Planning for improved and sustainable cage aquaculture in Lake Volta, Ghana

This three-year project commenced in December 2012 and is funded by a Leverhulme/Royal Society Africa Grant. The principal aim of the project is to build capacity in environmental monitoring and assessment and to formulate a plan for improved and sustainable cage aquaculture on the Volta lake, so contributing to the developing industry and to regional food security.

The project will build a spatial database to model cage system site suitability in Lake Volta. It will determine the quantities of waste being discharge into the Lake based on production practice, the mode of aquaculture waste (uneaten food, faeces and other metabolites) dispersal in the Lake and the likely interactions between the wastes and other chemicals inputs for cage culture and the surrounding environment, taking into consideration the hydrology of the lake

The aim is to develop predictive models of the effects of cage culture on the lake and its effect on other uses (drinking water, irrigation etc), as well as building skills in environmental monitoring and impact assessment and develop guidelines for sustained cage aquaculture in the lake