Learning Initiative on Women’s Empowerment, Access to Finance, and Sustainable Fisheries: Ghana Case Study
The USAID/Ghana SMFP aimed to promote the adoption of responsible fishing practices and to reduce child labor and trafficking in Ghana’s Central Region.
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The USAID/Ghana Sustainable Fisheries Management Project
The USAID/Ghana Sustainable Fisheries Management Project (SFMP), a six-year project (October 2014 – September 2020), aimed to rebuild marine fisheries stocks and catches through adoption of responsible fishing practices. The project contributed to the Government of Ghana’s fisheries development objectives and the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future Initiative. The Coastal Resources Center at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography was the lead implementer of SFMP with a consortium of other international and local partners.
Working closely with the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MOFAD) and the Fisheries Commission, the Project aimed to end overfishing of key stocks important to local food security through achievement of the following intermediate results:
- Improved legal enabling conditions for co-management, use rights and effort-reduction strategies
- Strengthened information systems and science-informed decision-making
- Increased constituencies that provide political and public support needed to rebuild fish stocks
- Implementation of applied management initiatives for several targeted fisheries ecosystems.
SFMP focuses on small pelagic fisheries along Ghana’s entire coastline as well as fisheries and essential mangrove fish habitat in three coastal estuaries - the Densu, Ankobra and Pra systems. Additionally, SFMP supports improvements in the value chain of smoked fish, important to tens of thousands of women fish processors. The project is also undertaking actions to reduce child labor and trafficking in Ghana’s Central Region.