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 this land is plains lying less than 300 meters above sea level, though isolated high points exist in numerous states along the southern shore of West Africa. The northern section of West Africa (narrowly defined to exclude the western Maghreb) is composed of semi-arid terrain known as Sahel, a transitional zone between the Sahara and the savannahs of the western Sudan. Forests form a belt between the savannas and the southern coast, ranging from 160 km to 240 km in width. The northwest African region of Mauritania periodically suffers country-wide plagues of locusts which consume water, salt and crops on