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A crew lowers a rope into the sea, a 1,000-watt light bulb dangling at the end. Powered by an electric generator, the bulb sirens to small fish with its warm glow. Fishers used to regularly spot fish skimming under the water\u2019s surface. Now they rely on light to find them. Between 1993 and 2019, the amount of small pelagic fish landed in Ghana fell by 42%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Swept in by the ocean current, a crowd of fish assembles around the light. Fishers plunge their nets into the warm tropical waters. Once rare, \u201clight fishing\u201d has become normal over the past few years, despite being illegal. It\u2019s often accompanied by other illegal fishing methods: chemicals and dynamite, which fishers use to set off explosions that kill fish circling the light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the seas grow more depleted, artisanal fishers look to alternative ways of harvesting fish, Kweigyah, who is president of the Canoe and Fishing Gear Owners Association of Ghana, explains \u2014 \u201cwhich has meant more and more practices that are unsustainable for the ocean.\u201d (Kweigyah does not endorse these practices.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If artisanal fishers are illegally fishing on a small scale, industrial vessels are doing it on a much larger one. \u201cThis compounds the plights of artisanal fishers and frustrates efforts aiming to address illegalities in the artisanal sector,\u201d says Kweigyah. Only artisanal fishers have the right to catch small, pelagic fish in Ghana\u2019s nearshore waters, but large commercial fleets continue to capture them. These industrial vessels also hurt fish populations by using illegal nets to catch juvenile fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If there\u2019s foreign control of those vessels, matters are even more complicated. Eighty percent of Ghanaian fisheries companies analyzed in a recent report show connections to Chinese ownership. That means that if they\u2019re caught illegally fishing, it\u2019s Ghanian individuals \u2014 not the foreign beneficiaries \u2014 who pay the price. Powerful businesses based in China can continue illegal operations with little consequence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ghana\u2019s government is putting measures in place to slow fishing down before it\u2019s too late. It halted licenses for new canoes. It put a stop to vessels illegally handing off ice-packed fish to local boats. Ghana\u2019s law also prevents foreign vessels and industrial trawlers from securing a license to fish in the large coastal zones reserved for artisanal fishers, though illegal fishing continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, out at sea, warmer waters are becoming more turbulent. And they refuse to be regulated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tide is coming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Fishers search for writing in the sky to predict the day\u2019s fishing: Clouds might foreshadow a promising catch or empty nets. But as climate change churns the ocean into unpredictable patterns, artisanal fishers\u2019 tried-and-true weather forecasts are failing. The catch depends on the ocean current. And the current grows ever more capricious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the ocean current is weak, fish are nowhere to be found. When strong, the current can turn violent, tearing apart fishing nets. \u201cYou cast your net and it just folds under the waves,\u201d Kweigyah says. Fishers\u2019 nets are uninsured, he explains, so when they get damaged, fishers take on debt. In the worst cases, the volatile tide takes lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kweigyah and other fishers are working with Ghana\u2019s meteorological agency to better understand the impacts of climate change on the state of the ocean. With the rise of higher tides and stronger storms, they\u2019re establishing early warning systems to save lives. And they\u2019re coordinating to ensure fishers receive weather information about the state of the ocean in their local languages and training community operators to get the word out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rising seas are transforming the entire West African coastline. Ghana\u2019s neighbor, Senegal, faces the worst coastal erosion in the region. In 2018, a high-tide event in Senegal displaced 1,500 people.<\/p>\n\n\n
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\u201cAlmost 65% of Senegal\u2019s coast is affected by unprecedented sea advances,\u201d explains Senegalese fisher Moustapha Diop, whose family has fished in the village of Thiaroye sur mer, near Dakar, for generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than half of Senegal\u2019s population lives along the coast. As the coastline erodes, so do local livelihoods. That includes the livelihoods of women, who handle the majority of fish processing, marketing, and selling. \u201cThey are how fish gets to communities and households,\u201d says Dr. Christina Hicks, an environmental social scientist and Oceana Board Member. \u201cWomen hold a lot of knowledge about [their communities\u2019] challenges and opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some 78% of Senegalese fishers and fish processors interviewed by the Environmental Justice Foundation said they found it harder to feed their households compared to five years ago. Many are moving inland. Some fishers decide to leave Senegal altogether, setting off on a treacherous journey across the Atlantic Ocean to find work in Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Climate change isn\u2018t the only reason fish are few. Senegal\u2019s fishing industry is overcrowded. \u201cThe [artisanal fishing] zone has become too small for the 17,000+ officially registered canoes and the very large number of unregistered canoes,\u201d Diop explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also blames foreign fleets that are \u201cscraping fishing resources\u201d and spurring fishers to head to Europe. \u201cTrawlers do not respect the limits, create unfair competition with the canoes, break canoes, destroy nets,\u201d he says \u2014 all issues that Diop and others are working to draw public attention to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fish shortages send ripples through local economies, notes Oceana Chief Scientist and Senior Vice President Dr. Kathryn Matthews. \u201cIf the fisher can\u2019t catch a fish, it can\u2019t be processed by someone. It can\u2019t be sold by someone. It can\u2019t be consumed by someone. So the loss of the initial catch magnifies itself through the entire community,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similar ripples are felt by small-scale fishing communities on the other side of the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n
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Fish as food<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s still dark when Sharifah \u201cVivi\u201d Hawa heads out to fish northeast of Penang, where skyscrapers overlook one of Malaysia\u2019s oldest fishing villages. Hawa and her fellow fishers navigate while carefully monitoring conditions. A few hours later, they unload fish, shrimp, and crabs into holding pools and storage boxes on shore \u2014 some to be sold at market, the rest to cook at home or share with neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Malaysia boasts one of the highest fish consumption rates in the world. Living in the Tanjung Tokong Fishermen\u2019s Heritage Village, Hawa and her family eat fish almost every day, sometimes frying it in spices, cooking it in a coconut milk curry, roasting it with lime and herbs, or baking it to accompany hot rice and red chili shrimp paste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFish and seafood are the economic and social backbone of my community,\u201d Hawa says. \u201cThey are not only a major source of income for many families\u2026fresh fish is a major source of protein for the people here, contributing to a healthy and balanced diet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not all fishing communities reap the health benefits from their catch, however. In her anecdotal interviews with fishers across Malaysia, Dr. Amy Y. Then, a fisheries scientist and Associate Professor at Universiti Malaya, learned that many fishers sell their harvest and buy cheaper protein like chicken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s less fish to go around, fishers told her. Their catches are fewer, smaller in size, and require more effort. Today, Malaysia\u2019s fish populations are just 16% of their levels in 1960, according to government reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As fish decline throughout the famously biodiverse Coral Triangle, artisanal fishers in the Philippines are also keeping less of their catch, observes Rhea Yray-Frossard, Oceana\u2019s Campaign and Research Director in the Philippines. That means missing out on fish\u2019s powerful nutritional benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFish is a rich source of omega-3s, micronutrients, and protein, especially sardines,\u201d says Yray-Frossard. The nutrients found in fish are particularly important for pregnant and lactating mothers as well as their children, a fact highlighted in an analysis of government data by Oceana and MRAG Asia Pacific. Food security and fish consumption are declining over time, especially in low-income and rural households, a recent nutrition survey in the Philippines revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cArtisanal fishers are the heroes of food security,\u201d says Yray-Frossard. \u201cThey provide the sustainable, healthy protein that communities need.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oceana is preparing to launch a new campaign in the Philippines, working with artisanal fishers to ensure they reap more benefits from their catch. That means advocating for supplies and facilities that keep fish fresh longer \u2014 ice, landing centers, and facilities for fish to be dried and stored \u2014 to minimize losses and maximize nutrition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Tanjung Tokong, Malaysia, concerned fishers\u2019 associations hold meetings with government authorities to advocate for better storage infrastructure and voice disapproval of the development plans that threaten their way of life. \u201cWe hope to ensure the survival of our fishing community and protect the heritage that has been around for centuries,\u201d says Hawa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Any efforts to recover fisheries must prioritize equity, fishers and advocates say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is important for management measures to take seriously the human rights-based approach,\u201d says Kweigyah. \u201cIndustrial fishers drive overfishing. But when it comes to addressing overfishing, there is less consideration for the welfare of Over 740 million people depend on ocean fisheries for food or livelihoods, or both. One hundred and sixty-five million of them live in Ghana, Malaysia, Senegal, and the Philippines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As illegal fishing and climate change \u2014 largely driven by countries in the Global North \u2014 impact coastal communities in the world\u2019s tropical belt, Hicks sees international action as essential. \u201c[We must] ensure governments from high-income nations are paying attention to the impacts their activities are causing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile fishers\u2019 associations and locally-led groups are pushing for change. \u201cAll of us will have to play our respective roles to improve the situation\u2026and to recover fish populations,\u201d Kweigyah urges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oceana scientists visited Kweigyah and other leaders in Ghana and Senegal to learn more about their efforts as Oceana prepares to partner with them and launch campaign teams. Oceana staff also visited Malaysia, where they met with Then, Hawa, and others. The organization\u2019s future campaigns will aim to expand and protect nearshore areas for small-scale fishers, and work with people throughout the fishing value chain to ensure more fish stay fresh for local communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is about empowering the people who rely the most on fish to develop solutions that work for them and bring those to the national level to be implemented through policy change,\u201d Oceana Research Director Tess Geers says. \u201cIt\u2019s about making sure that their livelihoods, way of life, and source of food and nutrients are preserved through their solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou have to start and end with the communities and fishers,\u201d urges Matthews. \u201cNo one knows the ocean better than the people who rely on it every day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/oceana.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2024\/09\/PH_Additional-Photo_Sardines-1.10-1024x683.jpg\")
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A defining moment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
[artisanal] fishers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n