THE CHALLENGES OF SUSTAINABLE SHRIMP
FISHERIES IN NIGERIA.
BY
NENIBARINI ZABBEY
Keynote address presented at a 2 -day national workshop on Catch data
transparency
and
bycatch
reduction,
organized
by
the
Centre
for
Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD), with support from
the World Conservation Union (IUCN), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Holding at the conference room of Sissi hotel, 46 Oromenike Street, D/line,
Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.
1.0
Greetings/Protocol
(i)
The
Chairman
of
the
occasion:
Rivers
State
honorable
Commissioner for Agriculture.
(ii)
Members of state and national assemblies here present.
(iii) The field officer, Federal Department of Fisheries, Port Harcourt.
(iv) The Director of fisheries, Rivers State Mi nistry of Agriculture,
(v)
Members of the academia,
(vi) Representatives of the Nigerian Trawler Owners Association
(NITOA).
(vii) Respected fishermen and women
(viii) Distinguished ladies and gentlemen.
2.0
PREAMBLE
I consider it a rare opportunity to be asked to deliver the keynote address at
this august occasion. What I consider most interesting is that, it is the first
time local shrimp fisherfolks and their industrial counterparts are meeting
to discuss pertinent issues relating to sustainability of shrimp fisheries in
Nigeria. More so, it is a gathering of people drawn from different segments
of the society with the united interest of improving food security through
the sustenance of shrimp production and other seafoods. Ofcourse you will
agree with me that food security is topical, especially in the context of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) of the United Nations.
On the other hand, it is quite frightening that Nigeria shrimp stocks are undergoing down
ward spiral. The picture becomes gloomier when one considers the bulk of non-target
fish species caught during industrial Shrimping. Bycatch are predominantly demersal
fishes that usually migrate inland to support rich artisanal fisheries. Continuous
2
exploitation of incidental species would eventually lead to biodiversity loss, thus
debasing age – long livelihood structures of littoral communities.
3.0
INTRODUCTION
Nigeria is a maritime state with a coastline of approximately 853km. The
Nigeria Coastline Stretches from the Western border with Republic of Benin
to the Eastern border with Cameroon Republic.
In 1978, Nigeria established an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) which is
an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea extending 200 nautical
miles from the baseline.
The surface area of the continental shelf is 46,
300km 2 while the EEZ covers an area of 210, 900km 2 (World Resources,
1990), within which Nigeria exercises sovereign rights for the purpose of
exploring, exploiting, conserving, and managing the natural resources. Of
the 36 states in the country ( Nigeria), 9 (Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Bayelsa,
Rivers Akwa Ibom and Cross River) are located in the coastal zone.
Nigeria’s coastal zone is endowed with numerous living and non -living
resources.
The most important living resources are fin and shellfish
including shrimps – predominantly members of the family penaeidae
(Dublin – Green and Tobor, 1992). Shrimps are highly relished and priced
delicacy on the world food menu. And Nigeria contributes significantly to
wild – caught shrimps from the tropics.
On a general note, Nigeria’s domestic fish production hovers around
400,000 metric tons (MT). This is far less than what is required to support
the annual fish consumption of her populace estimated at 120 million. For
instance, in 1997, the fish demand figur e was 1.27 million MT. In order to
fill the demand – production gap, Nigeria expended over 200 million US
3
dollars annually on the importation of frozen fish to augment the under
production.
Comparatively, the coastal shelf of the Niger Delta basin upto kw a
Iboe and
Cross River is broader. The relative space – advantage coupled with the rich
organic debris input due to frequent rainfall that characterizes the basin
supports rich shrimp resources off the coast of the Niger Delta. Shrimps are
also found in abundance at the mouths of Badagry – Lagos, Lekki lagoon
system and mouths of rivers on the Delta (Dublin – Green and Tobor, 1992).
Presently, a total of 173 licensed vessels are trawling for shrimp in Nigeria.
These vessels are owned by different compa nies, which are joint ventures.
All are grouped within a “Nigerian Trawler Owners Association,” NITOA.
Annual Shrimp Production in Nigeria is estimated at 12,000 tones of which
8,000 tones are exported. It is pertinent to stress that the above figures ar e
exclusively based on records derived from the industrial sector, as reliable
data on artisanal shrimp fisheries are lacking.
Thousands of local
fisherfolks operating from several fishing villages and settlements dotting
the banks of creeks and rivers en gage in full-time, year-round shrimp
fishing. Kinds of gear and harvesting techniques employed by these local
shrimp fishers are quite diverse and expectedly, the bulk of shrimp – mostly
juvenile migrants – caught by the artisanal sector is consumed inter nally
though some dried shrimp emanating from the artisanal sector are also
exported to other African countries.
It is interesting to mention that the
estuarine shrimp, Nematopaleamon hastatus, erroneously called “cray fish”
in the local parlances, is a p referred condiment in most Nigeria dishes.
4
CHANLLENGES OF SHRIMP FISHERY IN NIGERIA
In my opinion, some of challenges of shrimp fisheries in Nigeria include
but limited to the following;
(a)
Lack
of
exploratory
data
for
effective
stock
management .
Although various efforts have been made in the past four decades by the
Nigerian Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR) and
others to survey the marine resources and estimate the potential yields of
inshore marine fish and shrimp resources, the data so far generated are
inadequate for effective management.
Paucity of data on fish stocks
inevitably warrant the over dependency on precautional approach as the
only management option in Nigeria.
Unfortunately, shrimp trawlers and
other trawl vessels operating in the country are foreign, owned by big
fishing nations permitted by fisheries access agreements. These agreements
simply allow foreign vessels access to coastal fisheries through paying a
lump sum in cash, with no obligations for the vessel o wners to respect the
state of the fish stocks.
Most often than not, trawlers operate beyond
permissible limits (within non -trawling zone) and disregard other polices
such as recommended mesh sizes of net.
Worst still, the lack of
transparency in catch data reporting, transshipment at sea and negligence on
the part of the regulatory bodies with regard to data collection have made it
near impossible to know precisely how much fish is taken from the natural
stocks daily, monthly or annually. Transparency in catch data reporting is
therefore one of the crucial advocacy of the present workshop.
(b)
Fishing in the non-trawling zone. According to Gayanilo and Pauly
(1997), the first and most obvious feature of tropical multi species stocks is
the multitude of species occurring on the fishing grounds. Other features of
5
tropical fisheries include small -sized individuals mid peak occurrence of
many of their constituent species in shallow waters. In addition to the above
characteristics, shrimps, naturally, migra te from coastal/oceanic waters to
estuaries and vice-versa. For these reasons, some trawl captains desirous to
make good catches, oftentimes trawl in the 5 nautical miles non -trawling
zone.
This unscrupulous fishing activity results in avoidable conflict s
between local fisherfolks and their industrial counterparts.
(c)
Bycatch and discard problem: In shrimp – trawl fisheries
bycatch
may be defined as anything the fisherman does not intend to catch and may
include the turtles, fish, crabs, sharks, weed and seabed debris (Eayrs,
2005).
Sometimes this is called incidental or accidental catch.
While
discards are that part of the bycatch that are released or returned to the sea
either dead or alive. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) has recently estimated that nearly 7 million tones of fish
bycatch is discarded globally by commercial fishermen every year. This is
equivalent to about 8% of the global catch from marine capture fisheries.
Multitude of species in the tropics presupposes high bycatch and discard
rates. The sea fisheries Decree No. 71 of 1992 recommends that the ratio of
fish to prawns (shrimps) should be maintained at 75; 25. In practice this is
never maintained and more fish, relative to shrimp is caught.
(d) Over exploitation: Lack of substantial data as earlier stated
implies poor management.
And the trend of shrimp catches - as in other
capture fisheries – is on the decline due to over harvesting among other
factors.
According to Millennium Ecosystem A ssessment (2006), capture
fisheries worldwide is undergoing stock depletion.
The pink shrimp
(Peneaus notialis) has been the dominant target and supportive species in
6
Nigeria. Prior to the end of the 20 t h century, P. notialis fishery was quite
lucrative, resulting in bumper harvest by trawlers. Perhaps, the licensing of
vessels without ensuring that trawl owners respect the state of existing
stocks culminated to the collapse in P. notialis fishery which resulted in the
winding or withdrawal of some trawle rs from Nigeria around 2000. Then,
Industrial Shrimping was no longer profitable as before but thanks to the
sudden emergence of Peneaus. monodon, an alien species revived or
prevented industrial shrimp operations from total collapse in Nigeria.
Today P. monodon with its comparative largeness – in terms of size and
biomass – is adjudged God sent, but, the negative implications, if there may
be, of this “salvaging” exotic species as to the well being of indigenous
shrimps, general biodiversity and ecosystem equilibrium is/are yet to be
ascertained.
SHRIMP FARMING: IS IT A SUSTAINABLE COMPLEMENT?
Commercial shrimp farming is a new venture in Nigeria; lately pursued by
mostly Oil giants and their foreign collaborators.
In an attempt to boost
Nigeria’s shrimp production and export, Shell Petroleum Development
Company (S.P.D.C) and the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) proposed in 2004 to embark on industrial shrimp
aquaculture in the Niger Delta. The project estimated to cost N266 billion,
would ‘boost the country’s foreign income and alleviate poverty, of host
communities
through
gainful
employment”,
the
proponents
claim.
According to the duo, the project would be executed in line with FAO code
of conduct for responsible aquacultu re after “an integrated Environmental,
Social and Health Impact Assessment (ESHIA) is carried out and
7
independently verified in accordance with internationally recognized best
practices” (Business Day, 2004).
However, the Centre for Environment, Human Righ ts and Development
(CEHRD) took a hard position against the project.
CEHRD contends that the project is targeting the fragmentary mangrove
forests of the Niger Delta, which are multi -resources ecosystems that have
sustained livelihoods of local population s since remembered time. Citing
evidences from countries like Indonesia, Bangladesh, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil,
etc, where Shrimp
impoverished
the
farming
people,
has degraded coastal
CEHRD
insists
that
environments
Shrimp
farming
and
is
environmentally unsustainable and limit livelihood opportunities of local
populations via the destruction of multi -resource based ecosystems like
mangroves for a monolithic Shrimp aquaculture system.
Presently, the Shell/USAID Shrimp project has been suspended but Mobil
Oil producing, another oil giant operating in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, has
Shrimp aquaculture very dear to her corporate heart. Again, this has caught
the attention and necessary reactions of concerned civil society groups.
Whether Mobil would succeed in her S hrimp culture bidding or not is left to
providence.
What I may consider ironical is that oil companies with unrepentant history
of environmental negligence and disregard for regulatory policies in Nigeria
are in the forefront of the process to making the c ountry a dual producer of
Shrimp through capture and culture fishery -and the Oil Corporation are
talking about ‘responsible aquaculture and best practices’. Both concepts
are key guidelines, which, if duly followed, might yield less negativity but
the environmental track records of the shrimp culture proponents in Nigeria
8
demands for thorough scrutiny or better still, outright rejection.
For
instance, burning of Associated Gas (AG) by the oil companies makes
Nigeria the leading gas flarer in the world – a significant contributor to
global warming. Approximately 2.2 billion cubic feet of AG is flared daily.
But Gas flaring in Nigeria had been prohibited since 1984.
Since these
companies hold the key to the country’s economy, they preferred to emit
AG and pay defaulting fees rather than a final stoppage.
Consequently,
Sequential terminal deadlines fixed by Government to end gas flaring have
been repeatedly violated. In its 2003 report, SPDC admitted that the 2008
deadline was “becoming tight” and would be reviewing in 2004 the
resources needed to meet it (SPDC, 2003). This further degenerated to an
absolute “2008-not-feasible” pronouncement by SPDC in 2006.
This
illustration casts doubts as to how best practices could be sustain in Shrimp
aquaculture in Nigeria by the proponents, especially when the primary aim
is to make robust gains through shrimp export.
HOW TO SUSTAIN SHRIMP FISHERY IN NIGERIA.
This could best be achieved using a multistakeholder approach or
collaboration.
From
1999,
Nigeria
has
been
participating
in
the
GEF/UNEP/FAO Shrimp fisheries project. The focus of this project is the
reduction of the environmental impacts of shrimp trawling through the use
of bycatch reduction devices (BRDS) and change in fisheries management
regimes.
Thanks to the extension of US embargo (US public law 101 -
162,section 609) on shrimp imports beyond the countries in South America
and the Caribbean Sea to all countries worldwide that export shrimp to the
US.
This embargo implies that the US will not import shrimp from any
country that does not have in place a sea turtle protection programme of
9
comparable effectiveness to the US programme.
The US programme
requires the mandatory introduction and use of Turtle Excluder Devices
(TEDS) by all fishermen. Thus, it is our belief that the above precondition
for certifying shrimp export to the US, would to a large extent, overhaul the
entire fabrics of Nigerian Shrimp fisheries.
The next but very important step to take is the mandatory incorporation of
Bycatch Reduction Devices (BRDS) in trawl nets. This will benefit trawler
operators through the reduction of time spent in sorting out trash fish and
sustain demersal fish communities whose components are incidentally
exploited as bycatch. Monitoring at sea should b e the watchword. Fitting
BRDS prior to the take-off of fleets to sea does not guarantee fishing with
BRDS affixed in the trawl net.
Monitoring, Surveillance and Control
(MSC) unit of the Federal Department of Fisheries should therefore rise to
its statutory obligations of ensuring that trawl operators exercise decorum
while shrimping with TED and BRDS – at the fishing grounds.
behooves
on
the
National
Assembly
to
review
fisheries
It also
act(s)
to
accommodate current realities.
It should interest NITOA to hear this; the World wildlife Fund (WWF) this
year (2006) offered a whopping prize of US$25,000 directed at reducing
bycatch (Smart Gear competition). Expectation is high that the WWF
bycatch reduction contest would be repeated next year (2007). I there fore
challenge commercial (Industrial) shrimpers in Nigeria to do the right
thing-reduce bycatch drastically-and win the mouth-watering award.
Government should endeavour to sponsor exploratory research to generate
necessary data requisite for viable fishe ries management.
Catch data
collection on both artisanal and industrial sectors should be intensified.
10
More so, ensuring strict compliance of fisheries laws and regulations is
imperative.
CONCLUSION
Sustainability of shrimp fisheries is not only a resp onsibility of the
fishermen. There must be collaboration by all stakeholders throughout the
product chain to develop the adjustments to gear and other changes as
considered appropriate.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and
Environmental Stewardship are contemporary key issues in the international
shrimp market. Shrimp bycatch therefore, would lessen market demand and
devalue the products, which is not in the best interest of the producers.
Finally, it is worthwhile to mention that CEHRD with the sup port of the
World Conservation Union (IUCN) has conducted a study on the status of
artisanal shrimp fishery along the coastal states, predominantly in the Niger
Delta belt.
The findings of the research and recommendations proffered
shall be made public in book form very soon. It is CEHRD’s fervent hope
that the upcoming report shall complement others and serve as databank and
aid in the sustainable management of shrimp fisheries in Nigeria.
Thank you for listening.
11
Reference
(1.) Business Day (2004). Shell/USAID N266bn Shrimp Project on
shaky start. Business Day Newspaper vol.3. No.374, P1-2
(2.)
Dulin-Green, C.O. and Tobor, J.G. (1992).
Marine Resources and
Activities in Nigeria. Nigerian Institute of Oceanography and
Marine Research (NIOMR). Tech. Paper No.84.
(3.)
Eayrs, S. (2005). A Guide to Bycatch Reduction in Tropical Shrimp Trawl Fisheries, Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the
United Nations, Rome, Italy.
(4)
Gayanilo, F.C.,Jr and Pauly, D. (eds.).
FAO – ICLARM Stock
Assessment tools (FiSAT) . Reference Manual.
FAO Computerized Information Series (Fisheries).
No. 8, Rome, FAO, 262P.
(5)
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2006). Synthesis
Report 16. http://www.sustainableoscale.org.
(6)
World Resources Institute (1990). World Resources
(1990 - 1991), 385. P2.
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