INCREASED AWARENESS OF SHARK KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTION AMONG CHILDREN IN GHANA: AN EDUCATIONAL APPROACH

Yıl 2024, Cilt: 6 Sayı: 1, 1 - 16, 30.06.2024

Samuel Amponsah

Öz

The significant increase in shark catches has made shark conservation a global problem. Although several studies on sharks have been conducted in Ghana, there is a dearth of information on the use of educational approaches for shark conservation. This study aimed to assess schoolchildren's knowledge of sharks and shark fisheries, attitudes toward shark conservation, and the factors that affected their knowledge and attitudes. From March to April 2023, two basic schools from the Western region of Ghana were visited. These schools were two Primary and Junior High Schools. From these schools, 99 students were given questionnaires to fill out with the help of a local teacher. According to the survey, more than 60% of students were aware of sharks' predatory function in the ecosystem but oblivious to their ecological significance. From the study, schoolchildren demonstrated a fair amount of understanding of shark fisheries and fishing in Ghana due to their proximity to the fishing community. However, the misunderstandings that some of these children hold about sharks may lead to poor participation in shark conservation activities. Correlation analysis between knowledge and attitude indicated an increase in knowledge about sharks would increase the attitude of children towards shark conservation. Therefore, it is crucial to incorporate shark conservation topics into the curriculum of these children, establish shark conservation groups, and engage them in citizen science projects to foster their desire for shark conservation.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Primary, Junior High School, Marine Protected Areas, catches, fishermen

Kaynakça

• Ackah, R., Amekor, W. D., & Amponsah, S. K.K (2022). Population Dynamics of Shark Species in the Coast Of Ghana, West Africa. Research in Agriculture Livestock and Fisheries, 9(3), 353-365.
• Acuña-Marrero, D., de la Cruz-Modino, R., Smith, A.N., Salinas-de-León, P., Pawley, M.D. & Anderson, M.J. (2018). Understanding human attitudes towards sharks to promote sustainable coexistence. Mar. Policy 91, 122– 128.
• Agyeman, N. A., Blanco-Fernandez, C., Steinhaussen, S. L., Garcia-Vazquez, E., & Machado-Schiaffino, G. (2021). Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fisheries threatening shark conservation in African waters revealed from high levels of shark mislabelling in Ghana. Genes, 12(7), 1002.
• Ajiboye, J. O., & Silo, N. (2008). Enhancing Botswana children’s environmental knowledge, attitudes and practices through the school civic clubs.
• Albano, P. S., Fallows, C., Fallows, M., Schuitema, O., Bernard, A. T., Sedgwick, O., & Hammerschlag, N. (2021). Successful parks for sharks: No-take marine reserve provides conservation benefits to endemic and threatened sharks off South Africa. Biological conservation, 261, 109302.
• Amponsah, S. K., Ackah, R., Amekor, W. D., Berchie, A., & Apraku, A. (2023). Shark Fishing in Ghana: What We Ought to Know. In Sharks-Past, Present and Future. IntechOpen.
• Beall, J. M., Pharr, L. D., von Furstenberg, R., Barber, A., Casola, W. R., Vaughn, A. & Larson, L. R. (2022). The influence of YouTube videos on human tolerance of sharks. Animal Conservation.
• Brobbey, L. K., Seidu, I., Oppong, S. K., & Danquah, E. (2021). Fishing for survival: Importance of shark fisheries for the livelihoods of coastal communities in Western Ghana.
• Brown, T. (2021). Decline of Sharks Negatively Impacts Marine Ecosystems: A Review of Trophic Cascades with Emphasis on Behavior.
• de Pinho, J. R., Grilo, C., Boone, R. B., Galvin, K. A., & Snodgrass, J. G. (2014). Influence of aesthetic appreciation of wildlife species on attitudes towards their conservation in Kenyan agropastoralist communities. PloS one, 9(2), e88842.
• Dillon, E. M., McCauley, D. J., Morales-Saldaña, J. M., Leonard, N. D., Zhao, J. X., & O’Dea, A. (2021). Fossil dermal denticles reveal the preexploitation baseline of a Caribbean coral reef shark community. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(29), e2017735118.
• Dovlo, E., Amador, K., & Nkrumah, B. (2016). INFORMATION REPORT NO 36.
• Erhabor, N. I., & Don, J. U. (2016). Impact of Environmental Education on the Knowledge and Attitude of Students towards the Environment. International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 11(12), 5367-5375.
• Ferretti, F., Jacoby, D. M., Pfleger, M. O., White, T. D., Dent, F., Micheli, F., & Block, B. A. (2020). Shark fin trade bans and sustainable shark fisheries. Conservation Letters, 13(3), e12708.
• Garla, R. C., Chapman, D. D., Wetherbee, B. M., & Shivji, M. (2006). Movement patterns of young Caribbean reef sharks, Carcharhinus perezi, at Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, Brazil: the potential of marine protected areas for conservation of a nursery ground. Marine biology, 149, 189-199.
• Garla, R. C., Freitas, R. H., Calado, J. F., Paterno, G. B., & Carvalho, A. R. (2015). Public awareness of the economic potential and threats to sharks of a tropical oceanic archipelago in the western South Atlantic. Marine Policy, 60, 128-133.
• Gonzáles-Mantilla, P. G., Gallagher, A. J., León, C. J., & Vianna, G. M. (2021). Challenges and conservation potential of shark-diving tourism in the Macaronesian archipelagos. Marine Policy, 131, 104632.
• Guay, J. D., Brooks, J. L., Chapman, J. M., Medd, H., Cooke, S. J., & Nguyen, V. M. (2023). Exploring the hidden connections between information channel use and pro-environmental behavior among recreational anglers of the shore-based shark fishery in Florida, United States. Frontiers in Communication, 7, 272.
• Gulmira, M., Kuralay, T., Doskeyeva, S., Zhanar, A., & Sekey, Z. (2022). Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences. Sciences, 17(10), 3625-3637.
• Hariohay, K. M., Fyumagwa, R. D., Kideghesho, J. R., & Røskaft, E. (2018). Awareness and attitudes of local people toward wildlife conservation in the Rungwa Game Reserve in Central Tanzania. Human dimensions of wildlife, 23(6), 503-514.
• Johnson III, R. M., Gilman, S. L., & Abel, D. C. (2023). Tooth and Claw: Top Predators of the World. Princeton University Press.
• Kioko, J. (2010). Youth’s Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices in Wildlife and Environmental Conservation in Maasailand, Kenya John Kioko and John Warui Kiringe. Center for Wildlife Management Studies, Kenya. Southern African Journal of Environmental Education, 27.
• Knight, J. (2008). Higher education in turmoil: The changing world of internationalization. Brill.
• Kothari, C.R. (2004). Research methodology: Methods and techniques. New Age International.
• Kraft, D., Meyer, L., Webb, M., Scidmore‐Rossing, K., Huveneers, C., Clua, E., & Meyer, C. (2021). Development and successful real‐world use of a transfer DNA technique to identify species involved in shark bite incidents. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 66(6), 2438-2443.
• MacKeracher, T., Mizrahi, M. I., Bergseth, B., Maung, K. M. C., Khine, Z. L., Phyu, E. T., & Diedrich, A. (2021). Understanding non-compliance in small-scale fisheries: Shark fishing in Myanmar’s Myeik Archipelago. Ambio, 50, 572-585.
• Musiello-Fernandes, J., Zappes, C. A., Braga, H. O., & Hostim-Silva, M. (2021). Artisanal fishers’ local ecological knowledge and attitudes toward conservation about the shrimp (Xiphopenaeus kroyeri) on the Brazilian central coast. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências, 93.
• Papageorgiou, M., GT, E. B., Snape, R., & Hadjioannou, L. (2022). Increased knowledge affects public attitude and perception towards elasmobranchs and support for conservation. Mediterranean Marine Science, 23(3), 637-649.
• Pham, M. T. (2007). Emotion and rationality: A critical review and interpretation of empirical evidence. Review of general psychology, 11(2), 155-178.
• Pooley, J. A., & o’Connor, M. (2000). Environmental education and attitudes: Emotions and beliefs are what is needed. Environment and behavior, 32(5), 711-723.
• Sall, A., Failler, P., Drakeford, B., & March, A. (2021). Fisher migrations: social and economic perspectives on the emerging shark fishery in West Africa. African Identities, 19(3), 284-303.
• Seidu, I., Brobbey, L. K., Danquah, E., Oppong, S. K., van Beuningen, D., Seidu, M., & Dulvy, N. K. (2022). Fishing for survival: Importance of shark fisheries for the livelihoods of coastal communities in Western Ghana. Fisheries Research, 246, 106157.
• Seidu, I., Brobbey, L. K., Danquah, E., Oppong, S. K., van Beuningen, D., & Dulvy, N. K. (2022). Local Ecological Knowledge, Catch Characteristics, and Evidence of Elasmobranch Depletions in Western Ghana Artisanal Fisheries. Human Ecology, 1-16.
• Seidu, S., Cos, X., Brunton, S., Harris, S. B., Jansson, S. P., Mata-Cases, M., & Khunti, K. (2022). 2022 update to the position statement by Primary Care Diabetes Europe: a disease state approach to the pharmacological management of type 2 diabetes in primary care. Primary Care Diabetes.
• Sekey, W., Obirikorang, K. A., Alimo, T. A., Soku, M., Acquah, B., Gyampoh, B. A., ... & Kassah, J. E. (2022). Evaluation of the shark fisheries along the Coastline of Ghana, West Africa. Regional Studies in Marine Science, 53, 102434.
• Sherman, C. S., Heupel, M. R., Moore, S. K., Chin, A., & Simpfendorfer, C. A. (2020). When sharks are away, rays will play: effects of top predator removal in coral reef ecosystems. Marine Ecology Progress
• Sherman, C. S., Simpfendorfer, C. A., Haque, A. B., Digel, E. D., Zubick, P., Eged, J., & Dulvy, N. K. (2022). Guitarfishes are plucked: undermanaged in global fisheries despite declining populations and high volume of unreported international trade. bioRxiv, 2022-10.
• Shiffman, D. S., Bittick, S. J., Cashion, M. S., Colla, S. R., Coristine, L. E., Derrick, D. H., & Dulvy, N. K. (2020). Inaccurate and biased global media coverage underlies public misunderstanding of shark conservation threats and solutions. Iscience, 23(6), 101205.
• Smith-Sebasto, N. J., & Cavern, L. (2006). Effects of pre-and posttrip activities associated with a residential environmental education experience on students' attitudes toward the environment. The Journal of Environmental Education, 37(4), 3-17.
• Thu, H., & Minh, T. (2013). School Violence: Evidence from Young Lives in Vietnam.
• Tsoi, K. H., Chan, S. Y., Lee, Y. C., Ip, B. H. Y., & Cheang, C. C. (2016). Shark conservation: an educational approach based on children’s knowledge and perceptions toward sharks. PloS one, 11(9), e0163406.
• van Zinnicq Bergmann, M. P., Guttridge, T. L., Smukall, M. J., Adams, V. M., Bond, M. E., Burke, P. J., & Papastamatiou, Y. P. (2022). Using movement models and systematic conservation planning to inform marine protected area design for a multi-species predator community. Biological Conservation, 266, 109469.
• White, T. D., Carlisle, A. B., Kroodsma, D. A., Block, B. A., Casagrandi, R., De Leo, G. A., & McCauley, D. J. (2017). Assessing the effectiveness of a large marine protected area for reef shark conservation. Biological Conservation, 207, 64-71.
• Zemah-Shamir, Z. (2021). The Human–Wildlife Conflict as a Global Challenge: Anthropogenic Factors Affecting Shark Behavior and Physiology. Winter Aggregation of Sharks at Hadera as a Case Study (Doctoral dissertation, University of Haifa (Israel)).Series, 641, 145-157.
• Zhang, C., Hu, M., Di Maio, F., Sprecher, B., Yang, X., & Tukker, A. (2022). An overview of the waste hierarchy framework for analyzing the circularity in construction and demolition waste management in Europe. Science of the Total Environment, 803, 149892.
• Ziegler, J. A., Diamant, S., Pierce, S. J., Bennett, R., & Kiszka, J. J. (2021). Economic value and public perceptions of whale shark tourism in Nosy Be, Madagascar. Tourism in Marine Environments, 16(3), 167-182.
• Zimmerhackel, J. S., Kragt, M. E., Rogers, A. A., Ali, K., & Meekan, M. G. (2019). Evidence of increased economic benefits from shark-diving tourism in the Maldives. Marine Policy, 100, 21-26.