Economic Dimensions of Inland Fisheries of the Upper East Region of Ghana

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Date
October, 2010
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Abstract
Aside crop production, the Tono and Vea irrigation dams are to ensure the supply of freshwater fish and regular income as well as create employment for people within and without the riparian communities. However, after 25 years and 30 years of operations of the Tono and Vea reservoir fisheries respectively, the economic benefits of employment, revenue and income generations are at risk as fish catch over the years has been fluctuating. This has been worsening the incidence of poverty among the users of the fishery resources of Tono and Vea. The decline of fish stock threatens the income and employment of fishermen and the multitude of other ancillary services of the fishing industry. Attempts to mitigate the problems facing the fishery subsector witnessed management and government support by way of advocating for enforcement of closed seasons, gear restriction, capacity building of institutions, aquaculture development and strengthening of fishery extension activities. This study was designed to assess the prospects of the countless efforts aimed at improving income, generation of revenue and employment of fishery resource users. The Tono irrigation in the Kassena Nankana District and Vea irrigation in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region were used as a case. Based on the objectives, a case study design approach was employed and both secondary and primary data was collected and analysed. Empirical results revealed that: although the fishery resources in both areas is an open access resource, it requires registration of users; the fishery offered direct employment of only 0.3 percent of the potential labour of the study districts; more fishermen earned high income in 2009 than in 2000; whereas fruitless effort was made by the KNDA to tax fishery resource users, BDA has not exploited that; false condition of economic efficiency, low stakeholder interaction and low priority for the fishery sector. This research asserted that enhanced income, secured employment and improved revenue demands fishery enhancement, specific use rights, effort regulation and gear quota and integrated water use planning. To harness the fishery revenue potentials in a balanced ecological setting, revenue profiling and an ecosystem approach are recommended.
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A Thesis submitted to the Department of Planning,Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN DEVELOPMENT POLICY AND PLANNING.
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