Ghana's Fishing Industry Has a 'Golden Seaweed' Problem - How Citizen Science Can Help

Around 2.4 million people, about 10% of the population, work in the fisheries sector. Small-scale fisheries contribute aboutMarine fisheries are the primary source of income for more thanImpacts of pelagic sargassum on fishing communitieswe assessed the impact of pelagic sargassum on the livelihoods of fishers on Ghana's coast. Through group discussions, surveys, field observations and photographs, we documented the experiences of fishers.

The seaweed had significantly affected the livelihoods of fishing dependent communities in the western region. Pelagic sargassum had reduced their fish catch by getting tangled in nets. It made up most of the catch instead of fish.clogging outboard motors on boatscausing unbearable discomfort from the smell.

These initial results highlight the urgency of finding ways to manage pelagic sargassum in western Africa. But to achieve this, we also need more data and an improved understanding of what is happening.To identify solutions, it is important to know what types of seaweed are arriving, their origins, uses and how to monitor them. It is possible that the answers are the same for west Africa as in the Caribbean. But this is an assumption. Very little is known about pelagic sargassum in West Africa.

What we do know, as scientists, is that answering some of these questions for places like Ghana might be even trickier than it was for the Caribbean., for example. These processes rely on sufficient cloud-free satellite imagery in combination with an understanding of ocean processes and weather systems. That means detecting where the pelagic sargassum is at any given moment, in combination with ocean process models, to forecast where it will be later.

But west African coasts tend to have significant cloud cover. Methods that worked well in the Caribbean may not work in Ghana.

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