Fishing is their life and the sea their companion for years, but residents of Dixcove, a fishing community in the Western region are now facing the harsh reality of losing their land as change in climate has led to rising sea levels.

Located in the Ahanta West District, 35 km west of the regional capital Sekondi-Takoradi, about 95 percent of inhabitants depend on the sea for their livelihood.

But that livelihood is gradually being washed away as the community experiences tidal flooding.

Commercial facilities such as a local restaurant, cinema hall and houses as well as a recreational center have all been washed away with no traces of the debris.

“This was a big concert yard but now see. Some houses around here, the owners have left to build another at a different location. As time goes on, some say the rebuilding of the Takoradi port is causing it” says Edmond Nartey, a fisherman.

To make matters worse the tidal wave gauge which could be used to access the situation was destroyed during the Takoradi port expansion.

Residents have no idea what the cause of their predicament is-climate change.

When the sea strikes it is like Hiroshima bomb; nobody can stand here. You must run away for your life leaving the canoes and outboard motors”. These were the description of Edmond on the scary moments residents have had to endure.

“First it was happening but it was not rampant but now it is very rampant, so things are very bad”. Nartey said.

Environmental and Education Coordinator at Takoradi-based Friends of the Nation Kwesi Johnson has been providing some education.

He says the situation is a result of melting glaciers at the poles as a result of increased greenhouse gases.

”The glaciers at the poles are melting and the areas around the equator, Ghana inclusive, are where this excess water is floating to”.

According to him, the periodic exchange of water (the top water to the bottom and vice versa called upwelling) is less frequent so when the wind blows, then there are storm surges along the coast.

40 year old fisherman, Edward Kusi, is afraid there will be no land here for inhabitants in the next few years. In addition, the situation is affecting their catch when they go to sea.

Mr. Kusi tells me one person has died this after the tidal waves destroyed two canoes this year alone

But in spite of what looked like a life threatening, residents of Dixcove are unwilling to be resettled but rather wants sea defense wall constructed.

 “We don’t have anywhere to go. For us to travel is to go to Ivory Coast or Tema because of the fishing business. This is where we were born so we can’t go anywhere”, says Kusi.

Though it may look like a good defense, but the wall comes with consequences, and the absence of a tidal gauge system exacerbates it.

Kwesi Johnson, the environmentalist however will not recommend more sea defense walls because such a move will deny fisher folks of landing beaches-where they will berth their canoes.