PROGRAMME FOR INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT OF ARTISANAL FISHERIES IN.WEST AFRICA IDAF PROGRAMME Technical Repon. N° 122 May 1998 The State of Artisanal Fisheries in West Africa in 1997 3. o .; 4 5 s I 11 15 lo Mauritania 17 Senegal 18 Cape Verde The Gambia Guinea Bissau Guinea o Sierra Leone Liberia Côte d'ivoire Equatorial Guinea Ghana Gabon Togo Saö Tome and Principe Benin Congo NigerIa Zaire Cauìeroon Angola DANIDA DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION OF DENMARK FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF ThE UNITED NATIONS Technical Report N° 122 May 1998 The State of Artisanal Fisheries in West Africa in 1997 by Benoît Horemans Team Leader, Fisheries Planning ExperL IDAF Programme FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Cotonou, May 1998 The designations employed and the presemìtìon of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinior whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization or the financing agency concerning the legai status of any country or territory, city or ana, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or bounda'ies. For bibliographic purposes this document should I-e citedas follows: Horemans, B., The State of Artisanal Fisheries ir West Africa in 1997. Programme for the 1998 Integrated Development of Artisanal Fisheries in West Africa, Cotonou, Benin. 47 p., IDAF/WP!122. ]IDAF Pro ect FAO P.OE Box 369 Cotonou, Repub1of Benin Telex: 5291 FOODAGRI Fax: (229) 3.05.l9 Tel: (229) 33.09.25 THE VISION F3 AF PHA3 III INTRODUCTION Development strategy during the 1960 and i 970s was based on the philosophy that developing countries lacked improved technology and capital for speeding up their development: Industrialization was promoted in order to capitalize on the abundant fish resources. However, the anticipated expansion of the economy did not happen and the development approach shifted towards an integrated rural strategy where emphasis is put on the community as a whole to up- grade incomes and the quality of life through technical assistance and the active participation of fisherfolk and the community. In this context, emphasis was initially placed on the Community Fishery Centre (CFC) concept as a means of promoting artisanal fishery development. But it became apparent that the presence of a complex of facilities and sel-vices tailored to meet local needs was no guarantee that the structures/facilities would be used or that development would occur. The active participation of fisherfolk and the mobilisation of local and community resources was imperative in order to assure sustainability of initiatives undertaken by development projects and/or the community. So far and in general terms, the IDAF Programme has worked under the context of abundant or seemingly adequate fishery resources with moderate population pressure. The scenario is however changing (and very fast for that matter) and wewould soon face the triple constraints of reduced or depleting fish stocks, degrading environment and increasing population pressure. Like in other sectors, it must be anticipated that just to survive, parts of the population surplus in the fishing communities will enter the artisanal fisheries, which will increase the competition for the resources among the small scale fisherfolk in addition to the prevailing competition between the artisanal and industrial fisheries, with their attendant effect on the environment. This scenario calls for a côntinuation of the integrated participatory strategy which remains relevant to the development of artisanal fisheries in West Africa. However, the emphasis needs to be placed on the elements and mechanisms that favour the sustainability of initiatives: responsible fishing, the empowerment processes that ensure the devolution of major resource management and development decisions to the local community, the strengthening of national human and institutional capacities at all levels for a sustainable and equitable fisheries resources management and development, as well as in the follow-up and consolidation of past achievements. DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVE Thus the development objective of the Programme in the present phase Ill which started on 1 July 1994 is to ensure twenty coastal West African countries a sustainable development and management of their artisanal fisheries for maximum social and economic benefit of their fishing communities in terms of employment, proteins and earnings. This will be done through an integrated and participatory approach in which emphasis will be laid on equity, gender ìssues, the transfer of technology for development, environment protection, as well as the strengthening of human and institutional capacities. The ininiediate objectives are: i To identify, assess and disseminate strategies and mechanisms for sustainable management and development of the artisanal fisheries in fishing communities; 2. To improve the competence of national Fisheries Departments staff in development and management planning of artisanal fisheries; To enhance regional technical competence in the fisheries disciplines, particularly in fishing and fish technology; To improve information and experience exchange related to artisanal fisheries within the region; To promote regional and sub-regional collaboration for the development and management of artisanal fisheries In this context, IDAF wifi among other things tackle the following major aspects in its work assisting in the elaboration and implementation of a clear and coherent national development policy for the artisanal fishery sector; providing advice on management and allocation of resources between artisanal and industrial fishing fleets, both national and foreign; involving users in the design and management of on shore infrastructures; monitoring the sector's evolution by the setting up of an economic indicator system for the sector adapted to the financial and human availabilities; improving fishing technologies in accordance with the available resources; increasing the final product's value by improvement in processing and marketing; promoting conununity development in accordance with the lessons learned from Phase I and II and oriented towards the sustainability of actions undertaken; reinforce the Programme's information/communication system. It is anticipated that by the end of the third phase of the Project, the region will have a nucleus of field oiiented experts capable to respond to the challenges of the artisanal fisheries sector and to spur development in their individual countries in keeping with the aspirations and needs of' fisherfolk. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTR( DUCTION I. GEERAL CONTEXT 3 1.1. Population 3 I .2, Economic growth 5 [.3. Monetary situation S 1 .4. The fisheries sector 6 RECENT TRENDS IN THE SECTOR 9 2.1. Trends in fish production 9 .2. Means of production 12 23 Economic profitabilIty 13 2.4. Trade in fish products 15 2.5. Fish consumption 18 DEVELOPMENT POLICIES 21 3.1, Objectives and priorities 21 3.2. Development policies 23 3.3. National institutions supporting the sector 25 3.3.1.Administrative institutions 25 3.3.2.Research institutions 25 3.4. Fisheries legislation 26 3.5. Regional fisheries policies ..27 3.6. Fisheries development and manageemnt planning ..29 3.6.1 Constraints ..29 3.6.2.Opportunities 31 3.6.3.Planning process 32 3.7. Fisheries resources management . 33 EXTERNAL ASSISTANCE 37 4.1. Majororientations 37 4.2. National projects 37 4.3. Regional projects 42 4.4. Projects in the pipeline 43 ANÌ'4ES I. eferences 45 2. 3eneral framework for monitoring artisanal fisheries in We Africa 47 List of Figures Urban population (in % of total population) . 4 Structure of Gross Domestic Product (1995) 4 Marine fish potential (kg/caput/year) 8 Marine catches in CECAF area per fishìng flee1975-1995) 9 Catch composition of IDAF associated countrie; (1995) 9 Demersal catches in CECAF area (1975-1995) 10 Small pelagic catches in CECAF area(l975-l95) 10 Tuna catches in CECAF area (1975-1995) 10 Cephalopod catches in CECAF area (1975-l99 10 Catches by former USSR fleet in CECAF area972-1994) 11 Marine and inland catches by IDAF associated countries (1975-1995) 12 Cost of one litre of fuel expressed in kg of sma[ pelagics (1997) 14 Food fish balance in live weight (1970-1995) 16 Channels of food fish supply (1995) 18 Per caput food fish supply (1970-1995) 18 List of Tables Baseline indicators (1995) 3 Gross National Product per capita (1995) 5 Geophysical features 6 Estimated marine potential 7 Artisanal marine fisheries production (1996) 11 Artisanal fishermen and fishing boats per county (1997) 13 Balance of trade of fish products in value (1995 17 Fish consumption and its share in proteins (199f) 19 Total debt and debt service (1994) 21 Zone reserved to artisanal fisheries 34 Official Development Assistance (1995) 37 List of IDAF Technical Reports INTRODUCTION the fifth consecutive year since 1993, effort, then, regardingsocio-economie the Programme for Integrated information: costs and earnings, capital and ForDevelopment of Artisanal Fisheries in labour remuneration, added value etc. It is to West Africa (IDAF) publishes a report on be noted, however, that since the first edition "The State of Artisanal Fisheries in West in 1993, serious efforts have been made to Africa". The aim of this document is to give a improve the monitoring of the sector. synthetic but reasonably complete overview of recent trends in the sector, as well as of The IDAF Programme has mainly opportunities and constraints faced by the helped