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4.4 Integrated Community Fisheries Management and Resilience Plans for the Pra
River Estuarine and Mangrove Ecosystems
Activity Lead: Friends of the Nation
Activity Team: Friends of the Nation, Spatial Solutions, SNV, DQF, URICRC, UCC,
HM The previous USAID sponsored Integrated Coastal and Fisheries Governance project initiated a
number of information gathering and spatial planning efforts for the lower Pra estuary including the fish landing site in Shama Old Town and the entire coast of the district. These included
shore classification, land use mapping, and flooding assessment in the Anankwari sub-basin, mangrove and coastal zone use designation, and livelihood activities in the Anlo Beach area.
Subsequently, Friends of the Nation advanced community based conservation in the Anlo Beach region working closely with the Shama District Assembly to develop the 2014-2017 DMTDP
which elaborately provide resources for development and piloting of eco-tourism plan for the Pra River Estuary. Most recently Friends of the Nation has collaborated with the Coastal Sustainable
Landscapes Project CSLP to advance mangrove conservation in Anlo beach towards the strengthening of community conservation groups, development of communication materials on
mangroves and future piloting of woodlot plantation in the Anlo beach area.
While similar in overall purpose to the Ankobra estuary management and resilience effort, information availability and governance arrangements instituted by the Shama District assembly
are considerably advanced. Additional technical information will be acquired to update and extend the understanding of the shoreline and estuary wetland distribution, use patterns and
dynamics. Existing mechanisms for shore and wetlands will be utilized and strengthened during this activity.
4.4.1 Workshop to learn lessons from Ankobra on socio-ecological profiling.
Both the Pra River estuary and the Ankobra has some similarities relative to treats to gold Mining, wetland degradation and community dependence on the mangroves. Therefore
understanding the socio-ecological profiling process in the Ankobra which started in Year 1 will be useful to provide some practical information for stakeholders in Pra. Also cross learning and
lessons sharing for the District managers, planners, community leaders, etc. in both areas will be necessary to promote joint learning, problem analysis and the development best conservation
approaches for the areas. Therefore in Year 2 a lessons learning workshop will be organized to enhance information sharing. HM, DQF and Spatial Solutions will participate in this workshop
to-share of experiences.
4.4.2 Capacity strengthening workshop on PRA resilience planning.
There will be the need for a capacity strengthening workshop on resilience planning for the Pra River area for Year 2. The proposal is that the workshop will have participants from the District
and Regional Planning unit, key leaders from the Pra River area including traditional leaders, Assembly members, Community leaders, and other stakeholders. This workshop will seek to
review past and present conservation interventions in the Pra areas and work with participants to develop synergies with planned future interventions especially, tailoring the existing wetland
management plan and local management committees into the eco-tourism plan.
39 The key output for this workshop will be the development of specific action plan towards the
completion of the Pra estuary eco-tourism plan.
4.4.3 Initiating governance mechanisms with Shama District
The governance mechanism within the Shama District is crucial for the sustained conservation of the Pra River Estuary. SFMP will therefore strengthen the governance mechanism in the District
utilizing the existing District Coastal Management Committees, Anlo Beach mangrove committee, existing bye-laws, town and country planning program and GIS capability within the
Shama District Assembly. The various roles and responsibilities of the committees and the planning units would be outlined and a strategy developed to coordinate their activities to work
towards the i
ntegration the community Fisheries Management and Resilience Plans into the eco-tourism plan.
4.4.4 Profiling of the PRA. Socio-ecological profile
