A value chain analysis of tuna industry in Ghana

Every can of tuna purchased by the consumer has taken a long journey before reaching the supermarket shelves. For each can bought there is a lengthy process from sea to shelf. A large proportion of the tuna cans purchased in the European Union come all the way from West Africa; a developing region with a high dependency on fisheries. Amidst an ever-increasing demand for tuna products the global tuna fisheries are set to continue expanding, apparently one of the last natural resource based industries fit to do so in West Africa. Tuna is the biggest fisheries export and dominates the fisheries sector in Ghana, a country situated in West Africa. This thesis aims to understand how this globally important industrial fisheries functions in terms of procedures, practices, Governance and finance. Socioeconomic influences, in the setting of a developing country, were also examined. For these purposes a Value Chain Analysis was employed. A Value Chain Analysis is a tool commonly used to understand how different companies and organizations participate in a domestic policy environment, which directs conclusion in the global economy. This analysis has the potential to allow researchers to fully understand a commodity chain and hence identify realistic opportunities for consequential improvements. Interviews and questionnaires were employed in-field Ghana along with secondary data collection techniques. It was found that the fisheries functions at the production level under influences from large multinational companies and tends to operate with a certain degree of lawlessness. Governance over the value chain is well defined, however implementation is poor or non-existent. The processors, whom are also dominated by multinationals, exert some control over the producers and their sales, however the high value links which are highlighted occur at the retail stage. Socioeconomic dynamics acting in the chain included the lack of communication between the public and private sector, power imbalances amongst players at production, the role of local businesswomen as actors in the chain and the general characteristics of the workers in the industry. Value addition and upgrading are needed the most in Governance over the chain, especially within Monitoring, Control and Surveillance. The results of the study provide a wealth of material about the components of a cost-heavy fishing industry in a developing country; an industry on which many eyes have recently turned due to illegal fishing activities. It highlights clearly where funding and future focus are needed. This value chain can be used as a guide for those that need to comprehend the financial complexities and real life dynamics of the Ghanaian tuna fishing industry today.

Status and the potential for extinction of the largetooth sawfish Pristis pristis in the Atlantic Ocean

1. Sawfishes currently are among the most threatened elasmobranchs in the world. Only two species inhabit Atlantic waters: the largetooth sawfish (Pristis pristis) and the smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata), both having suffered dramatic declines in their ranges. 2. The goal of this study was to evaluate the status of P. pristis in the Atlantic, and estimate local extinction risk based on historical and recent occurrence records. In order to accomplish these goals, a thorough search for historical and recent records of P. pristis in the Atlantic was conducted, by reviewing scientific and popular literature, museum specimens, and contacting regional scientists from the species’ historical range. 3. In total, 801 P. pristis records (1830–2009) document its occurrence in four major regions in the Atlantic: USA (n =41), Mexico and Central America (n =535), South America (n=162), and West Africa (n =48). Locality data were not available for 15 records. 4. Historical abundance centres were the Colorado-San Juan River system in Nicaragua and Costa Rica (and secondarily Lake Izabal of Guatemala), the Amazon estuary, and coastal Guinea-Bissau. 5. Currently, the species faces drastic depletion throughout its entire former range and centres of abundance. It appears to have been extirpated from several areas. The probability of extinction was highest in the USA, northern South America (Colombia to Guyane), and southern West Africa (Cameroon to Namibia). 6. Currently, the Amazon estuary appears to have the highest remaining abundance of P. pristis in the Atlantic, followed by the Colorado–San Juan River system in Nicaragua and Costa Rica and the Bissagos Archipelago in Guinea Bissau. Therefore the protection of these populations is crucial for the preservation and recovery of the species.