Twenty years of fisheries development in Nigeria

The paper traced the historical development of fisheries development in Nigeria. The paper was further discussed under the following sub-headings:- Ten years development plan 1945-1954, First National Development Plan 1962-1968, Second National Development Plan 1970-1974, Third and fourth National Development Plans. Several of the government programmes rolled out to enhance fisheries development are discussed, such as National accelerated fish production programme, operation feed the nation, the Green Revolution and structural adjustment Era. The paper confirmed that the past twenty years have witnessed phenomenal growth in Fisheries Development in Nigeria. However, decline has been noticed in the area of local fish production. This, has been due to a number of factors some of which are: prohibitive price of spare parts and fishing inputs, the increasing price of automatic gas oil.

Enhancing potential fish catch in Nigeria's inland waters

The paper enumerated the following ways of improving fisheries:- Effective implementation of the inland fisheries Decree of 1992, stocking and introduction of new species in to small and medium size reservoirs, enhancement of fish catch through increased artisanal fisheries development, fish hatchery development in strategic zones for increased fingerling production to stock reservoirs and natural water bodies, extensive culture development in flood ponds, and encouragement of commercial aquaculture under private entrepreneurship. The paper further elaborate on the strategies for effective implementation of the above guidelines with the hope of offering solution to problems hindering production in Nigeria

Sustainable management of water bodies for small-scale fisheries resorces research and development

Abstract The rapid growth of both formal and informal high density urban settlements around major water resources has led to increased pollution of streams, rivers, lakes and estuaries, due to contaminated runoff from these developments. The paper identified major contaminants to be : organic waste (sewage), industrial effluent, pesticides and litter. Pollutant loads vary depending on the hydrology of the urban area, local topography and soil conditions. In some instances, severe pollution of neighbouring and downstream water courses has been observed. The management of catchment land uses, riparian zones, in stream habitat, as well as in stream water flow patterns and quality are necessary in order to sustain the integrity and "health" of water resources, for fisheries and other developments. As such, attempts to ensure a certain level of water quality without attention to other aspects will not automatically ensure a "healthy" ecosystem even as fish habitat. Proper management leads to better water quality and conducive environment for increased fish production

The role of extension in fisheries development among rural communities

It is a common knowledge that there exists a wide gap between domestic fish production and demand in Nigeria. Government recognizes this situation and has in recent years encouraged fish production through fishing inputs subsidies, DFRRI assisted fingerlings production among others. Despite these efforts, impact at the grassroots has been low. One of the major reasons for the failure could be attributable to inadequate involvement of rural communities in fish production. This missing link appears to be ignorance of local communities in harnessing this potential to stimulate fish production. There is therefore the need to educate the rural dwellers through effective extension services. Strategies to achieve the required awareness have been discussed

The effect of traditional handling, processing and storage methods on the quality of dried fish in small scale fisheries in Nigeria

Most of the fish marketed throughout Nigeria are in either smoked or dried form. The technological requirement for other forms of preservation like chilling and freezing cannot be afforded by the small scale fisher folk. Considerable quantities of fish processed for distant consumer markets are lost at handling, processing, storage and marketing stages. Significant losses occur through infestation by mites, insects, fungal infestation and fragmentation during transportation. This paper attempts to describe the effect of these losses on fish quality and suggests methods of protecting fish from agents of deterioration

The reproduction of Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus) in Opa reservoir, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Oreochromis niloticus is one of the commercial fish species in Opa reservoir. It bred throughout the period of study in the reservoir. The fish species is a maternal mouth brooder with the female specimens carrying eggs and alevins in their mouths. The sex ratio of O. niloticus was 1:1 and the maximum fecundity recorded was 1810 eggs. The fecundity increased as the fish length increased. The relatively high fecundity of the fish species in the reservoir is an indication of the suitability of the small reservoir in contributing to fish production

An assessment of co-management potentials in the Lake Victoria fisheries of Kenya

Co-management is a system or a process in which responsibility and authority for the management of common resources is shared between the state, local users of the resources as well as other stakeholders, and where they have the legal authority to administer the resource jointly. Co-management has received increasing attention in recent years as a potential strategy for managing fisheries. This paper presents and discusses results of a survey undertaken in the Kenyan part of Lake Victoria to assess the conditions - behaviour, attitude and characteristics of resource users, as well as community institutions - that can support co-management. It analyses the results of this survey with respect to a series of parameters, identified by Pinkerton (1989), as necessary preconditions for the successful inclusion of communities involvement in resource management. The survey was implemented through a two-stage stratified random sampling technique based on district and beach size strata. A total of 405 fishers, drawn from 25 fish landing beaches, were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The paper concludes that while Kenya's lake Victoria fishery would appear to qualify for a number of these preconditions, it would appear that it fails to qualify in others. Preconditions in this latter category include the definition of boundaries in fishing grounds, community members' rights to the resource, delegation and legislation of local responsibility and authority. Additional work is required to further elaborate and understand these shortcomings

Aspects of ecology of Owena reservoirs: implication on fish production

The article gives physical description of Owana reservoir, Nigeria. The reservoir was chemically and thermally stratified partial mixing of the water was observed during the rains. The concentration of major ions in the water showed distinct peculiarities. The captions (Na super(+), K super(+)Ca super(H),Ca super(Z), Mg super(++)) SO sub(4) super(2-) were relatively low. The water had high dissolved oxygen, it was acidic and also had low values of alkalinity, conductivity and total dissolved solids. About 61 plankton taxa belonging to 21 species were identified. The reservoir supports a commercial fishery of about fifteen fishermen with about fifteen species of fish caught daily with the aid of traps set and cast nets. Effective management of the lake will enhance fish production

Comparative growth and survival of fry of Clarias gariepinus (B), Clarias anguillaris (L), Heterobranchus bidorsalis (G), Heteroclarias, Clariabranchus and Clarias hybrids under outdoor nursery management system

Hybrids of Clariid catfishes; C. gariepinus (Netherlands), C. anguillaris, H. bidorsalis and their parental species were monitored for 8 weeks in 2 x 2 x 1m outdoor concrete tanks. The fry were fed NIFFR diet (40% crude protein) twice daily, 7 days of the week. Growth and survival records were taken weekly. The male HEB X female CLG hybrid showed an overall highest performance in growth rate while the lowest was recorded in male CLA X female CLG hybrid. The male HEB X female CLG hybrid grew at a faster rate than its reciprocal hybrid. In view or their growth rate, it is possible that the growth and survival rates or H. bidorsalis especially at the fry to fingerling stage could be improved through hybridization. The hybrid have potential as commercial food fish

Erster Einsatz von Trenngittern in der kommerziellen Garnelenfischerei

Comparative fishing trials were conducted in the river Elbe estuary using 9 m commercial brown shrimp beam trawls. To avoid the bycatch of fish a metal sorting grid of the Nordmöre type was used. The elliptical grid was constructed of 6 mm stainless steel bar with a spacing of 20 mm between the bars and housed in a cylindrical frame of 800 mm diameter. It was installed in the extension piece just in front of the codend. The inclination of the grid was 45 degrees. A fish outlet was provided in the upper panel of the trawl at the upper edge of the grid. A series of 8 tows of 15 min duration at a towing speed of 3 kns was done. For evaluation the catch of the main codend was compared to the portion of the catch escaped through the grid. The presence of the grid caused a 97.4 % reduction of the catch of lump sucker, a 90.6 % reduction of the catch of sea scorpion, a 79.3 % reduction of the catch of cod, a 58.8 % reduction of the catch of armed bullhead, a 39.6 % reduction of the catch of dab, a 34.7 % reduction of the catch of flounder, a 32.3 % reduction of the catch of smelt, a 19.8 % reduction of the catch of plaice and a 14.5 % reduction of the catch of brown shrimp.

Seltene Fischlarven in den Ichthyoplanktonfängen der westlichen Ostsee im Zeitraum 1993 - 1996

Distribution and abundance of fish eggs and larvae in North Sea and Baltic Sea have been objectives of fishery research for over 100 years. Most fish species produce pelagic eggs or larvae. The early developmental stages of many marine fish species important to commercial fishery are part of plankton communities, and can be sampled by a single gear. Collections of fish in their larval phase provide material for studies of many aspects of fishery research: e.g. information on plankton communities and abundance of fish species in the area of investigation.

Erste Ergebnisse zum Verlauf der Laichsaison von Dorschen in der westlichen Ostsee 1997

Investigations concerning the intensity and duration of spawning seasons of cod stocks are parts of the work of the reproductions ecology of commercial fish stocks in the Baltic Sea. The Institute of Baltic Fisheries Rostock has sampled and analysed data for this goal since 1992. The first data analyses for the spawning season 1997, sampled in the areas Kiel Bay, Mecklenburg Bay and Arkona Sea showed that the process of the spawning season is different compared to the years before. The spawning process starts earlier than the other years in Kiel Bay and Mecklenburg Bay. The results show that a high proportion of the spawning stock was part of the spawning process in this area. The Arkona Sea cod are regarded by ICES definition as belonging to the western cod stock. In this ICES sub-division only a low number of spawned cod was observed in March, the main spawning time of the western cod stock. Opposite to the theory of the stock units intensive spawning activities were observed in June as in the years before in the Arkona Sea.

Neue Erkenntnisse zur Verteilung des Nordseeherings auf die Gebiete der EU und Norwegens

A study by K.R. Patterson of the Marine Lab, Aberdeen, Scottland, presented to the EU comission in June 1997, investigated the distribution of Herring in the North Sea, i. e. the zonal attachment of the stock to EU and Norwegian waters, respectively. Evaluation of data from the ICES International Bottom Trawl Surveys and Herring Acoustic Surveys conducted in the last 10 years showed a wide variation in biomass and zonal attachment, depending on the type of survey used and the season sampled. However, a mean share of 16 % was estimated to be attached to the Norwegian waters . In contrast to earlier analyses based on commercial catches there is little support that this proportion increases with increasing stock size. It is expected that this study will give rise to some discussion on the forthcoming EU-Norwegian consultations on North Sea herring.

Post harvest losses in the fisheries of Kainji Lake

An assessment is given of the post-harvest losses in the Lake Kainji fisheries of Nigeria. The study focussed on quantifiable information on post-harvest technology and post-harvest losses from fisherfolk, fish processors and fish traders operating within the Kainji Lake basin. The information was obtained from questionnaires sent to a total of 665 respondents, comprising 317 fishermen, 115 fish processors, 125 fish buyers, and 111 fish sellers in 45 fishing villages and collection centres within the lake basin. Considering the total catch from gillnets, longlines, traps and cast nets estimated at 14,000 in 1995 about 1,000 t of fish was either discarded or lost value due to spoilage during handling by fisherfolk. Assuming an average prices of 80 Naira/kg of fish, the loss to the economy amounted to 80 million Naira annually. Appropriate recommendations are made to significantly reduce post-harvest losses in the Kainji Lake fishery. (PDF contains 91 pages)

Hinweise auf eine Überfischung grönländischer Grundfischbestände

At present, the severe decline of the fishery off Greenland is being discussed controversially. In contrast to overfishing, climate changes and emigration are itemized causal. Available German data on commercial catches and research cruises are presented for clarification. A few years after the beginning of heavy exploitation during the early sixties, the stocks of cod, golden and beaked redfish reflected a significant rejuvenescence based on catch analysis. Regular scientific surveys• for stock assessment purposes commenced in 1982 when the productivity of the stocks was already adversely affected due to low spawning stocks and extremely irregular recruitment. From this point of view, the results of the latest survey in 1995 showing stagnant fish biomass at record low level since 1991 are not surprising. The status of the cod stock is still considered severely depleted. Taking the high abundance of juvenile redfish into account, recovery of the groundfish stocks is unlikely in short term and depends on the non-predictable recruitment only.