Cetacean strandings in Ghana artisanal fishing boats and are towed to port. The Vridi specimen was harpooned for research purposes. A single skeletal specimen was known for Ghana and was probably collected in 1956. Killer whales are present in Gulf of Guinea waters although population size is not considered in great numbers. A killer whale was harpooned some 15-20 nm south of Abidjan in 1958 but the animal sank. This shows that killer whales are present in the West African marine waters. Observers on industrial tuna purse-seiners reported a few sightings off the coast of Liberia, Ivory Coast and Ghana. The first record in
West Africa it between France and Britain following First World War due to the Treaty of Versailles. Only Liberia retained its independence, at the price of major territorial concessions. Following World War II, nationalist movements arose across West Africa. In 1957, Ghana, under Kwame Nkrumah, became the first sub-Saharan colony to achieve its independence, followed the next year by France's colonies (Guinea in 1958 under the leadership of President Ahmed Sekou Touré); by 1974, West Africa's nations were entirely autonomous. Since independence, many West African nations have been submerged under political instability, with notable civil wars in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and