24 strengthen the capacity of the Fisheries Commission, UCC and partners in advanced fish stock
assessment techniques. This will prepare a select group of fisheries professionals to take the next steps in stock assessment and see the direct application in fisheries management planning and
evaluation. Participants will use new techniques to deal with data poor situations and be familiar with fisheries management indicators and references points, both biological and economic by
using simulation models.
2.5 Fishing Capacity Assessment
Activity Lead: Najih Lazar
Activity Team: FC, MOFAD
To reverse overfishing and rebuild the depleted stocks, fishing effort may have to be reduced temporarily below what would normally be considered necessary to obtain maximum yields.
This could result in short-term loss in yields before the rebound kicks in. Business as usual with the absence of effort control measures means stocks will continue to decline with diminishing
economic returns leading to further deterioration of social conditions. The FC has begun to address this with the support of the World Bank by registering small artisanal canoes, with more
than 10,000 registered as of July 2015 while semi-industrial and the industrial fishing vessels are theoretically capped. The National Fisheries Management Plan is calling to control effort for all
fisheries, including canoe owners and operators. A licensing scheme will be developed in 2016 along with vessel registration program to assist the FC in measuring fishing capacity.
Fishing effort, however, is more than a just a boat count. The term “capacity management” is defined as the implementation of a series of policies and technical measures aimed at ensuring a
desired balance between fishing inputs and fish production. It is the product of fishing effort and its level of activity to harmonize the harvesting potential of the fleet with the desired level of
output from its fisheries.
In Year 2, the SFMP will conduct a training workshop on fishing capacity assessment for the STWG and fisheries managers. A great deal of preliminary work on estimating effort has been
carried out in Ghana on artisanal and industrial fisheries but no single accepted method for estimating fleet capacity has yet been identified. The goal of the workshop is to recommend an
appropriate and an accurate fishing capacity assessment approach for the small pelagics fisheries.
SFMP will then conduct a fishing capacity assessment for fisheries in Ghana canoes, semi- industrial and trawlers for each of the three sectors by gear type, region and by standardized
units. While these are not standardized, they can be calibrated using modern statistical methods to provide a standardized and unbiased measure of fishing effort. Once quantitative assessments
of fishing capacity are better understood and stock assessments are available, the level of fishing
effort that produces maximum yields, a goal of Ghana’s national fisheries policy, can be ascertained. In Year 2, after the training, SFMP will introduce this concept via a regional
workshop on capacity assessment and catch reconstruction. This information, combined with the outputs of other activities will help map out a strategy to reduce fleet capacity to more
sustainable levels. Such strategies will also be incorporated into National Workshops on Key Management Issues see section 1.1
2.6 Environmental Planning Data Hubs and Capacity Building Center for the Western
