Civil society groups and Fisheries Commission challenge offshore gold exploration licences

Pinned summary · as of 04:18

Two separate objections have now been lodged against gold exploration rights over an offshore area of roughly 10,000 square kilometres off Ghana's coast. A coalition of civil society groups wrote to President John Dramani Mahama on 28 September, and the Fisheries Commission sent its own letter to the Minerals Commission the next day. Each argues that fishing communities and the marine environment were not properly weighed before the rights were granted.

What we know

• An offshore gold reconnaissance area of about 10,000 square kilometres on Ghana's continental shelf is under formal challenge from two directions, according to reports by both Citi Newsroom and Onua Online.
• Citi Newsroom reported that a coalition of civil society groups put its objections to President Mahama in an open letter dated 28 September, while Onua Online reported that the Fisheries Commission wrote to the Minerals Commission on 29 September. Both say the risk to fisheries and coastal livelihoods was not adequately considered.
• Neither the coalition nor the Fisheries Commission wants offshore work to move ahead for now. The coalition asks government to stop the next phase until the wider consequences are independently examined, and the Commission asks the Minerals Commission to hold back authorisation until a marine-specific baseline study is done and gaps are fixed.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  Citi Newsroom said Gold Coast Resource Corp. holds ten offshore reconnaissance licences that run for about 300 kilometres between Half Assini and Winneba. Onua Online named the holder as Gold Coast GRC Ghana Ltd and spoke of one licence. The two accounts differ on the company's name and the number of licences, and no official licence record has been cited.
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  The coalition, whose members include the Environmental Justice Foundation, Hen Mpoano, Friends of the Nation and Oxfam, said the company's own map puts the licensed blocks about 33 kilometres from the shore. It concluded that large stretches may sit inside the Inshore Exclusion Zone, which the Fisheries and Aquaculture Act, 2025 sets at 12 nautical miles (about 22 kilometres). The groups conceded that the real overlap cannot be established until official coordinates and licence documents are published. Only Citi Newsroom carried this.
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  Citi Newsroom reported that the coalition invoked Act 703, the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006, as amended. Section 32(3) bars reconnaissance licence holders from drilling or excavating, and the groups said Section 99(6) makes floating-platform mining or dredging in Ghana's waters an offence. They asked how vibro-core drilling and bulk seabed sampling could count as reconnaissance. No other report covers this legal argument.
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  According to Citi Newsroom, the company has admitted that it has not yet established any mineral resource, reserve or economic viability. The same report said airborne magnetic surveys have covered roughly 50,000 line-kilometres, a 500-square-kilometre priority zone has been marked near the Ankobra River mouth, and seabed bathymetry and seismic surveys are due next, followed by vibro-core drilling and bulk sampling. These points rest on one account.
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  Citi Newsroom reported that the coalition wants the government to publish the coordinates, licence instruments and work programmes for the licences, commission an independent spatial assessment against fishing grounds and the marine protected area at Greater Cape Three Points, and then decide whether to keep, amend or cancel them. It also warned of underwater noise and seabed disturbance, while saying the effects seen in studies from Alaska and Indonesia would not automatically be repeated in Ghana.
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  Onua Online reported that the Fisheries Commission lodged a formal protest, warning that the licence was drawn up from a land-based mining viewpoint. Its Executive Director, Prof. Benjamin Betey Campion, said the programme paid too little attention to Ghana's marine environment. This account has not been corroborated by other reports.
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  Onua Online said the Commission's letter lists ten shortcomings in the licence papers. Among them, it says the Commission was not meaningfully involved in assessing or permitting the work, the third-party rights clauses mention hunting, firewood and snails instead of fishers, and no budget exists for a fisheries impact assessment or for talking to fishing communities. Only Onua Online has reported these details.
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  Onua Online said the Commission also wants a fisheries impact assessment as required by Section 50 of Act 1146 (the 2025 fisheries law), formal consultation with fishing communities, and an inter-agency review. It added that the Commission does not oppose responsible investment. The Minerals Commission's reply has not been reported.
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  Onua Online reported that a notice of the licence grant dated 15 July 2026 reached the Fisheries Commission only on 7 September 2026. No other report has confirmed those dates.

Why it matters for Ghana

Fishing sustains coastal families from Half Assini to Winneba. Citi Newsroom cited the 2022 Canoe Frame Survey, which recorded 12,181 canoes and 110,351 marine artisanal fishers. If surveys or seabed sampling disturbed fishing grounds, canoe crews, fish processors and traders in the Western and Central regions would feel it first. The dispute also tests whether the mining and fisheries agencies coordinate before a licence moves to more intrusive stages.