USAID boosts funding for Ghana fisheries

The United States Agency for International Development in Ghana (USAID/Ghana) has boosted funding for a program designed to improve Ghana’s fisheries, awarding an additional USD 6 million (EUR 5.5 million) to the fisheries recovery program.

Launched in 2021, the Feed the Future Ghana Fisheries Recovery Activity (GFRA) is a five-year initiative to improve the sustainability of Ghana’s sardines, mackerel, and anchovies fisheries, which have nearly collapsed in recent years. GFRA aims to help by improving enforcement and move some commercial fishermen into other work. The program is overseen by international development firm Tetra Tech ARD.

With Ghana facing the worst macroeconomic crisis in two decades, USAID/Ghana predicts that there will be increased pressure on overfishing, and it hopes to counteract that pressure with an additional infusion of cash.

“The activity has been very successful, however, Ghana’s current economic crisis significantly increases the pressure for individuals and businesses to over-fish an already decimated coastal fishery in search of economic gains,” USAID/Ghana said in explaining the funding increase. “The modifications proposed are designed to ramp up fishing alternatives and accelerate proposed regulations to address over-fishing.”

The additional funding brings the total size of USAID/Ghana’s investment from USD 17.8 million (EUR 16.4 million) to USD 23.8 million (EUR 21.9 million), an increase of 33 percent.

The USD 6 million (EUR 5.5 million) will allow GFRA to provide skills and job training to another 4,000 youth, offering alternative career paths to commercial fishing. Prior to the injection of more cash, Tetra Tech ARD had to turn down half of the applicants for the program.

The money will also be used to scale up its installation of electronic monitoring systems on all 75 licensed industrial trawl vessels in Ghana. In March, the government of Ghana committed to achieving 100 percent monitoring of industrial fishing vessels by 2025.

“As the first West African nation to commit to 100 percent monitoring of all industrial fishing vessels, my administration is taking a bold position to improve transparency of fishing activity," Ghana Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Mavis Hawa Koomson said at the time. "This will contribute to our aim to prevent, deter, and eliminate illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in Ghana.”

Finally, the increased spending will be used to help Ghana’s government create its first Marine Protected Areas.

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