REPORT ON CHARACTERIZATION OF COASTAAL COMMUNITIES AND SHORELINE ENVIRONMENTS IN THE WESTERN REGION OF GHANA INTEGRATED COASTAL AND FISHERIES GOVERNANCE INITIATIVE FOR THE WESTERN REGION OF GHANA SEPTEMBER 2010 Friends of the Nation Citation: Coastal Resources Center / Friends of the Nation (2010). Report on Characterization of Coastal Communities and Shoreline Environments in the Western Region of Ghana. Integrated Coastal and Fisheries Governance Initiative for the Western Region of Ghana. Coastal Resources Center, University of Rhode Island,425 pages. This characterization report was written by these three groups of authors: 1.Stephen Kankam, Godfred Ameyaw, Parnarkie Kusah, Bernard Yankum and Linda Dsane. Section 3: Rapid Assessment of Coastal Communities in the Western Region: Summary of Findings for Shama District Section 4: Rapid Assessment of Coastal Communities in the Western Region: Summary of Findings for Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Area (STMA) 2. Nana Efua Tweba Ewur, Richard Adupong, John Dickson Eshun, Patricia Aba Mensah, Justice Nketiah and Balertey Gormey Section 5: Rapid Assessment of Coastal Communities in the Western Region: Summary of Findings for Ahanta West District Section 6: Rapid Assessment of Coastal Communities in the Western Region: Summary of Findings for Nzema East Municipal Assembly 3. Elvis Sammy Addae; Randolph Kwesi Benyi Johnson; Solomon Kusi Ampofo; Stephen Donkoh and Balertey Gormey. Section 7: Rapid Assessment of Coastal Communities in the Western Region: Summary of findings for Ellembelle District. Section 8: Rapid Assessment of Coastal Communities in the Western Region: Summary of Findings for Jomoro District Assembly Disclaimer: This publication is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Ghana. The contents are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Government. Associate Cooperative Agreement No. 641-A-00-09-00036­ 00 for “Integrated Coastal and Fisheries Governance (ICFG) Program for the Western Region of Ghana”, Under the Leader with Associates Award No. EPP-A-00-04-00014­ 00. Cover photo: Western Region, Ghana Photo credit: Coastal Resources Centre-Ghana 2 Table of contents 1.0 Background 8 1.1 Purpose of Report 8 2.0 Methods and Limitations 8 2.1 Pre-testing 8 2.3 Selection of coastal communities and districts 8 2.3 Formation of Field Teams 8 2.4 Data collection 9 3.0 Rapid Assessment of Coastal Communities in in the Western Region: Summary of Findings for Shama District 10 Background 10 Profile of Shama District: Brief History of Shama 10 Physical Characteristics 10 Local and traditional governance 11 Demographic Characteristics 11 Economic Activities, Livelihoods and Quality of Life 12 Environment 12 Land Use 13 Key Coastal and Fisheries Issues in Shama District 13 Fisheries Issues 13 Coastal Management Issues 14 Other Development Issues of Concern in Coastal Communities 15 References 15 Appendix 1: List of Key Contacts 16 Appendix 2: Description of Fishing Gears 17 Appendix 3: Description of Fishing Vessels in Shama District 19 Appendix 4: District Validation Workshop Outputs 20 Appendix 5: Stories from the field 24 Annex A:Coastal Village Summaries for Shama District 25 ABIESI 26 SHAMA BENTSIR, SHAMA APO, AMENA-ANO 30 ABOADZE 37 ANLO BEACH 42 ATWEREBOANDA 46 4.0 Rapid Assessment of Coastal Communities in the Western Region: Summary of Findings for Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Area (STMA) 48 Background 48 Profile of Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Area (STMA): Brief History of STMA 48 Physical Characteristics 49 Local and traditional governance 49 Demographic Characteristics 49 Economic Activities, Livelihoods and Quality of Life 50 Environment 51 Land Use 52 Key Coastal and Fisheries Issues in the STMA 52 Other Development Issues of Concern in Coastal Communities 54 References 55 Appendix 1: List of Key Contacts 57 3 Appendix 2: Description of Fishing Gears 58 Appendix 3: Description of Fishing Vessels in the STMA 59 Appendix 4: Validation Workshop Outputs 60 Appendix 5: Stories on Traditional Knowledge and Natural Resources Management. 63 Annex B: Coastal Village Summaries for Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly 64 ADAKOPE 65 NEW TAKORADI 69 POASI 73 NKOTOMPO 77 ESSANAB AND EGYNABOWABAKAM 80 EKUASI 84 BAKANO /BAKAEKYIR 87 NGYERESIA 91 SEKONDI –EUROPEAN TOWN 95 ESSIPON 101 5.0 Rapid Assessment of Coastal Communities in the Western Region: Summary of Findings for Ahanta West District 104 Background 104 Profile of Ahanta West District: Brief History 104 Physical Characteristics 104 Governance 105 Demographic Characteristics 105 Economic Activities 106 Environment 107 Land Use 108 Key Coastal and Fisheries Issues in the Ahanta West District 108 Fisheries Issues 109 Coastal Management Issues 110 Other Issues of Concern in Coastal Communities 110 References 110 Appendix 1: 112 Appendix 2: Landing Beach Committee Issues 113 Appendix 3: Description of Fishing Gears 115 Appendix 4: Description of Fishing Vessels 116 Appendix 5: Output from District validation workshop 117 Cont’d Appendix 5: Output from District validation workshop 119 Annex C:Coastal Village Summaries for the Ahanta West District 121 NEW AMANFUL 122 FUNKO 126 ADJOA 130 PUPUNI 133 ASEMKO 136 BUTRE 140 BUSUA 144 DIXCOVE 147 ACHOWA 151 AKWIDAA 155 CAPE THREE POINTS 159 PRINCESSTOWN 162 AWUNA KROM (EHONLE NWIANZO) 166 AKATEKYI 168 4 MIEMIA 172 EGYAMBRA 175 6.0 Rapid Assessment of Coastal Communities in the Western Region: Summary of Findings for Nzema East Municipal Assembly 179 Background 179 Profile of nzema east municpal assembly: Brief History of the District 179 Governance system 180 Demographic Characteristics 180 Economic Activities 181 Environment 181 Key Coastal and Fisheries Issues in the Nzema East Municipality 182 Fisheries Issues 182 Coastal Management Issues 183 Other Development Issues 183 References 183 Appendix 1: List of Key Contacts 184 Appendix 2: Description of Fishing Gears 185 Appendix 4: Landing beach committee stories/issues and others 187 Appendix 5: Output from validation workshop 189 Annex D: Coastal Village Summaries for Nzema East District 193 AGYAN 194 AKONU 198 DOMUNLI 202 APEWOSIKA 205 ANTO-APEWOSIKA 211 FANTE LINE (LOWER AXIM) 215 BOAT ASE (LOWER AXIM) 219 UPPER AXIM (SOLO) 223 AMANFOKUMA 227 BRAWIRE 231 AKYENIM 235 7.0 Rapid Assessment of Coastal Communities in the Western Region: Summary of Findings for Ellembelle District 239 Background 239 Profile of Ellembelle District : Brief History 239 Physical Characteristics 239 Local and Traditional Governance 240 Population 241 Rural – Urban Split 243 Migration 243 Religion and Ethnicity 243 Economic Activities, Livelihoods and Quality of Life 243 Environment 245 Land Use 246 Coastal Management Issues 249 References 250 Appendix 1: List of Key Contacts 251 Appendix 2: Description of Fishing Gears Used in Ellembelle 252 Appendix 3: Description of Fishing Vessels in the Ellembelle 253 Appendix 4. Ellembelle District Validation Workshop Outcomes 255 5 Annex E: Coastal Village Summaries for the Ellembelle District 256 ANOCHIE 262 BAKU 266 NGALECHIE 270 NGALEKPOLE 273 EIKWE 276 KRISAN 279 SANZULE 282 AKONU 285 MPAIN 289 NZULELOANU 292 ESIAMA 294 KIKAM 298 ASEMKO 301 BOBRAMA 304 SANTA 307 SANWOMA (ANKOBRA) 311 8.0 Rapid Assessment of Coastal Communities in the Western Region: Summary of Findings for the Jomoro District Assembly 315 Background 315 Profile of Jomoro District Assembly: Brief History 315 Demographic Characteristics 316 Governance Systems 316 Environment 320 Eco-Tourism 321 Land Use 321 Key Coastal and Fisheries Issues in the Jomoro District 322 Fisheries Issues 322 Coastal management issues 323 Other Development Issues of Concern in Coastal Communities 323 Community Needs Prioritization 324 References 324 Appendix 1: List of Key Community Contacts 325 Appendix 3: Description of Fishing Vessels in the Jomoro District 333 Annex F:Coastal Village Summaries for Jomoro District 334 AGYEZA 335 AHOBRE 1 339 AHOBRE 2 342 ALLENGENZULE 345 ANLOMATOAPE 348 ATWEBANSO 351 AVOLENU/NEWTOWN 355 BEYIN 359 BONYERE 364 EDOBO 367 EFASU 371 EGBAZO 376 EKABAKU 380 EKPU 383 ELONYI 388 ENZILIBO 392 6 ENZEMENTIANU 395 JEWAY 399 KENGEN 402 MANGYEA 407 MATIKA 411 MPEASEM 414 NGELEKAZO 417 OLD KABENLASUAZO 420 WENEN 423 7 1.0 Background 1.1 Purpose of Report The Integrated Coastal and Fisheries Governance (ICFG) Initiative is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The goal of the Initiative is to support the Government of Ghana (GoG) in achieving its development objectives of poverty reduction, biodiversity conservation, food security and sustainable fisheries management. Key among the actions to be undertaken by the Initiative within its first year of implementation is assembling of baseline information on coastal ecosystem conditions and governance in the Western Region. Against this background, rapid appraisals of coastal communities, district level validation workshops and secondary literature review were undertaken to provide additional information that will ultimately contribute to assembling the baseline. While rapid appraisals gleaned community scale information, it also provided the opportunity to socialize the ICFG initiative among coastal communities visited. The purpose of district scale workshops was to solicit inputs from local people as well as reactions to findings of the rapid appraisals and to incorporate local perceptions of changes into a district