URI Coastal Resources Center wins $24M grant for sustainable fisheries project in Ghana

NARRAGANSETT – The Coastal Resources Center at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography has won a $24 million federal grant to lead a five-year sustainable fisheries project in Ghana.
The grant awarded by the U.S. Agency for International Development is the largest in the university’s history.
The objective of the project in West Africa is to rebuild key fisheries stocks using responsible fishing practices.
More than 100,000 men and women involved in the local fishing industry are expected to benefit, including thousands of women who process and market smoked fish. A byproduct of the project will be efforts made to reduce child labor and trafficking in the fisheries sector in the Central Region of Ghana.
Brian Crawford, who will move to Accra, Ghana to lead the project for URI, called the project challenging and ambitious.
“If successful, our work with the Ghana Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development will reverse the trend in declining fish catches,” said Crawford said in a statement. “With improved management, tens of thousands of metric tons of high-quality, low-cost fish protein supply can be recovered, benefiting not only tens of thousands of fishermen and women processors, but improving food security for millions of people in Ghana and its neighbors.”
The project is part of USAID’s Feed the Future Initiative and will meet the government of Ghana’s fisheries development objectives.
By ending overfishing through legal means, ensuring decisions that affect ecosystems are governed by strong science, and by widely communicating information publicly, lasting change is expected to emerge.
CRC will lead the project, working with a consortium of international and local partners, including SNV Netherlands Development Organization, SSG Advisors, Hen Mpoano, Friends of the Nation, the Central & Western Fish Mongers Improvement Association in Ghana, Daasgift Quality Foundation, Development Action Association and Spatial Solutions.

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