Ghana Marine Biologist Promotes Snail Farming as Alternative to Guitarfish Harvesting Amid Declining Fish Stocks

Dr Issah Seidu has persuaded about 200 fishers along Ghana’s 335-mile coastline to stop or reduce their harvest of guitarfish and convinced 43 of them to switch to farming giant African land snails. The marine biologist set up AquaLife Conservancy in 2019 to monitor guitarfish populations and develop alternative livelihoods for coastal communities.

Guitarfish combine the tail of a shark with the flattened body of a ray.

Their fins are exported to China, and their meat is a local delicacy in west Africa. The IUCN Red List classifies more than half of the at least 55 guitarfish species as critically endangered, and 70 percent are listed as threatened with extinction. The sawfish is already extinct in Ghanaian waters.

Seidu first encountered the problem while visiting his uncle in Dixcove. Catches of tuna, anchovies and sardinellas had declined after industrial fleets from other countries entered Ghanaian waters, prompting fishers to switch from artisanal purse seiners to gill nets. Some fishers began targeting sharks, rays and guitarfish to maintain income.

An average artisanal fisher earns 750 to 1,000 Ghanaian cedis a month. Seidu asked fishers what they would do if they stopped fishing. Farming the giant African land snail, Achatina achatina, emerged as an option that requires little capital, produces two harvest cycles a year and can generate up to 10,000 cedis a month.

The snail meat is sold as protein in chop houses and markets. AquaLife Conservancy’s three staff and volunteers record catches and train fishers in practices that reduce bycatch. Seidu has persuaded fishers to monitor the species and adopt the new livelihood.