Ghana has a vast area of inland waters amounting to more than 1 million ha that will continue to be a much more important source of fish than can be supplied by fish farming for the foreseeable future. The estimated potential is about 65,000 t. In order to reach even 20% (13,000 t) of this by fish farming, a total pond surface of 3,250 ha yielding 4000 kg/ha/y would be required. This compares with a present operational pond surface of 209 ha and a yield estimated at about 300 t. Clearly, the management and further development of inland fisheries will continue to be an important objective along side the acceleration of the expansion of aquaculture.
At present the amount of surface area in which CBF is best justified is relatively small and consists mainly of artificial water bodies in the northern part of the country where stocking and species enhancements can make an important impact on food security, income and employment in an area that is less well off than the rest of the country.
Even in the northern part of the country it appears that many of the water bodies which are the potential targets of CBF are self-replenishing and are thus of low priority for stocking. Therefore, encouragement of fishing in water bodies not already fished and promotion of year around fishing in those only fished once per year is a higher priority than stocking.
The following are constraints on CBF:
For the moment, culture-based fisheries are not justified in most of the natural waters. This is because most natural waters are perennial, not over-fished (with the exception of lagoons) and have fish populations well-adapted to environmental changes and heavy exploitation. The present situation does not preclude the eventual establishment of CBF in natural waters, but other management activities such as brush parks in lagoons may be more effective and less costly.
The conclusions above point to the importance of management and continued development of inland fisheries as a high priority activity. An important follow up to the present project would be a diagnosis of constraints on inland fisheries and an assessment of their potential given various management and development interventions. Lake Volta, because of its size and potential, should always be the central concern. Management and development schemes for other water bodies should be weighed against what the same investment in personnel, time and finances could repay, if allocated to Lake Volta.
The main constraint on inland fisheries and aquaculture is that the Fisheries Department is unable to provide the information and services that are required for efficient development and management. Training at all levels is fundamental to building an effective Fisheries Department so that it can provide the necessary services. Information is essential for the Department to identify the management and development priorities.
The Department is weak in virtually every area of management and development of fisheries and aquaculture, except for two important ones: there is enthusiasm among many of the Officers at all levels to do a good job of work and many of the Senior Officers have had some training abroad and therefore have a comparative view of development and management theory and practice.
These are:
A number of activities and projects have been identified which can help to overcome the constraints (see Working Papers A-H), some of which require technical and financial assistance from abroad. However, the Fisheries Department can lay a good foundation for these projects and at the same time increase its credibility by synthesizing and reporting the information it already has to hand.
