UK charity, the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN), recognised Dr Issah Seidu with a 2026 Whitley Award for his pioneering work to save guitarfish along Ghana’s western coastline and to advance plans to create the country’s first Locally Managed Marine Area.
“Guitarfish pushed me beyond biology into social science, governance and community engagement,” according to Issah. They “are special to me because they sit at the intersection of science, people and conservation… yet they remain largely invisible in policy, research and public awareness.”
A lecturer at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the founder of NGO AquaLife Conservancy, Issah and his team will expand a growing network of communities trained in best fishing practices, alternative livelihoods, and extinction awareness. They will build on a successful programme of initiatives which reduced the harvest of guitarfish, among the most threatened fish in the ocean, as well as among the most valuable species landed in fisheries in Ghana.
Closely related to sharks and rays, there are at least 55 species of guitarfish globally. Issah’s team will focus primarily on four species: the common guitarfish, white-spotted guitarfish, blackchin guitarfish and the spineback guitarfish. Amid a decline in teleost stocks – bony fish which include tuna, catfish and sardinellas – local fisheries have started to use gillnets to target guitarfish for their white fins and meat. Sawfish have already gone extinct in local waters and populations of wedgefish are severely depleted amid weak fisheries management, poor species identification and limited enforcement.
Charity Patron, HRH The Princess Royal presented the Whitley Award on 29 April at the Royal Geographical Society. The event was livestreamed to YouTube. WFN Ambassador Sir David Attenborough said conservation work has never been more urgent. “We need the work of Whitley Award winners to succeed and to help them to whatever extent possible.”
“Working with guitarfish revealed to me how easily a species can decline when it is poorly understood and undervalued.”
With his Whitley Award, Issah and his team at AquaLife Conservancy, will extend the mapping of critical habitats to 25 km2 from 15 km2, a crucial step towards developing Ghana’s first Locally Managed Marine Area along with mobilizing stakeholder support for the initiative. The project will build on the work of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), where Issah is co-chair of the SSC Shark Specialist Group for the African region, and leading on the first baseline for sharks and rays in Ghana and West Africa.
Globally, overfishing has driven a decline of 71 percent in sharks and rays. The IUCN lists many guitarfish species as Critically Endangered with overexploitation the primary driver. Demand for guitarfish fins in international markets has driven intense fishing pressure across Africa and Asia.
As key coastal predators, guitarfish help to maintain balance in coastal marine ecosystems. However, they are highly vulnerable because they live in shallow coastal waters – Ghana’s coastline extends for about 550 km — they grow slowly, mature late and produce few young; this means their populations cannot recover quickly once depleted.
The coastal Western Region of Ghana, an administrative region, is internationally known, forming part of the UNESCO World Heritage Forts and Castles of Ghana. AquaLife’s project area boasts two major estuaries, a large stretch of riverine ecosystem, a lush mangrove forest and a wide sandy beach which also supports the nesting of three endangered sea turtle species.
Issah’s project will add four hotspot communities to the five communities that AquaLife Conservancy works with in Ahanta West District which are major hubs of guitarfish fisheries in Ghana. The team aims to forge close links with key stakeholders, including fishers, fish traders and processors, canoe owners, chief fishers, and local authorities.
AquaLife is undertaking a systematic survey for guitarfish to highlight the bioeconomic and bioecological considerations for the establishment of Managed Marine Areas. Most people in these communities depend directly or indirectly on small-scale fisheries for their livelihoods. The guitarfish are consumed locally while the fins, which can be sold for almost twice as much as the rest of the guitarfish, are exported primarily to China.
With Whitley Award funding, the team plans to engage the communities of Pumpuni, Aniahunu, Upper Adjoa and Fonko – to help reduce reliance on guitarfish. The project will support an additional 45 individuals, build local capacity and improve participation of fishers in monitoring and management through AquaLife Conservancy fisher biologist training and will reduce the number of fishers catching guitarfish by 150 people.
More than 200 fishers where AquaLife Conserancy works have already scaled back their harvest of guitarfish. The team has successfully engaged 70 percent of people in Dixcove, Lower Adjoa, Mpatano, Busua and Butre communities, to raise awareness of the extinction risk of guitarfish. They have trained local volunteers as fisher biologists, and educated 83 fishers and boat captains on safe release of guitarfish and best fishing practices. The team have further trained fishers and traders in alternative livelihood supports, such as soap making and farming of snails – which are part of the local cuisine – where some fishers are now making higher incomes than from fishing.
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NOTES TO EDITORS – WHITLEY FUND FOR NATURE
The Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) is a UK charity supporting grassroots conservation leaders in the Global South. Since its creation in 1993, it has channelled £26 million to over 230 conservationists working across 84 countries.
An early pioneer in the sector WFN was one of the first charities to channel funding directly to projects led by in-country nationals. Its rigorous application process identifies inspiring individuals who combine the latest science with community-based action.
WFN’s flagship prizes – Whitley Awards – are presented by charity Patron, HRH The Princess Royal, at a prestigious annual ceremony in London at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS). Winners receive funding, training, and profile boost, including short films.
The 2026 Whitley Awards Ceremony took place on Wednesday 29 April at the RGS and streamed live to YouTube. The other 2026 Whitley Award winners are:
- Dr Marina Kameni from Cameroon who is reviving endemic amphibian populations in Southwest Cameroon, a global hotspot for threatened amphibians, including the world’s largest frog.
- Dr Moreangels Mbizah from Zimbabwe who is expanding a coexistence model of conservation in northern Zimbabwe that allows the movement of lions between protected areas and community land.
- Dr Paola Sangolquí from Ecuador who is protecting the nesting sites of the Critically Endangered Galápagos Petrel from invasive species.
- Parveen Shaikh from India who is expanding protection for the Indian Skimmer and her model of community-led riverine bird conservation to Prayagraj in the Ganga Basin.
- Dr Barkha Subba from India who is leading the first grassroots movement to protect the Himalayan salamander and its fragile wetland habitat in the Darjeeling Himalaya, West Bengal.
Every year, a past Whitley Award winner is chosen to receive the Whitley Gold Award, which has increased to £120,000, in recognition of their outstanding contribution to conservation. The Whitley Gold Award recipient also acts as a mentor to Whitley Award winners and an international ambassador for conservation success.
The 2026 Whitley Gold Award winner is Indonesia’s Farwiza Farhan who is accelerating community protection of water catchments in the Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra, where devastating storms and floods last year compounded more than three decades of deforestation.
FOR INTERVIEW REQUESTS AND INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Carol Roussel, Head of Media, Whitley Fund for Nature
T: 07379 019 804
Josephine Higgins, Head of Communications, Whitley Fund for Nature
