Management, Challenges and Developments of Aquaculture ... 5the southern part of the country (Hiheglo, 2008). But it was later discovered
that a lot of the ponds were out of production and the few active ones were
getting only a small proportion of economic returns on their investments.
Moreover, about 23% of ponds constructed had been abandoned and those
remaining in operation were not very productive (FAO, 1990). The main
reason for the failure was because the government did not support its
campaign with extension services to support the industry. Despite the earlier
failures, effort is still being made to promote aquaculture development in the
country. Studies conducted by Asmah (2008) reported a 16% mean annual
growth rate in the number of aquaculture farms since the year 2000.
Source: Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, 2015.
Figure 1. Estimated fish production from aquaculture in Ghana from 2008 to 2015.
CURRENT STATE OF GHANA’S AQUACULTURE
Aquaculture development effort in Ghana is focused on freshwater
environment and one commercial project (Ghavie Shrimp Farm Ltd.)
developed in the marine environment. The aquaculture sector comprises
largely of small-scale subsistence farmers who practice extensive farming and
very few commercial farms that contribute significantly to production. In
recent years, production from aquaculture appears to be growing at a near
exponential rate from 5,594 tonnes in 2008 to over 38,000 tonnes in 2015
(Figure 1).