An assessment of the vulnerability of Ghana's coastal artisanal fishery to climate change
Year: 2003
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Considering the fact that nearly 25% of the Ghanaian people live in the coastal zone and about\n10% depend on the coastal fishery for livelihood, it is likely that any changes in the production\nof the fishery may impact on the socio-economic lives of the people. For the past four decades,\nclimatic conditions ha ve been found to be changing in the country. This period coincided with\nthe conspicuous fluctuations in the landings of the most significant pelagic species exploited by\nthe canoe fleet. This study provides an assessment of the influence of precipitation and sea\nsurface temperature changes on yield and catch of Round Sardinella (Sardinella aurita),\nanchovy (Engraulis encrasicholus), Flat Sardinella (S. maderensis) and Guinea Shrimp\n(Parapenaeopsis atlantica). The abundance of these stocks is believed to be correlated with\nupwelling and sea surface temperature conditions and a local manifestation of global scale\nclimatic changes is suspected to be taking place. It was hypothesized that climate as represented\nby sea surface temperature (SST) and precipitation affects either catchability or the population\ngrowth rate of each species. Forty years of climatological data (mean air temperature and\nprecipitation) were assessed; 38 and 33 years each of hydrological data (sea surface temperature\nand salinity) were then used to investigate the possible relation between climatic changes and\nspecies production. Forecasts of future climate scenarios were made, and stock dynamics were\nsimulated with an environmentally coupled dynamic surplus production model. Stock production\nand, to a lower extent, catchability were found to be closely tied to climatological factors. Lower\ncatch rates of the Round Sardinella coincided with years of higher SST and the reverse was true\nfor the anchovy. For the shrimp and flat sardine, precipitation was found to have the most\nsubstantial effect on production and total annual catchability. It was concluded that changes in\nclimate directly affect the productivity of the ecosystem as well as its catchability and most\nimportantly, the population growth rate of the species. For sustainable management of the\nfishery resources, it is imperative that climatic and hydrological parameters be incorporated into\nfishery management models.
Author: Sheila O. Minta
Language: English
Subfield: Aquatic Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W154622495