One of the major ways to reduce pressure on a declining fishery is through effort controls and this most often is seen to have both positive and negative effect on the people whose livelihoods depend on the fishery, specifically in instances where the control of efforts leads to the exclusion of fishers out of the fishery. This study looks at some of the factors that will affect Ghanaian fishers in the artisanal fishers' willingness to exit a declining fishery and also looks at what these fishers perceived to be their alternative livelihood options. The study found that fishers in a developed area like Tema, in Ghana are well aware of the fact that their fishery is declining but still a large majority (77.5%) of them are not willing to stop fishing entirely, and even when offered an alternative, a majority of them (55.4%) are not willing to exit the fishery for any alternative livelihood options. The study identified "generations in fishing", that is coming from a family of fishers, to be a major factor that contributes to fishers' willingness to exit or stay in the fishery. The results indicate that direct effort reduction in such a sector has a high probability of failing with the fishers going back to fishing. Thus, it is proposed to address this situation by using indirect means that seek to address the major factor, generations in fishing. Promoting income diversification via promoting alternative livelihoods among fishers, was seen to be important to reduce over dependence on the fishery. Fishers' preferred alternative livelihoods include jobs that will not require any high qualification and skills due to their low educational background and skills level. Based on these findings, the study recommended government support for alternative livelihoods to geared towards targeting those who are in the fishery because they were forced to be there and feel trapped in the fishery. Policies that are directed towards delaminating or reducing intergenerational transfer of fishing within household (e.g. educational policies) could also be promoted.