Ghana: Addressing IUU Fishing and Building Sustainable Community Fisheries

The future of our ocean will not be determined solely by what happens on the high seas. It will be determined by whether the people who depend on the ocean most are empowered to protect it.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is often described as an environmental crime. It is. But it is also a governance challenge, a development challenge, and increasingly, a question of global equity.

Every year, illegal fishing strips billions of dollars from coastal economies, undermines food security, weakens trust in institutions, and threatens the livelihoods of millions of small-scale fishers. The burden falls disproportionately on developing coastal states and fishing communities that contribute least to the problem yet bear its greatest costs.

For too long, powerful fishing interests operating through opaque ownership structures and complex international networks have profited from marine resources while coastal communities face declining catches, shrinking incomes, and growing vulnerability. This is not only unsustainable; it is fundamentally unjust.

That is why the Mombasa Declaration represents an important step forward. By committing governments to greater transparency in vessel ownership, licensing, and fishing activity, strengthening cross-border information sharing, and improving coordination against repeat offenders, the Declaration helps close the loopholes that have enabled illegal operators to evade accountability for too long.

But transparency and enforcement, while essential, are only part of the solution.

The most effective guardians of marine resources are often the people who depend on them every day.

Across Africa and the Global South, millions of small-scale fishers possess generations of knowledge about local ecosystems and sustainable resource use. They are not merely beneficiaries of ocean policy; they are indispensable partners in ocean governance.

Through the Fisheries and Aquaculture Act, 2025 (Act 1146), Ghana has expanded the Inshore Exclusion Zone from six to twelve nautical miles, strengthened co-management arrangements with fishing communities, and introduced tougher measures to combat illegal fishing.

In April 2026, Ghana established its first Marine Protected Area through a collaborative process involving local communities, civil society organisations and partners including Bloomberg Philanthropies. The initiative demonstrates a simple but powerful lesson: conservation succeeds when communities are owners of the process, not observers of it.

By restoring mangroves, protecting critical habitats and strengthe