Eft•.ma·•..•·gel A~eCl~·yoFA$AKIN B.Sc. M.Sc. (Ibadan), Ph.D (Akure) Professor of Fish N,yt,rition and Util,ization FISH AS FOOD: YESTERDAY, TODAY AND FOREVER INAUGURAL LECTURE SERIES 48 Delivered at THE FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, AKURE On Tuesday 4th March, 2008 by: Emmanuel Adedayo FASAKIN B.Sc. M.Sc. (Ibadan), Ph.D (Akure) Professor of FlshNutrltlon and Utilization FISH AS FOOD: YESTERDAY, TODAY AND FOREVER The Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellors (Academic and Development), The Registrar, Other Principal Officers of the University, Deans, Directors and Heads of Departments, My Lords Spiritual and Temporal, Fellow Academic and Professional Colleagues, Distinguished Guests and Friends of the University, Great Futarians, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen. 1.0 INTRODUCTION Sometime in 1979, as a young undergraduate at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, I had the privilege of attending an inaugural lecture of this nature for the first time. The lecture was delivered by the then Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine, Professor Nurudeen Olorunnibe Adedipe. I was fascinated by the decorum and glamour of the occasion even more than the presentation of the erudite Professor of Crop Physiology, The humility and the ritual of "doffing cap" by the lecturer at any opportune time in the course of his presentation and the respectable manner in which he was ushered to the dais, before and after the lecture, was too great for me to behold. That was indeed the beginning of my interest in academic culture though I never thought that I could be a lecturer, let alone delivering an inaugural lecture. For the rest of the semester of that year, "I doff my cap" was my usual opening sentence at every discussion. Mr. Vice-Chancellor Sir, I doff my cap. Today, after two decades of this inspiration, I am exceedingly grateful to God Almighty for keeping covenant with me and for the honour bestowed on me to stand before you all this day to deliver the 48th inaugural lecture of this great citadel of learning, The Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. This indeed represents the 20th inaugural lecture from the School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology and more importantly, the 4th of its kind from one of the oldest departments in the School, The Department of Fisheries and Wildlife which has recently been split into two viable departments viz: (I) Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture 1 Technology; and (2) Department of Ecotourism and Wildlife Management, which I am privileged to be one of the initiators. In the first inaugural lecture of the department, Afolayan (1987) traced man's inhumanity to nature from time immemorial and concluded that in all the developmental stages of man, the modern man is the most destructive and unkind to nature. In recent years, two of my senior colleagues and mentors in the department had their inaugural lectures focused on the potentials of fish as food and industrial bio-materials. Balogun (1998) dealt extensively on the nutritive value, sanctity and utilization potentials of fish as food and a means of alleviating malnutrition, especially among the rural poor. Fagbenro (2002) focused attention on Tilapia as an excellent "aquatic chicken" and food fish for the common man, especially in developing countries where animal protein source is highly deficient in diets. Mr. Vice-Chancellor Sir, today's lecture is titled "Fish as Food: Yesterday, Today and Forever." This is built up on the earlier lectures, and further examines, the journey so far in fish production in Nigeria, and in particular, my humble contributions to the development of this much neglected but very virile agricultural sub-sector of the nation's economy. Attempt is also made in this lecture to emphasize the compelling need for sustainable fisheries development and production to meet the challenges of tomorrow's fish demand accentuated by increasing human population and the attendant increasing pressure on fish stock in our numerous water bodies. 2.0 GENERALOVERVIEW OF FISHERIES RESOURCESIN NIGERIA Nigeria is richly endowed with numerous water resources. These consist of marine (salt water), brackish (creeks and lagoons) and inland fresh water bodies. The inland fresh water consists of rivers, man-made lakes, natural lakes, ponds, reservoirs, mining paddocks, excavations for the construction roads and houses. The major rivers, lakes and reservoirs cover 11,666,000 hectares which is approximately 12.4% of the total area of Nigeria (Nigeria is 94, 185,000 ha) (Ita et a11985 and Ita, 1993). Fresh and brackish waters form 20.2% of Nigeria's surface area (Ita, 1993). Table I shows the summary of inventories of aquatic resources and fish farms in Nigeria. 2 Nigeria is a typical coastal country with 800km of coastline and maritime area of 46,000 square kilometers (0-200m depth). The ExclusiveEconomic Zone (E~Z) covers an area of 210,900 square kilometers (Udolisa, 1992'. The continental shelf is narrow being only between 14.81 and 27.78km in the Gulf of Guinea which isaffected by the followingcurrents: The warm East Guinea current The cold North Westerly,Benguela current; and The equatorial counter current. The,Coastal Zone contains diverse, complex and productive ecosystem (Moses, 2006). These include the inshore open marine waters, seashores, estuaries, brackish water areas (including mangrove wetlands), forested plains & farmlands, and freshwaters. In Nigeria, over 90% of the fish catch is derived from the coastal zone (Moses, 2006). The Coastal Zone has a high diversity of fish species which are of economic value to the people of Nigeria. There is an access to over 180,000 metric tons of artisanal fisheries resources with a wide scope of increase in capture efficiency. The dermersal stock resources can produce about two million metric tons annually from the industrial fisheries (Tobor, 1995). On the other hand, the offshore fisheries have an untapped annual production of 100,000 mt of Tuna and a large potential of marine shrimps and pelagic fishes. From the massive inland waters, an estimated annual yield potential of 1,830,990 mt of fish from which a harvest close to 350,000 mt only are made annually (Tobor, 1994; 1995). The freshwater fishery is exclusively artisanal and includes Lake Chad with an annual potential yield of 55,000 mt and Lake Kanji which produces 7,OOOmtoffreshwaterfishes (lta,1993). Tablel: Summary of Inventories on Aquatic Resources, Fish Farms and Feed Producers in Nigeria No. Geo Political Zones (States) No. of Dams and No. of Fish Farms No. of Feed Reservoirs Producers South East Zone Abia 4 40 2 2 Anambra 5 18 3 3 Ebonyi 17 12 7 4 Enugu 22 4 4 5 Imo 9 40 16 Sub Total 57 114 32 South South Zone 1 Akwa Ibom 16 98 14 2 Bayelsa 52 86 3 Cross River 17 199 4 Delta 30 420 6 5 Edo 6 136 6 Rivers 22 89 8 Sub Total 143 1,028 18 3 I, South West Zone 1 Ogun 24 173 35 2 Ekili 6 31 2 3 Lagos 153 16 4 OnDO 8 15 3 5 Osun 7 300 26 6 Oyo 29 234 9 ;-:-- ~l' Sub Total 74 906 91 :-~r \ i~~/. • North Central Zone 1 Abuja 15 29 1 2 Benue 45 198 5 3 Kogi 35 32 4 Kwara 21 121 18 5 Plateau 85 18 9 6 Na~arawa 16 16 2 7 Niger 35 29 1 Sub Total 252 443 36 ~F Nortfi'East Zone 1 Adadrnawa 16 4 2 Bauchi 33 16 3 Barno t , 18 12 4 Gombe 44 9 5 Taraba 83 8 6 Yobe 20 13 Sub Total • .J 214 62 North West Zone 1 Jigawa 15 4 1 2 Kaduna 20 10 9 3 Kano 17 10 1 4 Katsina 40 7 16 5 Kebbi 30 56 6 Sokoto 15 9 1 7 Zamfara 40 9 7 Sub Total 177 105 35 GRAND TOTAL 937 2,658 215 Source: AIFP Project (200-t) 3.0 IMPORTANCE OF FISHERIES TO NATIONAL ECONOMY "Fisheries" is the general term used to describe the science involved in the study of living produce of water. It includes all activities (fishery) that are employed either in capturing or culturing fish. In general term, fish denotes all cold- blooded aquatic vertebrates that perform their external respiration by means of gills, They are classified into sub-phylum Vertebrata. Most fish have fins, shell and scales. However, attention is focused in this lecture on fin fishes because of their abundance and significant roles they play in the economy of the nation. 4 From time immemorial, fisheries have helped to feed people in all parts of the world and have been the mainstay of human settlements in the coastal regions. Fisheries constitute a renewable (living) natural resource of critical economic importance when properly managed (FAa, 1983). Biblically, fish is of God, which makes it an endowment of nature. It was a tool in the hands of God Almighty through our Lord Jesus Christ for miracle of multiplicity and food items for both high and low (Matthew 14:17-21 and Mark 8:7). Records have it that fishing was the primary occupation of earlier settlers including some disciples of Jesus Christ (Luke 5:4 9). Above all, fish was used as means of transportation in which Jonah was transported from Joppa to Nineveh for ajourney that lasted 3 days and 3 nights. (Jonah 1: 1 17). From the foregoing, fisheries represent an important part of the world's economy. In Nigeria, like other parts of the world, fisheries provide employment to the teeming population of her people, especially in the riverine areas. More than 70% of the people that live in the coastal areas of Nigeria are engaged (full or part time) in various fishery activities such as capturing, processing, marketing and distribution of fishery commodities.