An update on cetacean landings in artisanal fisheries along the coast of Ghana: 2023-2024

This report provides an update on cetacean landing (and limited stranding) data collected along the coast of Ghana from April 2023 to March 2024. This represents a 12-month update over the previous data (April 2022 – March 2023) presented to the 2023 International Whaling Commission (IWC) Scientific Committee meeting. A total of 332 individual cetaceans were reported between April 2023 and March 2024, with the dominant species being the Clymene dolphin (Stenella clymene) at 35.3% and the Pantropical spotted dolphin (Stenella attenuata) at 21%. The minor peak landing period occurred in August, and the major peak was in December 2023, repeating trends observed in 2022. These periods coincide with the upwelling season when dolphin prey is abundant. The drift gillnet remains the dominant gear associated with cetacean catches in all communities. The hotspot communities for cetacean landings also remain Dixcove (31.2%), Tema (26.2%), and Axim (17.5%).