NEW USSD CODES TO COASTAL FISHING COMMUNITIES IN WEST AFRICA

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Staff of the Regional Marine Centre at the University of Ghana, have embarked on a field trip to several key coastal landing sites and communities in Ghana; including Half Assini, Axim, Shama, Elmina, Edina, Tema, Anomabo, Keta and Osu. This covers all the four coastal regions of Ghana over a coastline of about 539 km. The team together with staff from the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) and Fisheries Commission of Ghana introduced fishermen from these areas to the new way of accessing the information on ocean weather conditions through the project’s mobile application and USSD code.

*920*88# to access ocean state in Ghana

With the new USSD code, fishermen can now simply dial (*920*88#) where they can access information on the 3-day forecast of the ocean condition. This code works on all networks in Ghana and is free to access.
A Scene of artisanal fishermen at Elmina landing site, Ghana

Led by the GMES & Africa project director, Prof. George Wiafe, the team was welcomed by community leaders including, chief fishermen, opinion leaders, elders and some assemblymen. The three institutions in the past have collaborated to send ocean state conditions to fishermen through the chief fishermen in the various communities. However, that has been met with a myriad of challenges. Hence, the field trip afforded them the opportunity to put to bare these challenges. Now anyone with the USSD code could get the information at any time, addressing the concern of the text messages not been received on time before embarking on fishing.

The interface after dialling the USSD code

Further, the community leaders will make use of the coloured flags (Green, Red and Yellow) provided by the Project to disseminate the information at the various landing beaches.
Fishermen at Half Assini with their flags, Western Region, Ghana

Key among the discussions in these communities were plans to hold a durbar in the communities to serve as a means of educating the fisherfolks on the USSD code and the mounting of billboards at vantage points in the areas to provide relevant information on the USSD code and the mobile GMES-UG app.

In Axim, a fishing town in the Western Region of Ghana, the fishermen suggested the use of voice notes as an additional means of communicating the ocean state condition. In all, the fishermen agreed to give the project feedback on the level of precision of the ocean state conditions when they return from the sea; to allow for fine-tuning of the service that is provided to them.

Engaging chief fishermen in Volta Region, Ghana

Whiles the USSD code in Ghana is *920*88#, in Nigeria, the information is accessible through *347*87#. 

The University of Ghana consortium is working with all national focal institutions to provide similar services to the 12 beneficiary coastal countries in West Africa.

Ocean State Message

GMES, and Africa, is a continental Earth Observation program co-founded by the African Union Commission and the European Commission.

For more information visit: https://gmes.ug.edu.gh/

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