Ghana’s fisheries sector is facing a critical tipping point, with experts warning that exempting artisanal fishers from the annual closed season could lead to the total collapse of fish stocks within the next decade.
Kofi Agbogah, Executive Director of the marine advocacy group Hεn Mpoano, has cautioned that allowing any group of fishers to bypass the closed season policy undermines years of scientific planning and could push the nation’s coastal ecosystems past the point of recovery.
“It is not enough to say poverty is a reason to ignore the closed season,” Agbogah said on the Eye on Port programme. “Everyone works and takes a break. The sea also needs a break.”
Introduced under the Fisheries Act (Act 625) of 2002, the closed season is a critical policy aimed at allowing fish populations to breed and recover. Trawlers are required to pause operations for two months, while artisanal fishers must observe a one-month break. But recent lobbying to exempt artisanal fishers, who are among the most economically vulnerable, is raising alarm among conservationists.
Agbogah argued that the logic behind the policy is clear: Ghana’s fish are being harvested before they can reproduce, especially during the “bumper season” when they are weakest.
“One fish can lay up to 50,000 eggs, so when you catch one pregnant fish you are not just catching one fish, you are killing 50,000 future fish,” he explained.
According to him, the country’s fish stock has declined by over 90% in the last 28 years, from 274,000 metric tonnes in 1996 to just 20,000–22,000 metric tonnes today. Small pelagics like anchovies and sardines, staples in the diet and economy of many coastal communities, are vanishing fast.
A Dangerous Precedent
Exempting artisanal fishers from the closed season, Agbogah warned, sets a dangerous precedent that undermines the sustainability of Ghana’s entire fisheries sector.
“We are at a dangerous point. If we do not act, we will lose everything, fish, jobs, and the lives of our coastal communities,” he said.
He acknowledged the economic pressures many artisanal fishers face but argued that short-term hardship must not outweigh long-term survival. Rather than waiving the rules, he called for better support systems during the closed season.
Support Without Corruption
Instead of handing out physical items like bags of rice and oil, which he said often lead to confusion and corruption, Agbogah proposed direct mobile money transfers to registered fishers.
“The country spends over US$50 million every year on fuel subsidies (pre-mix), and just one month’s share of that money could be given to fishers during the closed season,” he suggested.
The Way Forward
Agbogah stressed that Ghana already has the science, the data, and the legal framework to save its fisheries. What’s missing is the political will to fully enforce the rules and resist pressure from interest groups.
“This is not just about fish,” he said. “It’s about food security, national revenue, and the survival of millions of Ghanaians who depend on the sea.”
