Marine biodiversity conservation: the cultural aspect of MPA in Ghana

Abstract

Abstract Studying fishers and fishing communities’ social-cultural structures are vital in policy-making concerning local ecosystem or marine sustainability. Previous studies on marine communities seldom neglected the role of culture in marine biodiversity conservation, especially an MPA establishment. In this study we; first explore the cultural practices in coastal communities in Ghana that are the potential for the conservation of the marine ecosystem (MPA); second, we examined the readiness of marine communities if the government takes the decision to carve out formerly fishing sites as an MPA site. Primary data was collected by using Key Informant Interviews (KII) with 20 chief fishermen and self-administered questionnaires to 491 fishermen across nine semi-urban, two urban, and 16 villages along the coast of Ghana. Adopting mixed method analysis, the study, among other things, underscored that the socioeconomic characteristics of fishermen are diverse and mixed. Most of the fishermen do not know what an MPA is but are willing to accept such initiative by the government and certain cultural practices are found to be conducive to an MPA initiative. Policy implications are discussed in the paper. JEL Codes: Q22, Q57, P48.