Management of inland capture fisheries and challenges in fish production in Nigeria

The paper critically examines the trend in fish production in Nigeria. The problem of excessive mismanagement and lack of attention by relevant agencies are still common place in inland water bodies. The paper discusses these mismanagement practices which are non compliance with the existing rules and regulations on good fishing methods, uncontrollable, unorthodox and obnoxious fishing practices, destruction of the natural breeding grounds and the collapse of the fishery due to massive over fishing. The challenges posed by the fishing methods as well as the effect of different gears and mechanization of fishing crafts on fish production are discussed. The paper recommends ways to increase domestic fish production in inland water bodies, which include a well planned strategy of restocking the existing reservoirs after careful scientific study, enforcement of the existing laws and regulation based on community participation. Training of stakeholders on the code of practice for responsible fisheries (CPRF), extension of subsidies to fisher folks, the traditional practices, which encourage the adherence to close season and other fish conservation and utilization strategies, are also advocate

The role of fishermen cooperative societies in the development of fisheries resources on Kainji Lake basin, Nigeria

Field survey was conducted to evaluate the role of fishermen cooperative in the development of fisheries resources in Kainji Lake. The study was conducted with aid of questionnaires administered in five fishing villages namely Monnai, Yuna, Kaya, Malale and Tunga Danbaba. Ten questionnaires were administered in each fishing village majority of the fishermen interviewed are between the ages of 20-40 years. The results of the educational background revealed that 60% of the respondents were knowledgeable only on Quranic education. Majority of the respondents (86%) was members of fishermen cooperative societies. Only 32% of the respondents indicated to have benefited for loan and credit facilities. Sixty-nine (69) percent of fishermen realized income of between N1, 000-N2, and 000 daily. The major problem facing fishermen cooperative includes lack of capital, lack of access to loan and credit facilities, shortage of adequately trained and well-motivated fisheries extension workers, inadequate fishing inputs and high charge of fishing license fees by Kainji Lake fisheries Management and Conservation Unit (KLFMCU). Recommendation was made on how to improve fishermen cooperative for the development of the lake fisheries resource

Socio-economic status of the fisher folk of Yuna Adopted Village in Borgu local government area, Niger State

Overcoming Poverty in Nigeria is one of the fundamental challenges facing the country today. The study was conducted to assess the socio-economic status of fisher folks in Yuna Adopted Village Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State. One hundred respondents (65 male and 35 female) were purposively selected from four registered groups in the Village. Frequencies and Percentages were used to arrange, summarize and present the findings of this study. Majority of the male respondents fell within the range of 30-49 years, while female respondents range from 40-49 and 60-69 years. The distribution of respondents based on educational attainment shows that 92.3% male and 100% female had Quranic education. Majority of the respondents (both male and female) lives in mud with thatched roof houses and do not own radio and television. Similarly the highest proportion of male respondents generated mostly income of N111,000 and N6,000 - N10,000, while female respondents earned between Nll,000 - N30,000 and N6,000-N10,000 only. The technologies awareness by respondents include fish farming, V-bottom boat, Solar tent dryer and trammel net, only fish farming was adopted by respondents. The major constraints to Agricultural production were identified and suggestions was made on how to overcome the constraints

Relative efficiency of monofilament and multifilament trammel nets in southern portion of Lake Kainji, Nigeria

The relative efficiency and selectivity of monofilament and multifilament trammel nets in southern basin of Lake Kainji were studied. The netswere set and inspected daily for 30 consecutive fishing days. Monofilaments trammel nets had the highest relative species diversity index of 0.52 while multifilament had 0.48. A total of 204 fish were caught, 64.7% was caught by monofilament nets and multifilament net 35.3%. This suggests, that there was significant (P < 0.05) variation in catching efficiency of the trammel netswith regardto Citharinus citharus with the monofilament net having the highest 79 fishes, but was not significant (P > 0.05) in overall number of difference species caught. However, trammel nets showed better efficiency for catching C. citharus, S. membranaceous, C. laticeps, O. nitoticus, Sarotherodon, than other species caught. There is no significant difference (P > 0.05) in the minimum and maximum sizes of fish caught, and this indicates the efficiency of the trammel nets in avoiding juveniles of commercial species, due to the meshsizes used (3" and 5"). This implies that rational exploitation could lead to proper management of fish stocks in the lake, which is now lacking. It is concluded that monofilament net is more efficient than multifilament trammel net Keywords:Trammel nets, Catch efficiency, Mode of capture, Lake Kainj

Marketing and transport of processed fish from Lake Kainji to southeast Nigeria

Marketing of processed fish transported from New Bussa (Kainji Lake) to Onitsha (Southeast) was conducted by quantitative assessment at New Bussa. The packaged fish products were counted and weighed before loading into lorries. A total of one hundred and sixty eight fish traders were interviewed. The commercially important freshwater fish species traded from Kainji Lake to Onitsha were Alestes spp, Bagrus spp, Citharus citharus, Synodontis membranaceous, Clarias spp, Labeo spp, Oreochromis niloticus, Sarotherodon galilaeus and, Tilapia zilli. The total weight of fish transported weekly from March - May 2007 ranged from 5,750Akg to 19,943.6kg and cost between N2, 688,000 to NlO, 178,000. The extrapolated annual transported fish products at the landing in New Bussa to South - East was 690.2 metric tonnes worth N329,888,004.00. These figures represent 7.5% of the published data on the total fish production in Lake Kainji. Marketing of processed fish from Kainji Lake is faced with constraints of bad road, spoilage of fish products due to improper smoking et

Effect of mesh size on catch performance of driftnets fishing in Lake Kainji

The studies on effect of mesh size on catch performance of driftnets fishing in Lake Kainji was experimented using 38.1mm, 63.5mm and 88.9mm stretched mesh size for 21 consecutive fishing days. The drifinets were operated by two fishing canoe; the operation was between 14.30 hours- 16.00 hours daily in the afternoon. Twenty-two fish species belonging to ten fish families were caught. The Species Diversity Index (SDI) revealed that 38.1mm stretched mesh size driftnet recorded the highest index of 0.77 next by 63.5mm mesh size with 0.45 and the least index of 0.36 was obtained in 88.9mm stretched mesh size driftnet. A total of 372 fishes were caught, 54.30% of this was caught by 38.1mm mesh size followed by 68.9mm mesh size (26.34%) and lowest (19.35%) was recorded by 63.5mm mesh size driftnet. The seven abundant fish species in the driftnets catches were S. galilaeus, D. rostratus, A. baremoze, S. membranaceus, T. zillii, L. senegalensis and H. fascialus. The total biomass of 25,314g (25.3kg) was obtained, 45.51% of this weight was captured 88.9mm mesh size while the least 24.24% was obtained in 63.5mm mesh size drifinet. S. galilaeus contributed the greatest proportion of weight 49.5% followed by D. rostratus 13.2% and L. senegalensis 10.3%. Recommendation was made for further studies in this aspect. Policies should also be directed to provide social amenities to the communities around the Lake

Assessment of safety of water craft in Lake Kainji, Nigeria

Assessment of Safety of Water Craft in Lake Kainji was conducted. A total of 50 questionnaires were administered to five randomly selected fishing areas along the lake. The items used in planning a lake trip shows that 30.23% and 28.68% used pole and paddles, while 19.38% and 16.25% used outboard engine and bamboo stick respectively. Majority of the respondents (32.92%) used Styrofoam as a life saving facility followed by bamboo (Kala, 24.37%), while empty tanks/jerry can accounted for 15.85%, life bouy contributed 13.41 % of the life saving appliances. The major causes of accidents onboard include wave action/wind, free stump, overloading and stones in the lake. Others include wild aquatic animals and unskilled operators. 59.68% seek for help by shouting, while 32.26% by raising paddle up and whistle when seeking for help in boat in distress. Out of the respondents, 70.21 % maintained boats by washing regularly, while 29.79 by washing occasionally. Finally, recommendations were made on how to improve efficient maneuverability for fishing and transport boats in Lake Kainji

Privatization: a policy to transform and increase the production capacity of fish in Nigeria fish industries

Over 200 hatcheries of fish exist in Nigeria with at least two hatcheries in each state of the federation but unfortunately over 50 percent are either non-functional or function far below their optimum production capacities. Also about 85 percent of the non-functional hatcheries belong to the government (-either federal, state, local government or institution). The associated problems with the non-functional hatcheries include: inadequate funding, poor maintenance of hatcheries facilities, high cost of feed inputs, in adequate infrastructure, differential growth and cannibalism in catfishes which result in poor fingerling harvest, low attitude and lack of commitment to government work. Privatization/ownership options are considered the best options for this paper and clues to solve the problems mentioned above through privatization are presented. Problems with privatization and private investment are also discussed. It was advised that in case the existing hatcheries are put in to full production, the national demand for fingerlings which is placed at 4.3 billion annually could be met with ease. Fingerlings production in the hatchery as the quickest revenue yielding aspect of fish farming (with high internal rate of returns and short pay back period) capable of attracting revenue within 2-3 mouths of a breeding exercise are emphasized

Fishing gear survey of Tatabu floodplain

The study was carried out for a period of three months from June to August, 2008. Five fishing villages namely Tatabu, Tsafa, Tunga Fulani, Tunga Sarkin ruwa and Lafiagi were used as study area by administering a total of 50 questionnaires (I.R. 10 questionnaires in each village). The study was conducted to assess the type of fishing gear mostly used by the fishermen in Tatabu floodplain. The greatest proportion (98%) of the fishermen interviewed were within age bracket 25-35 years. Majority of the respondents were Muslims and married form the highest percentage (60%). Three types of fishing gears, gillnet, long line and Malian Trap were used. The fishermen using gillnets had the highest percentage (44.2%) and those using Malian traps were the lowest percentage (23%). the fishermen using mesh size 50.8mm were highest (38.7%) and those are using mesh size of 101.6mmformed the lowest percentage (6.5%). The fishery crafts, 38% of fishermen use 4.3 meters length overall (LOA) and fishermen using 5.5 meters formed the lowest percentage (6%). Most of the respondents (88%) realized about N100-900 as daily income while 12% obtained more than N900 as daily income (54%) of the respondent. The problems militating against successful fishing activities includes lack of provision of social amenities, provision of loan and procurement of fishing inputs at subsidized rate

Evaluation of beach seine net by-catch in Lake Kainji, Nigeria

Studies on the evaluation of Beach Seine net by-catch in Lake Kainji was conducted in Yuna fishing village. The beach seine net of 306m long and 12m depth was used for this experimental fishing trial. The seining took about 2 hours and was done three times in three different sampling locations in the Lake. A total of 24 fish species were caught, two target species, P. afzeliusi and S. leonensis, and 22 fish species obtained from the by-catch. The overall total number of fish caught was 34,939 of which 96.9% was obtained from the target fish Clupeids while the remaining percentages 3.1% were the by-catch fish. The total weight obtained was 66.2kg, out of which the greatest proportion 50.7% was obtained from target fish and the rest percent 49.3% was recorded from the by-catch and discards fish. About 90% of the by-catch was undersized fish from the commercially important freshwater fishes of Lates, Citharinus, Labeo, Tilapias ctc. Recommendation was made on how to improve the use of this fishing gear in order to conserve and sustain the fisheries resources of Lake Kainji