<<Print>>

The Anlo Beach Community near Shama needs to be relocated as soon as possible to save lives of the over 3,000 people living in the fishing community.

The community is being seriously threatened by tidal waves with the ocean continually flooding the community, destroying buildings, schools, mangroves, coconut vegetation, and the beautiful sandy beach as well.

A tour by journalists to the Anlo Beach revealed that most homes were gone, and a number of peoples’ livelihoods destroyed. During the tour, it was observed that River Prah, which initially was not entering the sea at the beach, had now overflowed its banks and was flowing into the sea, creating artificial estuary.

The water current also continues to eat into the remaining sand bar that is left to protect the land.

“The sea is invading the community so fast and this will require some form of adaptation.

“So right now the people are under threat. They are between two water bodies,” said Professor John Blay, a professor of Zoology of the University of Cape Coast, with specialty in Fisheries Science and Integrated Coastal Management who led journalists on the tour.

The journalists toured the Anlo Beach as part of a training workshop held for media personnel by the Centre for Coastal Management (CCM) of the UCC in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The training dubbed, “Short course on climate change adaptation for the media personnel” was to enlighten the media on environmental issues.
It falls under the five-year USAID/UCC Fisheries and Coastal Management Capacity Building Support Project.

Prof Blay described the situation at the Anlo Beach as very dire; saying there was no doubt that the people should relocate from the area to ensure their survival.

“There are no adaptive situations here, they just have to move to a higher ground and that is what will save them and their livelihoods.

“This therefore calls for immediate action, which is, just relocating and fortunately they have been given a place to move uphill where their school is presently located”, Prof Blay said.

Mr Noble Dogbatsey, Secretary to the Council of Elders of Anlo Beach, told GNA in an interview that the Beach community had been in existence since 1903 when the first settlers inhabit the community.
He narrated that the sea was far from the land around the 1950s, but with time, the sea had gradually eroded the land and flooded the community with higher intensity as the climate kept changing.

He said the elders of the town were still renegotiating with the current Shama Council and the owners of the land, and that immediately the negotiations were over, they would move to the new site.

Mr Dogbatsey said more than 3,000 people mainly fisher folks and farmers currently live in the Anlo Beach community.

“Actually we are ever ready to relocate to the new site but come to the beach to do our fishing business. ”