Title: Climate change, fish catch and premix fuel supply to fishermen for sustainable livelihoods of coastal people in the central region of Ghana

Authors: Imoro Razak Jaha; E.K. Ekumah

Addresses: Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Cape Coast, Ghana ' Institute of Development Studies, University of Cape Coast, Ghana

Abstract: Fish is Ghana's most important non-traditional export commodity and the fisheries sub-sector accounts for about 5% of the agricultural gross domestic product (Dontwi et al., 2002). In 2002, export earnings from fish and fishery products amounted to nearly 96 million US dollars (Dontwi et al., 2002). Fishing activities in Ghana include artisanal, semi-industrial and industrial operations. However, this important gain in GDP from the fishery subsector is highly threatened by climate change and its variability. Climate change is the gradual, long-term alteration of worldwide weather patterns, especially increases in temperature and storm activity, attributable to the increased accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (Yaqub, 2010). Changes in climate directly affect the productivity of fish as well as the ability for fish catch depends also on the supply of an essential component of the fishing activities which is the premix fuel. The supply of premix fuel determines the availability of fish since fishermen heavily rely on this product for their fishing activities. The paper examines the nexus among the three variables of climate change, fish catch and supply of premix fuel for sustainable livelihoods of the coastal people of Ghana.

Keywords: climate change; fish catch; premix fuel supply; fishermen; sustainable livelihoods; coastal communities; Ghana; fishing productivity; fisheries; fish products.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGW.2015.073050

International Journal of Global Warming, 2015 Vol.8 No.4, pp.453 - 462

Received: 02 Dec 2013
Accepted: 16 Apr 2014

Published online: 16 Nov 2015 *

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