This report is a case study of fish harvesting, handling preparation, and marketing techniques, and, also, fish consumption patterns currently existing in Ghana. The intent of this research was to determine the constraints to increased productivity of the Ghana fishing industry. The authors of this report believe that the Ghana fishing industry is representative of the entire West Africa fishing industry. Thus, research findings presented in this report can be applied to the development of corrective programs for the entire West African region. A major constraint to the Ghana industry is the shortage of credit available to fishermen. A result of this is that few fishermen can afford to purchase better fishing craft or equipment (e.g., modern fish detection devices). Deterioration of the fish after netting and during and after processing and marketing is another problem. Only a portion of fishermen and marketers use ice to help preserve the fish: handling of the fish by unclean hands and draining of the fish on the bacteria-rich sands of the shoreline further contaminates the fish harvest. None of the many types of smoking ovens used in Ghana is entirely successful in producing smoked fish of consistent quality. The processing methods for producing salted and dried, unsalted and dried, and fried fish are likewise deficient. Research into refinement of oven design and drying and frying processes is definitely necessary. A test to determine the degree of fish freshness has already been developed and used successfully by the University of Rhode Island contract team. A description of the test is included in this publication. Consumer taste preference and taboos against eating certain species of fish pose the final constraints to the fish industry. Taboos and taste preference vary from locale to locale. The "bad" taste of certain fish could be eliminated through the use of modified processing methods, but such methods will require additional research before being used. Some taboos have already been eliminated through villager education programs. Appended to the Ghana Fishing Industry study is a paper containing both the research data and the data collection methodologies used in the study.