An Assessment of the Contribution of Traditional Fish Smoking to Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Selected Communities of Coastal Ghana.

Abstract

The concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere were relatively stable during the pre-industrial era by keeping the Earth‘s temperature steady until the dawn of the industrial revolution when the concentrations of these gases started increasing. Major sources of GHGs include the combustion of fossilised fuels and the burning of biomass fuels. Throughout the world, fuelwood is used for heating and cooking. The fish smoking process is no exception. The study examined GHG emissions from traditional fish smoking along the coast of the Western and Central Regions of Ghana, investigating fuelwood consumption across different fishing seasons and preferences for specific fuelwood types. An explorative sequential method was employed as the study design, involving focus groups discussions and interviews with fish smokers and fuelwood suppliers. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from May to October 2022, sampling 506 respondents. The estimation of CO2, CH4 and N2O emissions was done using the IPCC tier 1 methodology for stationary combustion, supplemented by air quality sensor measurement. Results show that the total quantity of fuelwood used by the communities in the study was 18,349 MT per annum. The cumulative annual of emissions resulting from the practice of fish smoking amounts to 33,871.88 MT of CO2e. The study found that fish smoking comparatively emits lower GHGs compared to other sources with fuelwood preferences influenced by factors such as aesthetics, burning duration, and local availability. It was therefore recommended that measuring GHG emissions from other fuelwooddependent activities in Ghana would enhance emission calculations and accuracy.