economic impact by fisheries sector.
The SFMP will coordinate with MOFAD and FC to provide the impact assessment, establish an operational plan and support its execution for the components relevant to SFMP’s “quick hit”
strategy within the framework of the Fisheries Management Plan i.e. seasonal closure, area closure…etc.. This “quick hit” strategy will be accompanied by a longer term adaptive fisheries
co-management planning process focused on small pelagic complex at the national level. The implementation of the “quick hit” strategy requires a “quick monitoring and evaluation” strategy.
This will allow managers to measure the effectiveness of compliance followed by an assessment of the biological gain through an annual update of the stock assessment. Measures of Fmsy and
Bmsy by end of 2016 using updated catch and effort data will allow us to measure biological
32 gains and fishing pressure exerted on the stock. It will not provide a measure of compliance. The
SFMP will coordinate with the FC and FEU to establish additional resources to strengthen monitoring and control at each of the major landings sites. The SFMP is providing an avenue
using hotline for stakeholders to report violations. In addition a series of education and outreach will be added by Hen Mpoano and Friends of the Nation. The SFMP will provide field
coordinators in most important landings sites to maintain a continuous engagement with and for the stakeholders. This will provide an avenue of neutrality for the monitoring and evaluation
process. Terms of reference will be developed in coordination with the ME officers of the FC and with FEU units.
Parallel to the implementation of the “quick hit” strategy, a national small pelagic fisheries management plan will be developed in close coordination with MOFAD, FC and stakeholders to
account for special considerations of this important sector. The plan will be coordinated with the FCWC to account for the stock boundaries and regional differences in fisheries, fish migration,
essential habitat and stakeholder needs. The national small pelagic fisheries management plan will be submitted for approval within the legal framework of the F.A. 625, either as an
amendment to the NFMP or a stand-alone species-specific FMP. In this national plan, we will introduce the concept of Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management to take into account the
variability of the ecosystem and its influence on fish abundance and species composition. A conservation equivalency model will also be introduced. It is simply a fisheries management
process by which regional sub-national management bodies are allowed limited management flexibility in order to take into account seasonal variabilities in fishing conditions and regional
guiding policies and principles.
As SFMP is developing arrangements to support the implementation of the NFMP andor the “quick hit” strategy under the framework of the Fisheries Act 625, an adaptive co-management
framework will be developed in coordination with MOFAD, FC, WARFP, FCWC and Key stakeholders. This will be a follow-up on the initiate scoping document completed by the
WARFP. The SFMP will hold a national conference to develop a framework and key recommendations for a forward strategy for establishing fisheries co-management legal
framework in Ghana.
The SFMP will work with MOFAD and the FC to establish a stakeho lders’ Regional Advisory
Groups, chaired by the FC allowed under Article 9 of the Fisheries Act to provide input and early engagement for fisheries co-management actions consistent with the national policies. It
will serve at the sounding board in each region to serve as a non-binding body for implementation of management measures proposed by the NFMP and engage in the development
of the co-management structures at the regional level. The introduction of regional engagement through these advisory groups is consistent with the philosophy behind key legislation governing
fisheries management. However, existing laws and policies do not specifically refer in detail to a co-management concept and the delegation of authorities but it recognizes the differences
between regions in the decentralization policies and the opportunity to accommodate specific socio-economic conditions. This will gradually introduce the concept of regional jurisdictions
and afford the opportunity to introduce models of property rights in fisheries consistent with key legislation.
FoN will facilitate the Fisheries Working Group FWG in planning and attendance at stakeholder meetings at the regional level. For its part the FWG will be communicating to key
officials and stakeholders in their respective regions.
33 Most of the stocks in Ghana are believed to be data poor. There may be limited knowledge
available in the scientific format about basic life history parameters and history of exploitation patterns. Local Ecological Knowledge LEK is a valuable tool to start to fill in knowledge gaps,
however the challenge has been in combining the two types of knowledge in a quantitative way
for use in stock assessment models and monitoring activities. SFMP will work with project’s partners, particularly HM to develop a system of gathering local knowledge in a useful manner
for inclusion in the stock assessment and management plans. This includes participatory mapping of fisheries activities, migration of fish and fishermen, spawning areas, key fishing
grounds and other biological and environmental information.
4.2 The Western Region Demersal Fisheries Management Initiative
