Ghana's coastal fishing protections offer lessons as EU weighs new Ocean Act

Over the past decade, Ghana has extended its Preferential Access Area (PAA) from six to 12 nautical miles from shore, giving local, small-scale fishers exclusive access to coastal waters while barring destructive industrial vessels, particularly bottom trawlers.

The Canoe and Fishing Gear Owners Association of Ghana (CaFGOAG) campaigned for this change for more than ten years, pointing to declining fish stocks and damaged livelihoods caused by industrial fishing practices, including the "saiko" trade, in which trawlers illegally transfer juvenile fish to canoes at sea for resale at local markets.

Similar pressures are playing out in Portugal. In Ferragudo, in the Algarve region, the organization Marsempre has worked since 2021 to protect the village's maritime heritage and push for more sustainable fishing practices. After a conflict with an aquaculture project that threatened to shrink local fishing grounds, Marsempre helped establish a marine park at Pedra do Valado and continues to advocate for extending the protected zone from six to eight nautical miles for traditional low-impact fishing vessels, along with a ban on bottom trawling.

According to the account, industrial trawlers in the EU still enjoy largely unrestricted access to coastal waters, even though small-scale fishers make up the majority of Europe's fishing fleet. Research cited in the piece points to a small group of large commercial vessel owners, working through industry associations, opposing stronger seabed protections in Brussels.

The EU's forthcoming Ocean Act is presented as an opportunity to embed preferential access areas into member states' maritime spatial plans. Ireland is reportedly preparing to protect its six-nautical-mile coastal zone, while fishing organizations in France, Cyprus and other EU countries are pursuing similar measures.