Backlight and reflections (6)

Against the light, the low sun over the Jamestown basin, at 5° 32′ north, cuts out the pirogues and their crews. A lighthouse watches over these waters, next to Fort James: a cylindrical stone and concrete tower with red and white bands, about 28 m high, it flashes white every 10 seconds from a focal height of 35 m above the sea, with a range of about 10 nautical miles, or 18 km. Originally lit by an oil lamp, it is now electric and automated. It has long guided ships entering the port of Accra, on the Gulf of Guinea. 

Beached pirogues and the bay (6)

In Jamestown bay, pirogues line up on the sand or crowd together at their moorings, flags flying. Many carry painted or carved inscriptions on their hulls: biblical verses, names, thanks to God, or phrases in local languages. At Jamestown fishing harbour one can read, for example, "God is power", "God is King", "Heaven Father", "Luke 5:5", "Travel & See", "Nyonmor Da" ("God is great") or "Kasapa" ("positive speech"). An inscription such as "John 3:16" also serves to identify the canoe if it causes damage at sea. The practice can be seen all along Ghana's coast, where crews paint their beliefs on the hull. 

Dawn over the basin (9)

At dawn, pirogues leave or return to the Jamestown basin, on a Ghanaian coast about 550 km long between Aflao, at the Togo border, and Half-Assini, at the Côte d'Ivoire border. The 2013 marine canoe frame survey counted 302 landing beaches and 139,155 fishermen. Jamestown lies at 5° 32′ north latitude, on the Gulf of Guinea. Each year, from July to September, a cold-water upwelling occurs over the continental shelf of Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Togo and Benin; its centre lies off Ghana. The pirogues thus set out from, and return to, a coast placed at the heart of this oceanic phenomenon. 

Hauling boats through the waste (4)

On this Jamestown shore, crews haul a wooden boat together up a ramp of plastic waste. Ghanaian pirogues are generally built of wawa wood: a log is split, the hull is cut from one of the pieces, and small pieces of wood are then nailed on to raise the sides. The 2013 survey counted 12,728 marine canoes in Ghana, 73% of them fitted with an outboard motor (9,313 engines). By 2017 the fleet had reached 13,650 canoes, against about 8,000 in 1990, according to an analysis published in The Conversation in 2024. It therefore grew by about 70% in 27 years. 

Jamestown, the lighthouse and the new harbour (10)

Jamestown and Usshertown form the oldest district of Accra, the capital of Ghana, on the Gulf of Guinea. It grew up around Fort James, built in 1673 by the Royal African Company and used as a prison until 2008. Next to it stands the lighthouse, about 28 m high and operated by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority; the present tower dates from 1932 and replaced the one built in 1871. The new Jamestown fishing harbour, funded by a Chinese grant, was commissioned on 13 September 2024. Its facilities include a fish market, a 60-tonne ice plant and a 200-tonne cold store. The neighbourhood is still inhabited mainly by the Ga, a fishing community. 

Nets and fishermen (9)

On the Jamestown quays, nets are piled up, mended and loaded back into the pirogues. In Ghana, landings of small pelagic fish fell by 59% between 1993 and 2019, despite increased fishing effort. Landings of Sardinella aurita, a favoured species, dropped from 119,000 tonnes in 1992 to 11,834 tonnes in 2019. Over the same period, the artisanal fleet grew from about 8,000 canoes in 1990 to 13,650 in 2017. According to an analysis published in The Conversation in 2024, the causes put forward are warming waters, industrial trawlers, and the growing number of canoes, with their larger nets and more numerous engines. 

Pool (72)

 

The market hall (8)

The fish market is part of the Jamestown fishing harbour in Accra, commissioned on 13 September 2024 and funded by a Chinese grant of 60 million dollars. Construction began in 2018 and suffered significant delays. The complex also includes a 60-tonne ice plant and a 200-tonne cold store. In March 2026, Ghana's Deputy Minister of Transport said the ice plant and the market were operating, the cold store still had to be brought into service, and the harbour would soon begin full operations. According to the Ghana News Agency, the fishing sector contributed 263.2 million dollars to Ghana's GDP in 2020. 

The plastic shore (8)

Beneath an ochre cliff on the Jamestown shore, pirogues rest on a beach covered in plastic waste. Ghana produces about 840,000 tonnes of plastic waste a year; less than 10% is recycled and about 9% ends up in the ocean, according to the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (2022). In the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area, plastic makes up about 16% of waste, according to a 2021 study by the GARID project. Jamestown lies just east of the Korle Lagoon. Fishers at Apo, in the Western Region, say their nets now bring up plastic bottles and shopping bags (Ghana News Agency, 2025). 

The quay: fish traders, fish, crowd (14)

On the Jamestown quay in Accra, landed fish passes from the pirogues to basins, crates and stalls, amid the crowd. In Ghana's artisanal fishery, men go to sea while women mainly handle processing and sale. Fish processing is a major occupation for more than 30,000 women in 340 coastal communities, and the artisanal sub-sector employs over 60% of the women in the fishery value chain, according to a fact sheet from the SFMP programme published in 2019. According to the Ghana News Agency, the fishing sector supports over 2.6 million jobs in Ghana. In Jamestown, a fishing district, the Ga language is often spoken.