{"id":40077094,"date":"2019-06-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/china-dialogue-ocean-staging.darkbluehq.com\/uncategorized\/8677-saiko-fishing-costs-ghana-tens-of-millions-of-dollars-in-a-single-year\/"},"modified":"2022-02-10T23:01:07","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T17:31:07","slug":"8677-saiko-fishing-costs-ghana-tens-of-millions-of-dollars-in-a-single-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/ocean\/8677-saiko-fishing-costs-ghana-tens-of-millions-of-dollars-in-a-single-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Saiko fishing costs Ghana tens of millions of dollars in a single year"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new study<\/a>\u00a0on saiko fishing has for the first time put a value on the cost of the destructive fishing practice, which is being driven largely by Chinese trawlers and is devastating Ghana\u2019s overexploited fisheries.<\/p>\n

An investigation by the London-based Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF)<\/a> has confirmed earlier estimates that in 2017 saiko fishing \u2013 the practice of trans-shipping fish at sea from industrial trawlers to specially adapted canoes \u2013 took around 100,000 metric tonnes of fish.<\/p>\n

New data has enabled the EJF to calculate that the catches were worth USD$41-51 million at sea, with much of this money flowing straight into the hands of mostly Chinese fishing companies and out of Ghana, the report claims. Once landed, the fish were sold for $53-81 million \u2013 a profit of $12-30 million for the local gangs.<\/p>\n

Ghana\u2019s total industrial catch for the year was 167,000 tonnes. Saiko accounted for 100,000 tonnes of that, meaning just 40% of trawler catches were landed legally. Estimated landings of industrially trawled fish were also equivalent to the entire artisanal (small-scale) fleet, and nine times the target set out in its 2014 fisheries management plan (18,500 tonnes).<\/p>\n