The contribution in this Fisheries Centre Research Report partly explains why Sierra Leone is losing out, and
provides information that would support various initiatives currently being undertaken in Africa to recapture access
to the resources for the people. A recent effort by the African Confederation of Artisanal Fishing Organizations
(CAOPA) is a good example of such new initiative. Recently, CAOPA voiced its demands to FAO and its members,
which included the need to (i) document better the impacts of the various types of exploitation of small pelagic
fishes on food security; (ii) recommend to states and regional fisheries organizations to consider the role of small
pelagic fishes in the ecosystems and in food security of developing countries populations when they are to make
decisions for managing these resources, and allocating access to them; (iii) support initiatives and efforts that
will contribute to establishing a concerted management of small pelagic resources in West Africa; (iv) support
efforts by fishing communities to actively contribute to the management of these resources in a concerted and
sustainable way; and (v) support an aquaculture based on species that do not require feed made from wild fish,
that answers to the demands of local and regional markets, and that is not contributing to the unsustainable
exploitation of small pelagic stocks.
Thus: there is a path out of the present arrangements, and it would benefit most people.Science, Faculty ofNon UBCOceans and Fisheries, Institute for theUnreviewedFacultyGraduat
