Chronicle of a Death Foretold: The Ecological Collapse of Sakumo Lagoon, Ghana

Authors

Akwetey, M. F. A., Lamptey, E., Abrokwah, S., Aheto, D. W., Mensah, P. K., Okyere, I., Akintola, S. L., Pauly, D.

Abstract

Sakumo Lagoon, a small (1 km2) semi-open coastal lagoon in Ghana, lies between the cities of Accra and Tema. The lagoon and its surrounding wetland were designated a Ramsar Site in 1992, mainly because it served as a refuge for 66 local and migratory bird species. Its ecology, and the biology of its major fish species, notably the blackchin tilapia (Sarotherodon melanotheron) were thoroughly studied in 1971, when the lagoon was a diverse, mainly brackish ecosystem supporting a traditionally and well-managed fishery. In 2016-2017, another study found the lagoon mostly covered by floating vegetation and plastic waste. Finally, in 2024, a visual survey established that the floating vegetation had been almost completely replaced by terrestrial plants, with only a few square meters of garbage-strewn water in front of a culvert connecting the lagoon to the open sea. Several lagoons along the coast of Ghana have been similarly lost to urban sprawl and its various forms of pollution, but Sakumo Lagoon is a Ramsar Site, and its imminent disappearance should not remain undocumented.

Preprint server: bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 16 Jul 2026.

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