A fisherman mends his nets in Ghana's Cape Coast. USAID’s integrated coastal fisheries governance project has assisted the Government of Ghana and key stakeholders in strengthening their capacity to conserve and protect marine fisheries. These fisheries are a critical resource in Ghana, where 60 percent of animal protein comes from marine fisheries and 2.2 million people depend on them for their livelihoods. As such, fish play an important role in Ghana’s food security. They are often the only accessible and affordable source of animal protein for poor households in urban and peri-urban areas. Fish is also smoked and dried and transported to the rural regions in the northern part of the country, where it is a critical source of protein and micro-nutrients such as iron, iodine, zinc, calcium, vitamin A and vitamin B.