Students would be required to search for information on coastal and ocean management practices in Ghana and other African countries, Southeast Asia, North and South America, EU, and small island developing states (SIDS). Institutional, intergovernmental, legal and financial considerations would be emphasized.
Coastal resources, such as fisheries, mangroves, minerals, oil/gas will be described and guidelines for their management discussed. Participatory methods in community-based coastal resource management will be studied.
This course will deal with International developments in integrated coastal management by focusing on the Law of the Sea Convention, UNCED 1992, the UNEP Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine environment from Land-based Activities (UNEP-GPA), Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, and the International Coral Reef Initiative. International guidelines in ICZM patterns of ICZM around the world shall be emphasized. Extensive use of the Internet will be required for this course.
This course defines the coastal zone and examines the different habitats or ecosystem types within the coastal zone. Important coastal forces and processes such as hurricanes, coastal storms, winds, waves, tides, currents, sediment transport and long shore drifts, sea level rise and coastal hydrologic cycle are highlighted in detail. The coastal zone and coastal processes of West Africa and other regions are discussed.
This course would involve a study of ecological principles as they apply to marine species, populations, and ecosystems using current examples from the primary literature and the Internet, including contemporary issues such as biodiversity change, pollution as well as coastal and marine protected areas
Examines the diversity of benthic marine invertebrates, seaweeds, sea grasses, and benthic microorganisms. Benthic habitats are also studied.
This course will deal with life in the open sea and will examine plankton and their distribution and vertical migration of zooplankton. The nekton represented by cephalopods, fishes, birds, reptiles and mammals shall be studied for aspects of their biology.
The ocean and marginal seas shall be described. Also to be described are the topography and structure of the ocean floor, general properties of seawater, and the patterns and causes of circulation in the open sea. The effect of seawater density and deep circulation will be discussed. The nature of waves and the shoreline tides will be described as well as coral reef biodiversity and productivity.
The nature of lakes, rivers and catchment areas will be described; the processes leading to formation of lakes, and lake morphometry shall also be described. The vertical illumination of water bodies and extinction coefficient will be explained as well as the description of temperature stratification and its effects on the distribution of organisms. Roles of sediment in deep and shallow lakes, depth in the distribution of communities in a lake or river shall be discussed. The course will also discuss lake fertility and hypolimnetic oxygen depletion. This course shall also examine the diversity and functions of plankton, neuston, nekton, and benthos in freshwater ecosystems. Freshwater macrophytes and associated invertebrates, and weed-bed communities, e.g. epiphytic algae and bacteria will be studied.
Students will undertake a field and or laboratory research project in any aspect of fisheries science and present a thesis. It is also required that students make at least two seminar presentations during the research and thesis preparation, as well as an oral defense of the thesis.
