Fish is on sale in Accra every day of the year, but it is not equally plentiful. The catch is best in two upwelling seasons: from December or January to February, and from July to September. In those months the beaches are busy, the smokehouses are full and fish is at its cheapest.
— What else is in season this month
Why: the upwelling
In the upwelling seasons, cold water rich in nutrients rises from the deep to the surface off the coast. Plankton bloom in it, and the small fish that feed on plankton - sardinella and anchovy above all - follow it inshore, where canoes can reach them. When the upwelling stops, they scatter and the canoes come back lighter.
It has nothing to do with the rain, which is why the fish calendar does not match the farm one. The long upwelling, July to September, falls between the major and the minor rains.
Where the canoes land
Greater Accra has 220 km of coast, and canoe fishing goes on along much of it. The landing beaches the sources name are Chorkor, Jamestown, Tema, Prampram and Ada. The catch is sardinella, anchovy, mackerel, tuna and more, much of it smoked on the beach or nearby before it reaches the markets.
Ghana’s catch is falling. Marine landings fell from about 459,000 tonnes in 2000 to 357,000 tonnes in 2008, and those are the most recent figures the sources give. Fewer fish in the sea means a leaner off season, and more of what is sold in Accra coming from further away.
Farmed fish
All year. Tilapia reaches table size in about six months. Fish farming is still rare - only 0.5% of the region’s farming households do it - but the Ministry of Food and Agriculture counts tilapia and catfish among Greater Accra’s specialties, and farmed tilapia is on sale all year. It is the steady option when the sea is not giving much.
— Banku and tilapia
— Kenkey and fish
Buying fish well
- Stock up in the upwelling months. Smoked fish keeps, so the cheap months are the time to buy for the lean ones.
- Fresh fish should look fresh: clear eyes, red gills, firm flesh that springs back, and a smell of the sea rather than of fish.
Where this comes from
The upwelling seasons are from a USDA report on Ghana’s fishery products, and the landings from the FAO’s country profile, both listed on the seasons page. The landings figures are old; nothing more recent was found in an accessible source.