ISSN 1198-6727 FISHERIES CATCH RECONSTRUCTIONS: WEST AFRICA, PART II Fisheries Centre Research Reports 2015 Volume 23 Number 3 ISSN 1198-6727 Fisheries Centre Research Reports 2015 VOLUME NUMBER FISHERIES CATCH RECONSTRUCTIONS: WEST AFRICA, PART II Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Canada Edited by Dyhia Belhabib and Daniel Pauly Fisheries Centre Research Reports 23(3) 128 pages © published 2015 by The Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia 2202 Main Mall Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V6T 1Z4 ISSN 1198-6727 Fisheries Centre Research Reports 23(3) 2015 Edited by Dyhia Belhabib and Daniel Pauly CONTENT Editors’ Preface i Fisheries in troubled waters: A catch reconstruction for Guinea-Bissau, 1950-2010 1 Dyhia Belhabib and Daniel Pauly Côte d’Ivoire: fisheries catch reconstruction, 1950-2010 17 Dyhia Belhabib and Daniel Pauly The marine fisheries of Togo, the ‘Heart of West Africa,’ 1950 to 2010 37 Dyhia Belhabib, Viviane Kutoub and Daniel Pauly Benin’s fisheries: a catch reconstruction, 1950-2010 51 Dyhia Belhabib and Daniel Pauly An overview of the Nigerian marine fisheries and a re-evaluation of their catch from 1950 to 2010 65 Lawrence Etim, Dyhia Belhabib and Daniel Pauly Reconstructing fisheries catches for Cameroon between 1950 and 2010 77 Dyhia Belhabib and Daniel Pauly Gabon fisheries between 1950 and 2010: a catch reconstruction 85 Dyhia Belhabib The implications of misreporting on catch trends: a catch reconstruction for the People’s Republic of the Congo, 1950-2010 95 Dyhia Belhabib and Daniel Pauly An attempt at reconstructing the marine fisheries catches in the Congo (ex-Zaïre), 1950 to 2010 107 Dyhia Belhabib, Sulan Ramdeen and Daniel Pauly Rich fisheries and poor data: a catch reconstruction for Angola, 1950-2010, an update of Belhabib and Divovich (2014) 115 Dyhia Belhabib and Esther Divovich A Research Report from the Fisheries Centre at UBC Fisheries Centre Research Reports 23(3) 128 pages © Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, 2015 FISHERIES CENTRE RESEARCH REPORTS ARE ABSTRACTED IN THE FAO AQUATIC SCIENCES AND FISHERIES ABSTRACTS (ASFA) ISSN 1198-6727 i EDITORS’ PREFACE This Fisheries Centre Research Report presents reconstruction of the marine fisheries catches of 10 West African countries. Despite their distinctive geographic, historic and cultural features, these countries share a common past in that they were all colonized in the first half of the 20th century, by a motley assemblage of European powers. These were, from North to South: Guinea-Bissau by Portugal; Côte d’Ivoire by France; Togo by Germany, then France; Benin by France; Nigeria by the United Kingdom; Cameroon by Germany, then France and the UK; Gabon (by France); Congo (Brazzaville) by France; Congo (ex-Zaire) by Belgium; and Angola by Portugal. The development trajectory upon which these West African countries found themselves when they became independent was strongly shaped by this colonialism, which was harsh and difficult to get rid of - particularly for the ex-Portuguese colonies. Traces of colonialism are thus felt at all levels, notably where the struggle for political and economic ‘agency’ after formal independence plunged these countries into perennial political instability (e.g., Guinea Bissau), or long and murderous civil wars and/or wars over natural resources (e.g., Angola, Congo ex-Zaire). Some other countries transited smoothly into neo-colonies, where development and research institutions fail to play their nation-building role, as they serve mainly to maintain previous colonial ties. This has resulted, particularly in the former French colonies, in a general reluctance to transfer knowledge to local institutions. Neo-colonial ties are also illustrated through the profile of exploitation of natural resources, notably fish stocks, to which the former colonial powers often maintains a privileged access. As a result, West African countries did not develop truly national industrial fisheries, which would have formed an obstacle to the foreign industrial fleets that gradually invaded their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). As a consequence, in most of their coastal areas, foreign vessels and the stock depletions they cause(d) hinder the development of the artisanal and local industrial fisheries. This has led to growing tensions, which are only partly alleviated by foreign fleets being reflagged to the countries in whose waters they operate, and landing the low-value part of their catch locally. The resolution of these tensions, increased by growing demands for fish by both consumers in Western Europe and East Asia, and the inhabitants of West African countries, will determine whether issues of food security will prevail over the power of international markets. This is the reason why we contrast, for each country, the catches of small- scale fisheries, which mostly enter the local economies, and those of industrial (mostly foreign) fisheries, which tend to hinder their development. The Editors Vancouver, April 2015 Guinea-Bissau - Belhabib and Pauly 1 FISHERIES IN TROUBLED WATERS: A CATCH RECONSTRUCTION FOR GUINEA-BISSAU, 1950-20101 Dyhia Belhabib and Daniel Pauly Sea Around Us, Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada [email protected]; [email protected] ABSTRACT Marine fisheries catches of Guinea Bissau were reconstructed to account for sectors that have never been considered previously. Two main sectors were identified, the large-scale (industrial) sector, which includes foreign industrial catches, the catches of so-called ‘domestic’ vessels, and the discards they both generate. The other main sector consists of the small-scale fisheries, including subsistence, recreational and, most importantly, the artisanal sectors. Catches were estimated at 13 million tonnes between 1950 and 2010, of which 1.6 million tonnes were caught by domestic fisheries. This is much higher than the 207,000 tonnes supplied to the FAO on behalf of Guinea Bissau. A sharp decline in catches is noted over the last decade, probably due to over-exploitation which threatens the food security of the population of Guinea-Bissau. On the other hand, losses due to illegal fisheries are very high, and controlling illegal fishing will go a long way towards improving the status of the fisheries of, and seafood supply to, Guinea Bissau. INTRODUCTION Guinea Bissau is located at the edge of the Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) and the Canary Current LME between 11°52’N and 15°36’W. Thanks to coastal upwellings and extensive nutrients from river input, the extensive continental shelves off Guinea Bissau – one of the largest in West Africa – within an Exclusive Economic Zone of 106,000 km2 (Figure 1) is home to an estimated one million tonnes of fisheries resources, of which, according to Anon. (2009), 350,000 to 500,000 tonnes could be extracted annually. The history of Guinea Bissau could be described as eventful. Following independence from Portuguese colonial rule in 1974, after a long war of liberation, the first government was overthrown, and it was only twenty years later that the first democratic elections were held. A civil war occurred after a few years, in 1998, followed by a first coup d’état in 1999 and another in 2003. In 2004, the mutiny of a military faction again caused unrest, and eventually led, in 2009, to another coup d’état, after which a new government was elected. The sudden death of the newly elected president in 2012 led to another coup d’état. Unsurprisingly, these events stifled the development, economic and otherwise, of Guinea Bissau, now listed as one of the poorest countries in the world (www. worlbank.org); see also Fernandes (2012). Figure 1. Map of Guinea-Bissau with its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This, along with agricultural resources limited almost exclusively to cashew nuts, left fisheries as one of the few avenues for economy growth and food security (Dia and Bedingar 2001), although the people of Guinea Bissau were seen as “lazy fishers” in colonial times because they lacked a strong fishing tradition (Bordonaro 2006). Yet, although the country’s official statistics show that Guinea Bissau strongly depends on one export commodity – with 99% of the exports, Guinea Bissau is more dependent on cashew nuts than Nigeria is on oil – the fees from foreign fishing access agreements account for 40% of government revenues. This figure, which is among the highest in the world (Anon. 2013), demonstrates how important fishing is to the country’s economy (Anon. 2010). 1 Cite as: Belhabib, D. and Pauly, D. (2015) Fisheries in troubled waters: a catch reconstruction for Guinea-Bissau, 1950-2010. pp. 1-16. In: Belhabib, D. and Pauly, D. (eds). Fisheries catch reconstructions: West Africa, Part II. Fisheries Centre Research Reports vol.23(3). Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia [ISSN 1198-6727]. 2 While legal foreign fishing started in 1978, Table 1. Artisanal effort anchor points. Italics indicate interpolations with the first agreement signed with the former and calculated values. (note that 100%–% nhominka effort =national Soviet Union (DINÂMICA 2008), the first effort) management plan ever to be implemented Year Total effort Source Nhominka was only promulgated in 1996 (Anon. 2009). Effort % Sourcec Other management plans dealt with capacity 1950 195 Chavance (2004) 195 100 Assumption limits and total allowable catch, but given the 1951 195 Chavance (2004) 195 100 very poor statistics and other constraints, the 1952 215 Chavance (2004) 215 100 objectives of the plans were not met (Anon. 1953 234 Chavance (2004) 234 100 2009), repeating the unfortunate experience 1954 254 Chavance (2004) 254 100 of fisheries development projects in the 1970s 1955 273 Chavance (2004) 273 100 1956 313 Chavance (2004) 313 100 (Bordonaro 2006). Meanwhile, fish biomass in 1957 313 Chavance (2004) 313 100 the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Guinea- 1958 313 Chavance (2004) 313 100 Bissau appears to have declined to at least 50% 1959 313 Chavance (2004) 313 100 of its value in 1963, when the first acoustic survey 1960 313 Chavance (2004) 313 100 was conducted, by ‘la Rafale’ (Anon.