The Guinea Current is the dominant feature of the shallow ocean off the coast of countries in Western Africa stretching from Guinea Bissau in the north to Angola in the south. The distinctive bathymetry, Hydrography, productivity and trophodynamics of this shallow ocean quality it as a Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) and is indeed recognised as one (n°28) of the fifty LMEs delineated globally.

The oceanography of the two Congos and Angola further to the south is influenced by the Guinea Current and thus there is ample justification for including the tree countries in the Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem (GCLME). The northern subsystem of the GCLME is thermally unstable and is characterised by intensive seasonal upwelling while the southern half, which is generally thermally stable, depends on nutrient input originating from land drainage and river flood and turbulent diffusion, although less intensive and periodic upwellings have been reported. These characteristics combine to make this area as one of the orld's most productive marine areas that is rich in fishery resources, petroleum production, and an important global region of marine biological diversity.
 
Approximately 40% of the region's 280 million people live in coastal areas and are dependent on the lagoons, estuaries, creeks and inshore waters surrounding them. Rivers and lagoons serve as important waterways for the transportation of goods and people. They are also important sources of animal protein in the form of fish and shellfish. Unfortunately, pollution from residential and industrial sources has affected the waters of the GCLME, resulting in habitat degradation, loss of biological diversity and productivity, and degenerating human health (IOC-UNESCO & IAEA Marine Environmental Laboratory).

Unplanned Human Settlements are Treat to Environment Health

In the coastal pelagic fishery, economically important species are linked to the availability of phytoplankton and zooplankton. The target species off the Coast, Ghana and Togo are Sardinelia aurita, Sardinelia maderensis, Scomber japonicus and Engraulis encrasicolus. In Ghana, for example, small pelagics contributed 125,000t and 247,000t to the total marine production of 234,000t and 371,000t in 1985 and 1992 representing 54 and 66 percent of the fisheries yield respectively, indicating their importance to food security of the region.

Sardinelia maderensis

Further south from Benin to Democratic Republic of the Congo, the target species are Ethmalosa fimbriata, Sardinella maderensis, lisha africana. Demersal fisheries, of higher economic value than pelagics, have as their targets croakers, Pseudotolithus elongatus, Psendotholitus senegalensis, Pseudotholitus typus, polymenids, Galeoides decadactylus, polydactylus quadrifilis, grunters, big eye tuna, Brachydeuterus auritus, catfish, Arius sp.  Pomadasys sp soles and Cynoglossus sp In the highly lucrative coastal demersal shrimp fishery, the pink shrimp Paenus notialis is dominant but other target species include the Parapenaeopsis atlantical and Penacus kerathurus. Shimpring grounds cover 2,500 mi² off Nigeria, 190 mi² off Cameroon and 180 mi² off Benin.
 
Exclusively exploited by small scale operators with passive cane or netting grear in the estuaries, and with miniature trawls in the surf zone, white shrimp, Nematopalaemon hastatus a major fishery off Nigeria - Cameroon. Potential is about 150,000t/Year off Nigeria. The shrimp resources of the ecosystem are an important export species.

A Region with High Fishery Yields

The rich fishery resources are both locally important resident stocks supporting artisinal fisheries, and transboundary stradding and migratory stocks that have attracted large commercial offshore foreign fishing fleets from European Union, Eastern Europe, Korea and Japan. Since the 1960s, the  offshore commercial fishing efforts have exerted extreme pressures on the resources, placing the fisheries at risk of collapse. This is exacerbated by the present of local industrial fleets, predominantly nationally owned or  part of joint ventures operating in each others water under bilateral agreements, as the existence of a large artisinal sector with strong traditional roots and powerful social and political impacts. Catch per Unit Effort (CPUE) is exceeding sustainable yields in some countries (Ajaji, 1994, The Status of marine Fishery Resources of the  Gulf of Guinea: In: Proc. 10th Session FAO, CECAF, Accra, Ghana, 10-13 October 1994) while species diversity and average body total lengths of the most important ish assemblages have declined. The negative trends of over-exploitation of fish and fisheries from lack of management and adequate forecasting system have economic and food security implications not only for the 280 millions people of the region and the growing food (protein) needs of the region will need to be examined in the context of the substantial extent to which foreign fleets are exploiting the fishery resources of the GCLME.