TY - JOUR
T1 - Plastic waste and fish landed by beach seine fishers in coastal Ghana
AU - Gbogbo, Francis
AU - Essandoh, Angelica Ama
AU - Baffoe, Wendy Teresa
AU - Groos, Henry
AU - Boateng, Charles Mario
AU - Blankson, Emmanuel Robert
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2023/8
Y1 - 2023/8
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Fishing
KW - Landing
KW - Plastic waste
KW - Unit effort
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85165627787&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11356-023-28897-9
DO - 10.1007/s11356-023-28897-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 37490249
AN - SCOPUS:85165627787
SN - 0944-1344
VL - 30
SP - 92371
EP - 92378
JO - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
JF - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
IS - 40
ER -