**4. The current state of fish stocks**

The Ghanaian marine is highly diverse with different valuable fish species ranging from small pelagics such as Round sardinella (*Sardinella aurita*), Flat sardinella (*Sardinella maderensis*), Chub-mackerel (*Scomber japonicus*), Anchovy (*Engraulis encrasicolus*) and African moonfish (*Selene dorsalis*) to large pelagics species including Flying gurnard (*Dactylopterus volitans*), Monrovia doctorfish (*Acanthurus monroviae*), Triggerfish (*Balistes capriscus* and *Balistes punctatus*), Red snapper (*Lutjanus fulgens*), Red mullet (*Pseudupeneus prayensis*), Octopus (*Octupus vulgaris*), shrimps (*psenus monodon*), Cassavafish (*Pseudotolithus brachygnathus*), Grouper (*Epinephelus goreensis*), Dentex (*Dentex angolensis*) etc. [13].

Other economically valuable fish species that occur in Ghanaian waters are the bigeye tuna (*Thunnus obesus*), Yellowfin tuna (*Thunnus albacares*) and skipjack (*Katsuwonus pelamis*). Tuna is of major commercial importance in Ghana as a result of its export revenues and sustainability, which has been estimated at 100, 000 tonnes annually by the Fisheries Commission. The two tuna species of utmost importance in Ghana's EEZ are skipjack (*Katsuwonus pelamis*) and yellowfin (*Thunnus albacares*). Fish are highly exploited especially during the upwelling seasons.

Of these exploited pelagics, the most commercially important in Ghana's coastal fisheries are the anchovies and sardinellas, namely round sardinella (*Sardinella aurita)* and flat sardinella (*S. maderensis*) which occur in the entire sea [13].
