The Ghanaian marine fishing industry has been well described in reports of previous Working Groups. The industry has three sub-sectors, namely artisanal, semi-industrial and industrial, all of which exploit demersal resources. The composition of the fleets is given in Table 1.
The artisanal sub-sector comprises over 8 000 dugout canoes and their operations have not changed since the last Working Group (FAO, 1990).
Since the last Working Group, there has been a programme to rehabilitate the semi-industrial fleet especially those between 9 and 12 m long. This resulted in the high level of fishing effort exerted in recent years (14 704 trips in 1984 and 21 574 trips in 1989).
The large industrial trawlers (length over 30 m) were also very active. Effort increased from 1 823 fishing days in 1984 to 3 562 in 1989.
Commercial shrimping has resumed in Ghanaian waters after a break of nearly two decades. Although the Government is trying to limit access into this fishery, there is constant demand from prospective investors to bring in shrimp vessels. As at September 1990, eight shrimp vessels with a horsepower range of between 300 and 800 had been licensed to engage in commercial shrimping in Ghanaian waters.
Perhaps the most dramatic event that has occurred in the demersal fishery since the last Working Group is the decrease in catches of triggerfish, Balistes capriscus. Annual landings by all fleets operating in Ghana dropped from over 18 000 t in 1987 to just over 600 t in 1989 (a reduction of nearly 97%) (Table 6). This has affected the operations of the small inshore/ semi-industrial vessels based mainly in Elmina (the major port for the Balistes-based processing industry). The Government of Ghana had initiated a programme in 1987 o rehabilitate this fleet involving substantial investment and credit facilities to the fishermen. It has now become difficult for the fishermen to pay back their loans because of the serious fall in the catches of Balistes.
Another development in the demersal fishery of Ghana is the increase in the occurrence of the globefish, Lagocephalus laevigatus, in the landings of commercial vessels. Total landings in Ghana increased from less than 1 t in 1987 to over 700 t in 1989. However, it may be that catches of this species in earlier years were included with other species or rejected at sea.
From the analysis of Ghanaian catch and effort data a considerable increase has also been observed in catches of cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis in its waters. From a landing of 73.7 t in 1984 this increased to over 2 770 t in 1989 (Table 4).
No changes have occurred in the artisanal fisheries since the last meeting.
With regard to industrial fisheries, there was a decrease in the number of trawlers of less that 300 HP from 14 in 1986 to 9 in 1989 (Table 2). During the same period those trawlers between 300 and 600 HP decreased from 7 to 3. Only one vessel of more than 600 HP remained in the fishery. The number of shrimp vessels increased from 5 in 1986 to 9 in 1989.
No information was available to the Working Group on current trends in the fisheries. The Sierra Leone demersal fishery has been well described by Brainerd (1980) and Ssentongo and Ansa-Emmim (1986).
In the absence of an expert from Liberia due to the internal strife in that country, it was impossible for the Working Group to describe the current fisheries situation. Dixon (1980) gives some notes on the demersal fisheries of Liberia and Ssentongo (1987) gives a review of the country's exploited fish.
