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Fishing in Winneba. A field work blog post

Written by: Sigrid Solheim, Eileen Dahl, Solomon Forson and Seidu Tirogo 

Impact of the Atlantic Ocean on the people of Winneba

Winneba is a fishing community in the central region of the Republic of Ghana, bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the south. The proximity to the Atlantic Ocean has had – and keeps having – an economic impact on the people of Winneba.

Living by the Atlantic Ocean, many of the inhabitants make their living from activities connected to the sea, fishing being among the most important. In Winneba, fishing is an important part of the community and most of the inhabitants of Winneba are working in a service connected with fishing. In a survey from the University of Education Winneba, Johnson Ankrah is looking at changes of the livelihood of fishers in Winneba. Males dominate the occupation of fishing. Most of the fishers do not have any other sources of income, but some also take part in farming activities and livestock rearing. Ankrah nevertheless concludes that fishing is the main occupation for most of the fishermen.1

With fishing being the main source if income for many of Winneba’s inhabitants, the economic effects of the fishing industry has consequences for many other sectors. For instance is the production and maintenance of the equipment used in fishing a line of work in it self, while the selling of the fishes are done by women, and not by the fishermen themselves.

A man mending nets

A common method of fishing is by using nets. The fishermen in the canoes catch fish by throwing nets and gathering the fish before bringing their catch to the shore where it is brought to the market for sale. The making and mending of nets are sectors of their own, and is done by specialists. The usage of nets in canoe fishing has long traditions, as we can read in historical source material. The Danish priest Johannes Rask, who came to the Gold Coast as a pastor at Christiansborg/Osu Castle in the years 1709 – 1713, described how fishermen used nets in his “A Brief and Truthful Description of a Journey to and from Guinea”:

(…) There they are caught either with a fine-maked net //23// like a sack, or in a seine net that is wide or large at the bottom and end in a point at the top, to which they have fastened a line of 20 fathoms or more. The other end is in the canoe. (…).2

Rask’s description is not specific to Winneba, but it gives an impression of what he saw on the Gold Coast in the early 18th century.

The canoes

Another piece of equipment Rask mentioned are the canoes, still an important part of fishing today. As with the nets, the making of these vessels are not done by the fishermen themselves, but by specialist canoe builders, usually working further inland. In this way, a link is created between the coastal Atlantic economy, to that of inland Ghana, making the fishing industry one with large influence in Ghanaian economy as a whole.

We can also see how cultural aspects have crossed the Atlantic and become a part of the fishing communities by looking at the decoration of the canoes. For instance, in the left half of picture B, one can see a canoe onto which the Brazilian flag has been painted, alongside a Christ-like figure.

The market

Once the fish is taken to shore, it is the women who sell the fish. Often, workers in sectors directly supporting the fishing industry will be given their pay in fish, which they then take to the market in order to turn their earnings into cash. The location of the marketplace close to the shore is therefore a convenient placement for the trade of fish. Here we also see how other sectors take part in the economic impact of fishing. Women sell fish from stalls or as streetpedlers; taxies and others stand by ready to transport the fish to markets further from the shore, while others sell equipment, food and drink to the fishermen and other potential customers.

In short, the Atlantic connection is a vital part of life in Winneba. Fishing has a great economic impact, with influence over many other economic sectors as a consequence. Without the connection to the sea, life in Winneba would not be we know it today.

Notes

1 Johnson, Ankrah. Climate change impacts and coastal livelihoods; an analysis of fishers of coastal Winneba, Ghana, Ocean & Coastal Management. Volume 161, 1 July 2018, Pages 141-146: 142

2 Johannes Rask, “A Brief and Truthful Description of a Journey to and from Guinea”, in Two views from Christiansborg Castle, Vol I, translated from Danish by Selena Axelrod Winsnes, page 42.



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