King Nobert writes: When fishermen return home with charcoal

They [women] stood by their empty pans at the shores waiting for their men to return from the sea.

Hours passed, but still no signs of them. Neither the waves from the hoisted flags nor the sounds from the outboard motors could be heard.

The fishermen powered their boats several hours into the deep waters only to return with disappointments written all over their faces. Their boats were rather filled with bags of charcoal. With sadness, their women went home with empty pans.

But their children rejoiced over it; it was their turn to cash in on the booming charcoal business. Middle men in the charcoal business from Accra and other cities, engage them to offload each bag for GHC2.00.

Samson, a 17 year old boy, said he is able to earn GHC200 loading 100 bags of charcoal a day.

With their bodies bathed in the black powder, the teenagers of school going age spend the entire day busily offloading bags into trucks for onward distribution to the cities.

The fisheries sub-sector serves as a major source of employment, livelihood and a way of life not only for the coastal areas; but also the inland and aqua culture sectors.

At least about 3 million people are engaged directly and indirectly along the value chain. The fishing industry largely contributes to Ghana's foreign exchange; at least about $318,036,064 worth of fish mostly exported to the EU.

In spite of the huge export potentials and high local demands, the fishing industry has over the years suffered stock depletion as a result factors which include ‘over-fishing’ and poor fishing methods.

According to figures released by the Ghana Statistical Service on the first quarter GDP  of 2016, the fishing sub sector recorded the least growth of negative 1.1% compared to 0.8%  in the fourth quarter of 2015.

By this, the sub- sector declined by over 1.0 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period in the last quarter of 2015.

The situation is gradually taking fishermen out of business.

As the waters run out of fish stock, riverbanks and shorelines are being flooded with wood fuel. The fishermen and others along the value chain instead cast their nets at the vegetation.

Investigations by Citi News along the banks of the lake Volta and the shorelines of the southern Volta, revealed that wood fuel business is gradually taking over from the fishing business.

Tongor Dzemeni, is a fishing community in the South Dayi District of the Volta Region.

Dzemeni had been a major landing site for fisher folks for decades since the Akosombo Dam was constructed.

But Citi News’ checks at Dzemeni, saw bags of charcoal transported from island communities in Afram plains packed along the riverbank for sale.

The Secretary to Dzemeni Boat Union, Mr. David Gbetey, also lamented about the decline in fish stock, but blamed it on the increase in population and use of illegal fishing methods.

“When we go to fishing we don't get fish, so we must go for the charcoal so that when we get the money we can buy fish in the market. But the fishes are not in the river because now we are many and also some of us don't use the proper net to catch fishes. The water level is also reducing” he stated.

The Volta Regional Director of Fisheries, Francis Akorlor, said the massive decline in the fish stock does not only threaten the livelihoods of the fisherman; but also the nutrition needs of Ghanaians, as above 80 percent of the population get their protein requirement from fish.

Indiscriminate felling of trees for firewood and charcoal to either sell or for domestic use is predominant around our water bodies.

Forests in island communities like Busume, Dodi, Kpekuidzi, Batorkope, Hatorkope ,Akpabudzi and Wuwla are being eaten up.

Mr Gbetey is aware of the implication of felling trees; but said they always encourage their people to practice reforestation.

“I can say that one way or the other it can affect our climate, but we also encourage our people to replant the trees when they cut them down” he said.

The coastal communities are naturally forested by mangrove species with coastal waters that are very rich in demersal and pelagic fish population.

These resources provide livelihoods to the communities and contributes to national food security and socio-economic development of the country. Unfortunately these mangroves are being destroyed.

A visit to the estuary at Anyanui saw bands of these mangroves parked at the landing site as fire wood for sale.

Staggering figures made available from the Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO] revealed that, about 69% of all urban households in Ghana use charcoal for cooking and heating. The annual per capita consumption are around 180 kg.

Interestingly, the demand is rather high in the cities; the total annual consumption is about 700,000 tons, 30% of which is consumed in the capital, Accra.

Trees play a crucial role supporting life across the globe. They produce oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide which causes global warming.

By cutting down trees, we increase the world's temperature which would to a large extent melt blocks of ice in the world's oceans and trigger undesirable climatic conditions.

Communities along the shorelines suffer sea erosion chiefly because of deforestation.

There is high demand for electricity particularly in the tropic zones, because citizens have resorted to the use of air-conditioners to enjoy cool breeze in the midst of the heat.

Mr David Gbetey believes the only way to salvage the depletion of the forest is to advise the urban folks to always use the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). By that, he explained the charcoal business would become unattractive.

“For us to stop cutting down trees we would advise those in the cities to use gas than the charcoal because at first charcoal was not our main business but the demand is high that's why we go into it” he explained.

To ensure that fishermen still stay in business even if the charcoal business becomes unattractive, fishermen are diversifying into a more sustainable and environmentally friendly ventures.

As a result, a group of fishermen in the Volta Region, have recently launched the Volta Inland Fishermen Association (VIFA), to spearhead the agenda of finding alternative sources of livelihood.

The National President of VIFA, Mr. Samson Mahu, told Citi News they have identified fish and vegetable farming as a major means of sustaining their livelihoods.

“We want to diversify our activities into aquaculture and dry season farming. We will grow the fishes ourselves and sell, so we can allow the lake to fallow for the fishes to grow again,” he noted.

 Citi News gathered that, the group currently has over 800 members. The Deputy Volta Regional Minister, Francis Ganyaglo, lauded the initiative and pledged government's commitment in supporting them.

But until their new venture is realized, anytime a fisherman returns from the sea with bags of charcoal, know that the vegetation which supports your life is being destroyed somewhere.

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By: King Nobert Akpablie