Impact of oil production on livelihood of artisanal fishers in Ghana: A case of selected communities of the western coastline

Abstract

The bulk of Ghana’s offshore oil and gas exploration and production occurs in the Western Region of the country. Effects of these activities, including the establishment of safety zones (radius of 500 m) around offshore oil installations, and the potential destruction of marine ecosystems, limit maritime fishing space with consequences on the small-scale artisanal fisheries sector which supports the livelihoods of about 10% of Ghana’s population. This study sought to investigate the impact of oil production on the livelihoods of fishers in oil producing areas in the Ahanta West Municipal of Ghana. The study adopted the mixed methods design to facilitate the collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. Purposive sampling procedure was used to select and collect data from 300 fishers whiles descriptive statistics (frequencies count and percentage), paired samples t-test, and Pearson Chi-square test of independence were applied to investigate the research objectives. Majority of the respondents (52.6%) indicated that oil production has impacted negatively on the quantity of their fish catch; 79.7% of the respondents also lamented that their living conditions have been worsened by the commencement of oil production. The study concludes that average income derived solely from fishing in the study area is found to be significantly lower after oil production. The study therefore recommends that government and the oil companies should institute alternative livelihood programmes in the fishing communities which would be geared towards improving fishers’ income by providing fishers alternative entrepreneurial skills.