Abandze, a coastal fishing community in Ghana, celebrated its festival last week with the apotheosis on the 5th and 6th of November 2022. The purpose of the yearly festival is to cleanse, thank and mobilize resources for developmental projects within the community.
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| A team of fishers ready for the regatta, Abandze |
Being made of strong fishing community groups (canoe and gear owners, women investors, fishermen, fishmongers, and their dependencies), the people of Abandze called upon the GMES and Africa project to support and address the celebrants during a durbar and also the regatta (canoe race) that marked and end the festival. The gatherings served as mediums to promote the safety at sea campaign.
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A section of the gathering during the durbar, Abandze
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The MarCNoWA consortium of the GMES and Africa Project supported the organization of the durbar, the mobilization of funds for community development, and the canoe race with visibility materials such as branded shirts, flyers, posters, and roll-ups. The activity was led by Nature Today, the project partner in charge of stakeholders' engagement.
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| A team of fishermen ready for the canoe race, Abandze |
The ocean state forecast service provided to beneficiary countries is one of the flagship services of the MarCNoWA consortium under the GMES and Africa Project Phase II. The service provides information and ocean state maps to protect lives and property at sea from bad weather. In Ghana, information on a 3-day forecast on the state of the sea is free via the short code *920*88# on any phone and the GMES-UG Mobile Application. The gathering was educated on the colour codes or the numbers used to depict the ocean state. Green (1) shows a Calm state, Yellow (2) implies a Rough state, and finally Red (3) means the ocean is dangerous.
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| Dr. Kwame Agyekum addressing the gathering at the durbar, Abandze |
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| Some traditional chiefs from Abandze and Central Region of Ghana |
The Chief fisherman at Abandze, Nana Arthur Norman, expressed his appreciation to the University of Ghana and the donors namely the European Union and the African Union Commission for sponsoring such a noble initiative. According to him, we might think it is a simple message we are sending, but the impact of those messages on their lives as a community goes beyond just the fishermen we see. The economical repercussions are also huge, especially these days when the costs of things are very high.
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| Nana Arthur Norman, Chief fisherman at Abandze |
The University of Ghana consortium works with its partners and national focal institutions to provide similar services to the 18 beneficiary coastal countries in North and West Africa. “GMES, and Africa” is a continental Earth Observation program co-founded by the African Union Commission and the European Commission.
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