Last year, the vessel Lu Rong Yuan Yu 956 was caught in Ghanaian waters with illegal nets and undersized ‘small pelagic’ fish on board – the staple catch of local canoe fishers. The US$1 million fine originally imposed is the statutory minimum under Ghanaian law. However, the owners have refused to pay. This is a systemic problem …

TRAWLERS CHARGED WITH ILLEGAL FISHING CONTINUE TO DODGE FINES IN GHANA Read More »

‘Saiko trans-shipments’ – where industrial trawlers transfer fish at sea to specially adapted canoes to be landed – are very clearly illegal under Ghanaian law, an analysis carried out by the Taylor Crabbe legal consultancy shows. EJF commissioned the analysis to put the matter definitively to rest. The real issue is enforcing the law to bring an …

GHANA’S LAW IS CLEAR: SAIKO FISHING IS ILLEGAL Read More »

Ghana’s sardinella fishery provides food and livelihoods for coastal communities and is more important than ever as coronavirus spreads. It is under severe threat from illegal targeting by industrial trawlers in a trade known as ‘saiko’. Now a report from the Environmental Justice Foundation has revealed that the samples of saiko sardinella it obtained were 99% juveniles. This …

GHANA’S FISHERIES COLLAPSING AS TRAWLERS TAKE YOUNG FISH, EJF REPORT REVEALS Read More »

An open letter from the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen’s Council and eight NGOs has called on Ghana’s President to intervene to end the damaging illegal fishing practice known as ‘saiko’. This practice is driving crucial fish stocks to the point of collapse and endangering Ghanaian livelihoods, nutrition and national security. Saiko is a severely destructive form of illegal fishing, where …

CANOE FISHERS AND NGOS URGE GHANA’S PRESIDENT TO CRACKDOWN ON ILLEGAL ‘SAIKO’ FISHING Read More »