The Exploitation of African Fisheries

Abstract

Substantial fisheries exist on the major lakes and rivers of Africa. The seas off the western coast of Africa are amongst the most productive in the world but the eastern coasts are relatively poor. Lake Victoria is used as a case study to demonstrate how overfishing of some stocks, such as Sarotherodon esculentus, has occurred, how it could have been predicted by conventional models developed from temperate demersal fisheries and how the situation could be improved. The difficulties of assessing multispecific fisheries, i.e. where the whole community is exploited, are dealt with particularly in relation to proposed trawling operations in the lakes. Conflict between the trawl and artisan fisheries seems inevitable. Some shortcomings of fish culture and stocking programmes are discussed and attention is drawn to the increased activities of dealers in ornamental fish and the emerging problem of pollution. Our ignorance of how river fisheries operate is considerable. Tentative estimates of yield and models of river fisheries are only just beginning to appear. It is evident that the factors involved are very different from those of lake fisheries. Off the western sea board, the coastal states are at a severe disadvantage. Not only are the products of the major industrial fisheries off South Africa and Morocco exported to the developed countries but the majority of the catch from tropical waters is taken by foreign long-range fleets. The difficulties of Ghana in establishing a distant-water fleet for food fish are contrasted with the success of the South Koreans in establishing a world-wide tuna industry mainly for export. The importance of developing the long-range capability to take advantage of the probable general increase in territorial waters is emphasised. Some of the problems associated with management of tropical demersal and pelagic stocks are dealt with and questions are raised as to the approach required to deal with these when development is the priority.