West Africa: Illegal fishing by foreign trawlers jeopardises local community livelihoods
" West African Fisheries Struggle Under Strain of IUU Fishing" 8 July 2025
Ghana’s fisheries sector directly and indirectly employs about 2.2 million people who process, sell, transport, wash and descale fish. However, 90% of Ghanaians surveyed by Harvard researchers said they do not believe their children will be able to depend on fishing or related trades in the future. Similar sentiments were expressed in Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria.
This is mainly because Ghana and other West African nations have for decades been victimized by industrial fishing trawlers, many from China, which engage in a variety of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. China is the world’s worst illegal fishing offender, according to the IUU Fishing Risk Index. Of the top 10 companies engaged in illegal fishing globally, eight are from China.
In Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, illegal practices such as bottom trawling, fishing in areas designated for artisanal fishermen, fishing with explosives and using improper gear are threatening the survival of small pelagic fish. Ghana’s total catch of these fish dropped by 59% between 1993 and 2019. The decline in Côte d’Ivoire was nearly 40% from 2003 to 2020, the Harvard report said. [...]
More than 100,000 fishermen and 11,000 canoes operate in Ghana, but average annual income has dropped by as much as 40% per artisanal canoe in the past 15 years or so, according to the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF). Decimated fish stocks around West Africa cause prices to soar and drive food insecurity.
About 2.4 million Ghanaians are vulnerable to food insecurity, while 18% of Côte d’Ivoire’s population of nearly 31.2 million faces acute food insecurity. During this year’s lean season between June and August, 30.6 million Nigerians are projected to face acute food insecurity.