Ada, Ghana — Each day, Beatrice Nutekpor steers her canoe through tangled mangrove roots to harvest oysters—work she learned at 15 and now hopes to pass to her daughter. But with Ghana’s coastal mangroves depleted by cutting, development and climate pressures, the women who dominate this trade say their way of life is at risk.
Oyster farming has long sustained communities along Ghana’s estuaries, where mangroves provide habitat, stabilize shorelines and buffer storms. When roots are intact, oyster spat settle naturally; as forests vanish, oysters “drop” into deeper water, forcing divers to free-dive up to nine meters for hours to find them.
“Previously the oysters attach themselves to the mangroves but because the mangroves have been cut now they settle in the water,” Nutekpor said. “The oysters have started attaching themselves to the mangroves we have planted. We also harvest the fish that hides in the roots… the mangroves are very good for us.”
In recent years, hundreds of women received training in eco-friendly methods—replanting mangroves, selective harvesting and better handling—through the Development Action Association (DAA) with U.S. support. That program ended after Washington cut foreign-aid contracts, leaving communities to self-organize as Ghana contends with its worst economic downturn in decades.
A single basin of oysters sells for about 47 Ghanaian cedis ($4)—barely enough, women say, to feed families and pay school fees. With firewood demand stripping mangrove stands, creeping coastal development, and periodic dam releases inundating lowlands, the restoration work is slow and physically punishing. “Replanting has paid off,” Nutekpor said, “but it keeps us in the sun for hours.”
The ecological stakes are high. Oysters help filter water, improving clarity and estuary health. “If we have more oysters in any mangrove area, it’s found that the water gets cleaner,” said Francis Nunoo, professor of fisheries science at the University of Ghana. He warns that without alternatives, pressure on ecosystems will outpace recovery. “We should intentionally find alternative livelihoods… or the rate of destruction will be higher than repopulation. We are going to lose some species and we are going to lose some lives.”
DAA’s community liaison Promise Hunya said past USAID projects were crucial in shifting attitudes. “At first we didn’t know the importance of the mangroves,” he said. “They brought a student from Cape Coast University to teach us how important the mangrove is.”
Ghana has lost over 80% of its original mangroves since the last century, mirroring trends across West Africa as seas rise and coastlines harden. For Nutekpor, 45, the solution lies in steady support—seedlings, gear, cold-chain access and a path to pass on a tradition. “Just as my mother taught me, I want to teach my daughter,” she said. “If we keep the mangroves, we can keep our work—and our water—alive.”
