Literature Review On Sardinella Value Chain
This report assesses various literatures on the fishery sector in general with more focus on small pelagics especially the Sardinella Fisheries. The report discusses information on the value chain and regional trade from a regional perspective and presents the current situation in Ghana. Fish is the most valuable agricultural commodity traded internationally with annual sales of nearly US$80 billion and increasing each year (FAO FishStat, 2006). For developing countries in regions such as West Africa, fish exports to markets in developed countries, especially in Europe, are a major source of foreign exchange revenue, and help to underpin the domestic fisheries in terms of earnings and employment. On the other hand it has been suggested that an expanding fish trade aggravates the overexploitation of vulnerable fish stocks under conditions of weak governance and that local trade routes supplying local markets may be disrupted as fish supplies are diverted for exports. Neila, 2006 informs that average volume of fish exported annually by West African countries is 11,776 tonnes, and the average value of annual exports is US $29 million. However, the export trade is dominated by just 4 countries: Senegal (97 Kt/yr valued at US $ 283 million); Ivory Coast (48 Kt/yr valued at US $ 141 million); Ghana (64 Kt/yr valued at US $119 million) Mauritania (44 Kt/yr valued at US $103 million). It is interesting to note that both Ivory Coast and Ghana also import large quantities of fish, whereas Senegal and Mauritania are mostly producers. The fishing industry in Ghana supports the livelihood of about 10% of the population. The importance of the fishing industry stems from the significant contribution of about 60% of the national protein supply and around $87 million exports in 2009. Fish and sea food account for 16% of total household spending on food (GSS, 2008), (Antwi et al, 2011). Ghana’s artisanal fishery sector, which targets the Sardinella fishery, a total of about 11,000 canoes operate actively from over 300 landing sites located along the 550 km length of the coastline (Amador et al., 2006). Just over half of these canoes are powered by outboard motors with engine power of up to 40 hp. (Amador et al., 2006). The target fish species for the artisanal fleet is round sardinella, although the flat sardinella, S. maderensis, is also caught (Bard and Koranteng, 1995). The country’s Fisheries Bureau of Statistics estimates the 2006 artisanal sardinella catch to be around 87,000 tonnes (MFRD, 2007). The artisanal sector employs 80% of Ghanaian fishers. Although it is typically men out on the boats fishing, women play an important role in artisanal fisheries, being almost solely responsible for processing and selling the fish in markets (Akrofi, 2002). An informal but strong institutional framework governs artisanal fisheries at the village level (Bennett, 2000).
