Paper short abstract:

African governments appear to have understood the need to ensure the optimum utilisation of their ocean's resources, and the significant benefits to be derived therefrom; this is evident in the increased interest they are taking in harnessing the potential of their blue economy.

Paper long abstract:

African governments appear to have understood the need to ensure the optimum utilisation of their ocean's resources, and the significant benefits to be derived therefrom; this is evident in the increased interest they are taking in harnessing the potential of their blue economy. In doing so, they equally recognise the significant adverse implications of unsustainable practices such as overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing attributed mainly to distant water fishing vessels on the marine ecosystem and the severe consequences for the food and economic security of their people and country. Despite ample evidence implicating these distant water fishing vessels from political entities such as the European Union and countries like China and Russia among others, the governments of select countries in the region are tending to focus their efforts on securitising small-scale fisheries which are already suffering from the impact of the activities of the said distant water fishing vessels. Using cases from Liberia and Ghana as illustrative West African examples, this paper answers a critical research question, how might we understand the impact of the securitisation of small-scale fisheries? It will argue that the securitisation of artisanal fishing while embracing distant water fishing nations despite the limited capacity to monitor their activities, is counterproductive and exacerbates both human and state insecurity in coastal communities and indeed undermines effort towards a sustainable African blue economy.