Plastic waste and fish landed by beach seine fishers in coastal Ghana

Francis Gbogbo, Angelica Ama Essandoh, Wendy Teresa Baffoe, Henry Groos, Charles Mario Boateng, Emmanuel Robert Blankson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Baseline data on plastic landing by fishers and monitoring of this is important in evaluating the success of plastic waste management efforts. This study investigated plastic and fish landed by beach seine fishers in Ghana together with the rate of plastic deposition on an adjoining beach. Plastic constituted 31.6% of the total catch and 41.7% of the fish landed by weight. There were significant differences between the average weight of fish (139.58 ± 53.6 kg) and plastic (65.73 ± 14.6 kg) landed per fishing session and the catch per unit effort of fish (183.4 ± 76.7 kg/day) and plastic (88.4 ± 35.2 kg/day). The mean weight of plastic landed per fishing session was higher than the mean weight of each of the 26 species of fisheries. The rate of plastic deposition on the beach was 8.1 ± 2.5 plastic items per m2 per tidal cycle or 0.35 ± 0.11 kg plastic per m2 per tidal cycle with food packs and tableware dominating the deposited plastic. The results suggested ongoing water sachets and plastic bottle recycling in Ghana are yielding results and calls for targeted efforts in plastic food packs and tableware management.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)92371-92378
Number of pages8
JournalEnvironmental Science and Pollution Research
Volume30
Issue number40
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2023

Keywords

  • Fishing
  • Landing
  • Plastic waste
  • Unit effort

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