6 Berchie Asiedu, Amos Asase, Seidu Iddrisu et al.
SYSTEMS OF CULTURE
Fish culture in Ghana is mainly semi-intensive in earthen ponds, intensive
culture in cages and other facilities such as reservoirs and dugouts (Figure 2).
Pond culture includes single species culture and multiple species culture.
Earthen ponds containing nutrient-rich water provide the needed plankton and
organic debris, which tilapia and catfishes like to prey on. Ponds account for
over 98% of the number of existing farms dominating the southern and middle
belts of the country.
Source: Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, 2012.
Figure 2. Aquaculture production systems in Ghana.
Cage culture is a relatively new culture method developed in recent years,
which is usually used on the Volta Lake. Although the initial cost of cage
culture is higher than other culture methods, cage culture has many advantages
such as easy to stock and harvest, less feed loss, fast growth and high density
in unit waters. The use of cages is currently growing geometrically in the
commercial sector, however, without an in-depth management concerning
water quality, waste and excess feed, the cage business could be disastrous.
Overall, cage farms currently account for less than 2% of farms by number but
much more by production. Most (88%) farmed fish production came from
cage farming and the few commercial cage farmers consistently contributed to
more than 88% of aquaculture production from 2011 to 2014 (MoFAD, 2014).