ACCRA — Ghana's artisanal fishing communities say a pause is not enough. They want offshore gold exploration off the country's coast stopped for good.

At a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, October 13, the Association of Artisanal Fishing Communities, which brings together chief fishermen, canoe owners, crews, fish processors and traders, called on President John Dramani Mahama to go beyond the government's recent suspension and revoke the offshore gold reconnaissance licences altogether. They also urged the government to drop all plans to explore for and mine gold in Ghana's coastal waters.

“Our ocean is not a liquid desert waiting to be exploited,” said Kenneth Arthur, General Secretary of the Canoe and Fishing Gears Association of Ghana, who spoke for the group.

"A living inheritance"

Arthur told journalists that fishing grounds are more than workplaces. For generations, he said, coastal families have depended on the sea for food, jobs and survival, and they see it as an inheritance to protect for their children.

The fishers fear that exploration, and any mining that follows, could damage marine habitats, drive down fish stocks and cut them off from traditional fishing grounds. The damage, Arthur warned, would not stop with fishermen. It would also hit the fish processors, traders and others whose incomes depend on the fisheries value chain, and threaten Ghana's food security.

The group also complained that coastal communities were not properly consulted before the licences were granted.

The licences at the centre of the row

The licences belong to GoldCoast GRC Ghana Limited. In January 2026, the company announced 10 contiguous offshore reconnaissance licences covering about 10,000 square kilometres of Ghana's western continental shelf, with an initial term of 12 months and an option to renew.

According to the National Fisheries Association of Ghana (NAFAG), the area stretches along roughly 300 km of coastline between Half Assini and Winneba and extends about 33 km out to sea, covering waters heavily used by artisanal fishers.

Suspended, not cancelled

Pressure has built quickly. In early October, a letter signed on behalf of 46 fishers' associations, communities and civil society groups, including the Canoe and Fishing Gear Owners Association of Ghana, ISODEC and the Natural Resource Governance Institute, called for an immediate halt and an independent review.

The Minerals Commission then ordered GoldCoast GRC to stop all work under the licences. But the Commission made clear that the suspension is not a cancellation, revocation or termination. The licences remain valid, and activity is paused only until consultations are complete. That is why the fishing communities are now pushing for full revocation.

A growing coalition

The fishers are not alone. On the same day, a coalition of 24 civil society organisations and fisheries stakeholders wrote an open letter to President Mahama welcoming the suspension, but urging the government to keep it in place until all offshore gold reconnaissance licences are revoked. They warned that exploration, and any seabed mining that follows, could threaten fisheries, marine biodiversity, food security and coastal livelihoods.

Fishing groups across Ghana's four coastal regions have joined the call for permanent cancellation.

What to watch

The ball is now in the government's court. The key questions are whether the consultations promised by the Minerals Commission go ahead, whether the official licence boundaries are published, and whether the government moves from suspension to revocation, as the fishing communities demand.