4.1 Descriptive statistics and distribution of data
Table 2 captures the descriptive and variable distribution in the study. In the table, the mean age of fishers in the study is 41 years. Fishermen have an average of 23 years of fishing experience in the industry. A majority (79%) of them had leaved within their communities in the last 20 years. A number of them (49%) have had a feel of some formal education, though the majority (about 51%) have never attended any form of formal education. Though the majority (which is slim) has no formal education at all, the remaining percentage have felt formal education and can influence the rest who have no formal education in terms of their co-fishing activities. Thus, the effects of a lack of education might not be apparent in the fishing business along the coast of Ghana.
Regarding marital status and family divestiture, a majority (73.52%) of the fishermen are married while 16.29% stay single and 5.5% are divorcees. Again, the average number of children a fisherman has is about five children. This shows that fishermen can pool resources to enable them to engage comfortably in their fishing business as their spouses might support them compared to a fisherman who stays single. However, with an average number of children of five, could mean a strain on the fisherman’s livelihood as more individuals are to be catered for by the fisherman.
The respondents are Christians the majority (70.47%) and 21.38% are traditional faith believers. with only 3.05% indicating they are neither Christian nor traditionalist nor Islamic faith. This religious faith has some effect on the nature of fishing and perception of the fishing and fishing activities as well as environmental knowledge and practices. The majority being Christian could mean that certain beliefs about the sea god might not be prevalent. Similar conclusions have been made by Adjei and Sika-Bright (2019) that traditional beliefs about the sea being god affects fishing and fish efforts.
Fishing is found to be the primary job of most (about 88%) of the respondents and only 12% said fishing is not their primary job. Again, 75.36% indicated they have no secondary job while 24.64% indicated that they have secondary jobs aside from fishing. Also, fishermen’s average income from fishing as a percentage of total income is 85.75%. Meaning the majority of the fishermen’s income is from fishing or income from fishing is the highest among fishermen’s stream of income. Thus, fishing seems to be their main source of livelihood. This finding is in line with Dovlo et al., (2016) conclusions. This could be attributed to the lack of alternative livelihood support along the coast of Ghana. Without such alternative jobs, an MPA establishment would be threatened as the fishermen may defy its directive and go fishing.
As low as 23% of the fishermen belong to a fishing self-help association with the majority (77%) not belonging to any of such association or group. This indicates that most of the fishermen would not benefit from the group support and risk-sharing that such groups usually have. This can make the fishermen vulnerable to any shocks. However, there is variation across the regions. In Table 3, we found that fishermen from the Central region are the majority who belong to a self-help association, where they can diversify their risk and access help to carry out their fishing activities. Thus, any MPA establishment, that will limit their fishing grounds, might not hit them hard compared to other fishermen in other regions. Karakara et al., (2021) noted that a self-help grouping is a viable option for rural dwellers to access finance at ease.
It is revealed that the majority (80.65%) of the fishermen at a point in time during the year, migrate from their usual home fishing grounds to other fishing grounds either within or outside Ghana. The majority (about 69%) do not own a fishing canoe and have to work under a canoe owner either on a profit-sharing or work-and-receive payment basis.
On the knowledge of respondents on marine protected areas (MPAs), the majority (67%) do not know what an MPA is all about though a quite appreciable number (33%) knows what MPA is all about. Table 3 added that this fishermen’s knowledge of MPA does not depend on which region he resides. Across all the regions, fishermen have little knowledge about MPA. The low knowledge level can be attributed to the general level of their formal educational attainment. The majority (50.5%) have no formal education and would, thus not understand what an MPA is all about unless an extensive education on that. This means that, generally, if the government wants to roll out an MPA policy, there is the need to carry out extensive education before such a policy moves.
Again, on the question of whether the respondent would welcome government initiative to establish an MPA, the majority (58%) indicated they wouldn’t welcome such an initiative while an appreciable percent (42.4%) are willing to welcome such government initiative. Though fishermen’s level of knowledge on MPA is low, they are generally willing to accept any move by the government to establish one. However, this acceptance varies across the regions, as more acceptance comes from the Volta region and the least from the Western fishermen. We attribute this general acceptance level to the role played by fishermen leadership and traditional leaders in those communities. Leaders in the communities are closely connected to the fishermen and as found elsewhere (Adjei & Sika-Bright, 2019) that fishermen along the coast of Ghana strictly follows the traditional leaders and customs of the communities.
Table 2
Descriptive statistics and distribution of variables
Variable | Measurement | Response | % | Obs. |
Region | The region that the respondent is from | Greater Accra Central Western Volta | 16.91 34.42 32.79 15.88 | 83 169 161 78 |
Community membership | Whether the respondent is from the community or a migrant | Yes No | 79.02 20.98 | 403 107 |
Marital status | The marital status of the respondent | Single Married Divorce Widowed Separated | 16.29 73.52 5.50 2.85 2.44 | 80 361 27 14 12 |
Children | The number of children the respondent has | (figure in mean value) | 4.57* | 491 |
Age | The age of a fisherman in completed years | (figure in mean value) | 41* | 491 |
Education | Level of education of the respondent | None BECE MSLC SHS Voc/Tech/Teacher Tertiary | 50.51 36.25 3.05 7.74 1.83 0.61 | 248 178 15 38 9 3 |
Religion | The religious faith the respondent belongs to or practices | Traditional Christianity Islam Others | 21.38 70.47 5.10 3.05 | 105 346 25 15 |
Experience | Number of years the respondent has being a fisher | (figure in mean value) | 23.58* | 491 |
Fishing as primary job | Whether fishing is the primary job for the respondent | Yes No | 87.58 12.42 | 430 61 |
Secondary job | Whether respondent has secondary job | Yes No | 24.64 75.36 | 121 370 |
Income from fishing | The percentage share of fishing income from total income | (figure in mean value) | 85.75* | 491 |
Fishermen Association | Whether the respondent belong to any fishermen association or group | Yes No | 23.22 76.78 | 114 377 |
Migrate to fish | Fisherman migrates to other fishing grounds | Yes No | 80.65 19.35 | 396 95 |
Ownership of canoe | Whether the respondent owns a fishing canoe | Yes No | 31.36 68.64 | 154 337 |
Knowledge of MPA | Whether respondent knows what MPA is | Yes No | 32.59 67.41 | 160 331 |
Welcome MPA initiative | Whether the respondent will welcome government initiative to establish MPA | Yes No | 42.36 57.64 | 208 283 |
Note: * figures in mean values; Source: Author’s computation from field data |
A cross-tabulation of the region of residence of fishermen and other variables is shown in Table 3 with Chi-square statistics. The Chi-Square statistic is commonly used to test the independence of variables or responses from data in a cross-tabulation analysis (known as a bivariate table). The test of independence helps indicate whether there is a relationship between the two responses by comparing the pattern of response observed against the expected pattern if the variables were truly independent of each other. In the table, it is shown that while 58.5% of the fishermen who belong to a fishermen association are from the Central region, only less than 1% come from the Volta region. This means that there is a statistically significant relationship between the region of residence of a fisherman and belonging to a fisherman association. The Pearson chi2 value of 43.23 with degrees of freedom (3) indicates that the variations between the two variables are not due to chance alone.
However, there is observed independence between the region of residence and fishing being the primary job of the surveyed fishermen. About 33% of the fishermen who indicates that fishing is their primary job are from the Western region while 16.36% of them carry their fishing activities in the Volta region. A chi2 value of 3.61 with degrees of freedom (3) and a probability value of 0.307 shows that regional variables and fishing as a primary job are independent of each other. This means that regional location does not determine whether fishing would be the primary job of a fisherman. This is so because, fishing has been said to be the primary job of most coastal dwellers in Ghana (Karakara et al., forthcoming; Dovlo et al., 2016).
The presence of migrant fishermen affects the community’s characteristics and resource conservation efforts. We found in Table 3 that the variations between the region of residence and migration of fishermen are not independent of each other. Most fishermen who migrate (about 40%) are from the Central region and the least migrant fishermen are from the Volta region. This shows that fishermen’s migration depends on their regional location. A chi2 figure of 103.06 with degrees of freedom (6) and a probability value of 0.000 indicates that fishermen’s regional location and migration behaviour is not independent of each other. Marquette et al., (2002) noted that most fishermen in Moree, in the Central region migrate the most even up to year-round.
Table 3
Cross tabulation of region of residence and other variables (bivariate table)
Region | Primary job is fishing | Belong to fishing association | Migrate to fish | Know what an MPA is | Welcome an MPA |
| Yes (%) | No (%) | Yes (%) | No (%) | Yes (%) | No (%) | Yes (%) | No (%) | Yes (%) | No (%) |
Greater Accra | 15.91 | 25.49 | 15.09 | 16.11 | 15.92 | 18 | 19.08 | 15.68 | 28.43 | 4.56 |
Western | 33.18 | 27.45 | 25.47 | 34.72 | 36.87 | 19 | 30.53 | 32.54 | 12.18 | 47.91 |
Central | 34.55 | 33.33 | 58.49 | 28.33 | 39.52 | 15 | 34.35 | 34.91 | 26.40 | 42.59 |
Volta | 16.36 | 13.73 | 0.95 | 20.83 | 7.69 | 48 | 16.03 | 16.86 | 32.99 | 4.94 |
Total Obs. | 440 | 51 | 106 | 360 | 377 | 100 | 131 | 338 | 197 | 263 |
Pearson Chi2 | 3.6092 (3)* | 43.2269 (3)* | 103.0550 (6)* | 2.7445 (6)* | 148.0262 (3)* |
Pr | 0.307 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.840 | 0.000 |
Source: Authors computation. Note: ()* degrees of freedom; Obs: observations |
Still, in Table 3 and whether fishermen know what an MPA is, we found that there is no regional influence as to whether the fisherman knows what MPA is. This means that a fisherman having knowledge of MPA does not depend on regional location. A chi2 value of 2.744 with degrees of freedom (6) and a probability figure of 0.840 indicates that the two variables (region and knowledge of MPA) are statistically independent of each other. However, whether a fisherman would welcome a government-initiated MPA establishment within their region or community depends on which region the fisherman comes from. A chi2 figure of 148.03 with degrees of freedom (3) and a probability value of 0.000 indicates that the relationship between region and fishermen’s acceptance of MPA establishment is statistically significant. Almost 33% of the fishermen who are ready to welcome an MPA establishment are from the Volta region and only about 12% are from the Western region. This means that the variation between fishermen’s region of residence and acceptance of MPA establishment are not independent of each other. This result is confirmed by the KII carried out as noted by one participant that three different places (Woe Cape St. Paul site, Kedzi site, and Fort Prezensten site) have been carved out as potential MPA sites in the Volta region alone.
In Fig. 2 we captured the marine resource management system of the communities studied and the level of knowledge of fishermen on MPA. In the figure, the majority of the communities (57.89%) have no traditional resource management system that is well known to and practiced by the fishermen. However, an appreciable number of communities (42.11%) have such a traditional resource management system. This finding may be so partly because of the adoption of Christianity by many Ghanaian communities, especially the coastal ones. Such Christian faith has relegated traditional fishing beliefs and practices to the background (Diawuo & Issifu, 2015; Botchway & Sarpong, 2015). Again, 63% of the communities have an NGO advocating and working for marine resource management and conservation in those communities, while 37% of the communities have no such NGO privilege in their community. Fishermen’s knowledge of MPAs showed that 70% of the communities surveyed showed that community members do not know what an MPA is about, while 30% of the communities have members who know what an MPA is. This finding could be attributed to the low level of education by fishermen in those communities and the government’s reluctance to educate fishermen on what MPA is about.
We also looked at whether the communities studied have any traditional mechanism to control or regulate resource use or extraction. Figure 3 highlights that about 67% of the communities have no traditional mechanism that prohibit the gathering of certain species. This means that all species from the sea could be gathered and this practice poses threat to the conservation of certain species in the sea. This finding is revealed in the KII carried out in this study, as some indicated that certain fishing nets (like poli net, monophilament net etc.) that are able to gather all species, both big and small, from the sea due to its nature of meshing. Also, the majority (61%) of the communities have no mechanism to control resource use regarding seasonal fishing. This finding again is supported by the KII where the respondents admit that those communities fish all year round. This practice could be so because it was found elsewhere that most fishermen along the coast of Ghana have no alternative source of livelihood and thus may be forced to fish all year round. This would militate against any traditional mechanism that advocates seasonal fishing.
Still, in Fig. 3, most of the communities (67%) have no local mechanism for periodic closures to help conserve marine resources. However, about 53% of the communities have some mechanism to control open access practice. This means such communities can control the use and extraction of marine resources and such is a good way to conserve marine resources. Thus, those communities that have such control over open-access fishing, might not be dragged into the resource ‘tragedy of the commons’ as established in the literature (Bell, 1986; Munro, 1982; Scott, 1989).
For an MPA to achieve its objectives it strives on a ground where the local community members, especially the fishermen, are well educated regarding the environment, local resource management, and local surveillance. This is to ensure that when an MPA is rolled out the local community members understand the MPA well and serve to check on their fellow members who may defy the MPA directive. To this effect, Fig. 4 captures these. In the figure, the majority (80%) of the communities have some form of local environmental education in those communities. However, specifically on coastal resource management, as high as about 41% of the communities have a local way of informing the community members. Also, 60% of the communities have some local way of enforcing marine rules and regulations and acting as surveillance on such rules. This finding is so because community members know each other and can report any deviance to community leaders for appropriate local or traditional sanctions to be taken. Thus, this makes the local fishermen act as checks on each other.
Community conflicts over resources are a big threat to the resource conservation effort. Since an MPA would limit fishing resources to the local fishermen, there is a need to look at communities’ sources and patterns of conflict before rolling out an MPA system. In Fig. 5, we explored the major sources of conflict in the studied communities. The figure revealed that the majority (52%) of the community has socioeconomic issues as a source that sparks conflict among community members. The second most conflict cause of the communities is clan or family conflict followed by other causes and religious-based conflicts being the least. This is so because socioeconomic conflicts are conflicts that directly affect the livelihood of people and power in the communities. Again, Ghana has a religiously tolerant society, and therefore religious-based conflicts are at a minimum. This is ascertained by Agyeman (2021) who said conflicts in Ghana are mostly not religious centered but land and territorial boundaries.
4.2 Qualitative results analysis
A content analysis of the FGD and KII showed a mixed result. On the issue of patterns of human use and resource management according to cultural beliefs in the communities from past to present, one KII participant narrates that;
“some 20 years back, there was abundance of fish catch because we were performing rituals before embarking on fishing journeys. But now such religious way of fishing has been lost and hence all these problems. We regard the sea as gods and when we purify them more fish is caught” (KII participant from Dzelukope, Volta Region).
In another word, an old aged chief fisherman says;
“….after we perform rituals, we do local way of close season and after the close season fishing starts. When we start fishing after the close season, we normally get bumper harvest” (KII participant from in Kedzikope, Volta Region).
“we use to have our main way of offering sacrifices before going for fishing. But because many people are now saying they are Christians, all these sacrifices have or is gradually being stopped and that affects our fish catch at sea” (KII participant in Old Ningo, Greater Accra region).
“our grandfathers always perform certain rites before every fishing season, usually in the month of August. But due to emergence of Christianity we don’t observe this anymore” (KII participant in Tetekope, Volta region).
Other KII participant narrates the pattern of changes in fishing in their community by saying that;
“Fishing used to be good formerly, but now the use of unauthorised and harmful substances by fishermen is on the rise. This has affected fish catch. Also, for now, if not government comes in with closure directives, you will see the majority of us fishing all year round. And coupled with an increased number of boats, this affects the fish catch per fishermen at sea” (KII participant from Biriwa, Central Region).
This increasing number of fishermen at sea was also reported by a KII participant for Upper Dixcove in the Western region as he said “the number of canoes is increasing day by day because of migrants”.
Some other KII participants thinks the modern way of fishing has come to change the pattern of fishing in their communities.
“now you can see the type of net being used for fishing such as the small nets, which gathers every fish including the smaller fishes. This used not to be the case. Also, light fishing, which was not known has emerged and has change the fishing pattern” (KII participant in Kormantsi, Central Region).
“Light fishing and the use of chemicals in fishing as emerged by modern-day fishing is the cause of fishing problems today. Another one is the use of the monofilament net, which is bad. All these have changed our fishing activities” (KII participant in Hedzranawo, Volta Region).
The case of light fishing was mentioned by a KII participant from Anomabo, in the Central region, when he stated that; “the introduction of light fishing and chemicals use is on the rise compared to previous times”
“I will say that the most changes in fishing in this community is the gathering of all species. This use not to be the case, but now every fish they get from the sea is warmly accepted and sold out” (KII participant in Aklabanya, in the Greater Accra region).
In an FGD (carried out only in the Volta region), the participants were asked whether they know what Marine Protected Area (MPA) is, and many indicated that they do not know what it is. Some other participants however said they have heard of it or know what MPA is about. After carefully explaining what MPA entails regarding its nature and benefits, the respondents were asked to indicate whether they would welcome government initiative to establish one within their area. One participant had this to say;
“If the government wants to establish one then the government should, first of all, educate us on it, and provide us temporary alternative jobs to help us earn income. Either then this we may resist any attempt by the government to establish one” (FGD participant from Tetevikope, Volta Region).
Another participant rather indicates that he does not understand why MPA should even be established. He narrated that;
“The fish multiply every time and we fish them. So, if the government put in an MPA, it restricts us from fishing and the fish would overmultiply. So, if the government even brings that MPA, we will still sneak to those grounds and fish” (FGD participant from Dzelukope, Volta Region).
When this participant was asked why at times, they get low fish catches, he added;
“We have too many canoes on the water more than the rate at which the fish reproduces. Also, this light fishing we have been complaining about kills the fish and others use the poli net that catches even the smallest fish”.
However, a KII of the chief fisherman of Dzelukope, revealed that there are three earmarked fishing grounds as appropriate for MPA establishment in the Volta Region. These are Woe Cape St. Paul site, Kedzi site, and Fort Prezensten site, “these places have been noted for MPA establishment, but the government is reluctant to execute that” (KII of the chief fisherman, Dzelukope, Volta Region).