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Small-scale fisheries in Ghana are declining in response to the global fisheries crisis. The policies to curb this situation are dependent on the wellbeing of fishers in terms of material condition, quality of life, and transformative strategies for sustainable livelihoods. This paper employs survey data to investigate the wellbeing of fishers, using descriptives, principal-component analysis, and structural equation modelling. The results revealed that the summative effect of material condition, quality of life, and sustainability on fishers' wellbeing is low. Despite the low ranking of income (lower among men fishers than women fish processors), basic necessities, and government support, fishers are still motivated to work but claim that their children may one day be locked out of the industry. This paper addresses the gap in the literature by establishing the need to enhance educational facilities for the children of fishers, while complementing with investments that create job opportunities in the fishing communities. This may eventually reduce dependence on the sea for sustainable fisheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most countries in Africa have promoted some form of decentralized fisheries management either as discrete co-management projects or as a component of broader decentralization processes that cut across other sectors. These initiatives were shaped by an international policy narrative that emphasises participation in decision making and development. A review of fisheries decentralization experiences in Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, and Malawi reveals marked differences in purpose, strategy, and performance. In general, co-management projects are limited by their ability to scale up new practice and to maintain viable and representative management institutions. In other cases, the decentralization process is not well supported politically or locally or does not articulate with fisheries policy. Experiences of decentralization in other sectors provide useful lessons. Acknowledging the informal institutional environment orrealpolitikof fisheries and the rural economy could provide opportunities to better manage and review the process of decentralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An index of economic vulnerability is developed and used with a more conventional measure of income poverty to explore vulnerability and chronic poverty in isolated rural communities. The method is applied to data from remote rural fishing-farming communities in Congo. The analysis highlights the high vulnerability of full-time fisherfolk and identifies mobility as a key factor increasing vulnerability. In line with other recent economic research, our work also shows that households can remain highly vulnerable even when their incomes lie well above the average local income. These different results are consistent with the more specialised literature on small-scale fisheries, confirming the robustness of the analysis proposed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]