PPP Ghana Artisanal Fisheries

PPP Sustainable Development of the Fishing Industry of Ghana

Quality fresh fish: a market opportunity

The worldwide market for quality fresh fish is growing. Since the 1990s a thriving market had evolved in the EU for high quality fresh fish such as line-fished tuna and other high value fishes like swordfish, snapper and sea bream. High quality fresh fish products receive premium prices on the EU market, but only when the EU hygienic rules for processing and storage are adhered to.

In Ghana, fishermen belong to the poorest communities. The increasing exploitation of the coastal areas has led to degradation of Ghana’s marine environment and impoverished their livelihoods. It has also led to degradation of the tropical forests that provide the hardwood for the traditional dugout canoes. The price of the dugout canoe, for instance, has increased fast over the last years due to the scarcity of the large trees needed for the canoes. In order to protect the remaining stock of large tropical hardwood trees the government has put a ban on the use of these trees. Affordable, sustainable alternatives for the traditional hard-wood canoes are not available.

Tuna deep-sea fishing provides an interesting alternative for small fishermen. Ghana has a number of comparative advantages to current fish exporting countries, such as easy access to fishing grounds during a long fishing season, no import duties by EU, frequent flights and relative low costs of air transport to EU, and availability of processing plants for export of fish products to EU. However, the artisanal fishing industry in West Africa has a limited capacity to respond to the new market demand for high quality fresh fish. The industry is weakly organised, suffers from limited financial and technical infrastructure, and lack of knowledge and skills to compete with foreign fleets.

This public private partnership responds to the market opportunity for high quality fresh fish. Private actors engage in a new supply chain for fresh tuna, while public and private actors simultaneously address the limited capacity of the artisanal fishing industry in Ghana. It is anticipated that this market-based approach will foster the economic, environmental and social sustainability of the artisanal fishing industry and reduce poverty of the coastal fishing communities in Ghana.

Objectives

This Public Private Partnership (PPP) specifically aims to develop a sustainable tuna supply chain between artisanal Ghanaian fishermen and fish processing and distribution companies in The Netherlands. Sustainability will include economic, environmental and social aspects.

In addition the PPP aims to bring its findings to a wider policy arena, thereby informing for practical action, public sector policy and private sector strategies.

The Work Programme

The work programme consists of three components:

1. Development of a commercial tuna export chain;

2. Local development of fibreglass fishing vessels for the local fishing industry as a sustainable alternative for the hard-wooden canoes; and

3. Interactive learning, policy processes and up-scaling

Component 1: Commercial Tuna Export Chain. A joint venture will be set up between Dutch, Philippine and Dutch companies in order to establish deep sea fishing on large tuna for the lucrative fresh tuna market in Europe. To achieve this goal, the Joint Venture will introduce fishing boats and fishing techniques, which has been developed in the Philippines over the last two decades. After the trial fishing period more boats will be acquired and a credit facility will be put in place to enable small fishermen to acquire such boats. Through an intensive training program fishing and handling will be standardize to assure the highest quality tuna, while in addition processing of the fish will be done according top the high EU standards. This will ensure the highest export quality fish with an extended shelf life. Fish processors will pay a premium price for quality fish, agreed with the fishing associations associated with the program. Fish processors also have to withhold part of the payment as a contribution to the fishing associations.

Rainbow Sustainable Solutions

KIT

GRATIS Foundation

Ghana Nat. Canoe

Fishermen Council

Ghana Nat. Inshore

Fisheries Association

Two fishery associations (Ghana National Inshore Fisheries Association and Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council) will provide services to the fishermen in order to strengthen their capacities. This service provision will be financed gradually by the industry through a levy on fish sales. GRATIS Foundation, Rainbow Sustainable Solutions and KIT will train the fishery associations on technical, organisational and management issues. Rainbow Sustainable Solutions will monitor the supply chain for the duration of the project. KIT will monitor the provision of services and organisational capacity strengthening.

Component 2. Development of fibre glass fishing vessels. A joint venture will be developed for the production of fibreglass fishing vessels. These boats will provide a sustainable alternative for the traditional wooden dugout canoes that are no longer available. A Ghanaian / Philippine Joint Venture will construct the fishing boats with technical support from Stoneworks Shipyard (Philippines).

GRATIS Foundation will provide a site and required infrastructure, including workshops, as well as technicians, administration and general management. Rainbow Sustainable Solutions and Dolphin Shipping Services will assist GRATIS Foundation in organizational matters and monitors the process for the duration of the project.

Gratis Foundation

Stoneworks Int’l

Dolphin Shipping

Rainbow Sustainable Solutions

Interactive Learning, Policy Processes and Upscaling. The PPP will seek to strengthen learning and policy dialogue between the public sector, private sector and civil society. KIT and GRATIS Foundation in collaboration with the Marine Fisheries Research Division of the Ghana Directorate of Fisheries will carry out systematic and careful documentation of the project’s impact and experiences. This will include livelihoods impact analysis, fish catches, financial flows, and organisational and institutional change. This information will be used to raise awareness, encourage further uptake of the market-based approach within Ghana and possibly within the West African region, and support policy debate at national and regional levels. Specifically the project will collaborate with the Ministry of Fisheries in Ghana to support gradual introduction of Marine Stewardship Council certification to commercial fishing operations in Ghana.

Funding arrangement

The project is constructed around a public-private partnership. InterSeas Fisheries, Dolphin Shipping Services, Rainbow Sustainable Solutions, DaySeaDay and Van Wijk Vishandel and the Philippine company Stoneworks invest a percentage of the required capital in the project. Complimentary funding for this innovative pilot is provided by DGIS.

Planning

The project’s inception phase did start in April 2006 and last for 9 months. After its successful completion, the actual implementation started at March 01, 2007.