Small-scale fisheries in the CECAF region — priorities for research

Reports

first weighing the environmental demands and consequences for other activities against economic profits. In order to develop better balanced management policies for dealing with effects related to exploring and mining, research on the following topics should be stimulated. Establishment of laws that will guarantee a judgment that will weigh all implications and effects objectively, and laws that will take into account all interests. Improvement of traffic control and supervision of traffic from shore. Equipment and action models for cleaning up oil spills. As in other matters of pollution, research on the effects of oil spills should strongly support the development of well balanced management policies. This research should include the physical and chemical effects of oil spills, as well as the impact of oil on the natural environment. Investigations should not be restricted to the waters of the sea, but they should also include bottom studies and interactions of oil with sediment and vegetation of the affected coastal areas. The examples given in the former sections illustrate that, when policies for North Sea management are developed, two serious omissions can be traced. First, present knowledge and understanding of the North Sea ecosystem is hardly a guideline for the development of proper management policies. Second, interactions and relationships between various activities are poorly understood and integration of the different uses is not considered when management policies are developed. Research on the complicated field of the North Sea ecosystem and on interactions in the natural environment is carried out in various places. Efforts are strong, but findings are often restricted to a specialist scientific circle and cooperation between investigators on different topics or in different areas is often absent. Coordination should be improved, and exchange of information and ideas should be stimulated between investigators and between research workers and policy makers. Efforts to understand the immense and

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complicated North Sea ecosystem could be strengthened.’ Research on relations between various activities and competing uses of the North Sea is almost completely lacking. A few projects have been started in Cardiff, UK, and Delft, Netherlands. In this field research should be stimulated and new projects should be started. This was also a main conclusion of the North Sea Seminar at The Hague in 1979,s where a resolution was adopted that asked for a North Sea Forum; in this Forum new approaches for an integrated management of the North Sea should be studied. Cato C. ten Hailers-Tjabbes and Gerard M. feet North Sea Working Group Amsterdam The Netherlands

ID. Eisma, De Noordzee, Het Spectrum, Utrecht, 1980; H. Van Hoom and A. de Jong, Naar een planning van de Noordzee, Research Centre for Physical Planning, Delft, Netherlands, 1977.

‘G. Peet and W. Wierike, Een Nota Noordzee verkenning van mogelijkheden, University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands, 1980; H. Van Hoorn and A. de Jong, op tit, Ref 1. ‘E.D. Brown, ‘Sea use planning in the North sea’, Proceedings of the Annual Law of the Sea Institute, Honolulu, HI, 1979; M.M. Sibthorp, ed, The North Sea. Challenge and Opportunity, Report of a Study Group of the David Davies Memorial Institute of International Studies, London, 1975. 40slo Committee, Article 8.2. Sediment-type wastes may suffocate most or all bottom dwelling animals, but little is known about the effects of this type of waste on the bottom structure and the effect on the natural habitat of this dumped material. Hardly any research has been done on alternative storage for sedimenttype materials. Methods for recycling these wastes should be investigated. Dredge spoil, a material that resembles clay, may well be transformed into building material such as brick, and gypsum spoil may be made into cement-like compounds. hG. Peet and K. Wierike, op tit, Ref 2; H. Van Hoorn and A. de Jong, op tit, Ref 1. ‘H. Van Hoorn, G. Peet and M. Tiel, eds,

The North Sea and its Environment, uses and conflicts, Proceedings of the North Sea Seminar, North Sea Amsterdam, 1980.

Working

Group,

Vbid.

Small-scale fisheries in the CECAF region - priorities for research A CECAF workshop was held in Benin in July 1980 to discuss research priorities in small-scale fisheries in the region. The author reports on the major issues raised at the workshop, paying particular attention to the need for cost and earnings studies. Keywords:

Fisheries; Regional government

The time is probably appropriate in many Third World regions to evaluate the status and achievements of officially sponsored attempts in the last lO15 years to develop small-scale fisheries. In this context the Fishery Committee for the East Central Atlantic (CECAF) area is probably one of the most promising and instructive for the economic evaluator. The CECAF project has been in existence some seven years; it maintains excel-

organizations;

West Africa

lent cooperation with countries in the region; economic data of acceptable reliability are available, if often unpublished; and some impressive basic research, both biological and economic, has already been done, some of it by CECAF itself. Furthermore, even excluding distant-water fishing, the region offers a wide mix of fisheries, fishing techniques and gear. At a national level a mixture of conflicts of interest occurs -

MARINE POLICY January 1982

Reports

for instance between private and public sectors and between inshore and offshore fishermen - which provides appropriate case studies for evaluation. Thus, the CECAF region provides a very favourable opportunity for a level of economic analysis in fisheries development which could have validity in other regions. There are, of course, great disparities in the level of fisheries development in the region, which stretches from Morocco to Zaire. The total artisanal catch is of the order of 630000 tons and has probabiy not changed much in the past ten years, with growth in some years offsetting declines in others and market fluctuations occurring in the mainly exploited pelagic stocks. Measured against length of coasttine, artisanal landings varied from 300 tons per kilometre in Senegal to 3.0 tons in Cape Verde and 4.3 tons in Guinea Bissau. Measured in catch per canoe, Senegal (which operates a large canoe) lands 42.9 tons per canoe per annum compared to Congo’s 3.0 tons. However, in some countries the data for both canoe landings and number of fishermen are aggregated to include mechanized and non-mechanized canoes, so catch in terms of effort of manpower or horsepower cannot be significantly calculated and compared. Nevertheless, data are available in some of the more developed fisheries to enable cost and earnings studies to be made and this was seen as an urgent research priority in the workshop, since such studies could be a useful tool for policy makers.

Competition It was considered that each of the major fishing methods in both the artisanal and semi-industrial fisheries should be evaluated since, in some countries, these vessels are competitive. Such competition takes several forms: competition for fish stocks, competition for labour, competition in the fish market and, less obvious but of great significance to the industry, competition for government support and subsidy. In Sierra Leone for example, the semi-indust~ai fisheries not only compete with artisanal canoes

MARINE POLICY January 1982

for stocks on the same fishing grounds, but are also given soft loans by government for capital inputs. Artisanal fishermen thus find it very difficult to make a living on these terms. In Senegal, on the other hand, a well organized and accepted detineation between fishing limits for each type of vessel exists, and this may form a model for adoption by other although it involves an countries, expensive method of control. It should be essential to fisheries planning to know the various rates of return on capital made on different nets and gear and on the motorized as distinct from the non-motorized canoes, and cost and earnings studies should form an essential prerequisite to future investment in such fisheries. In nearly all the countries, government subsidy appears to have been given in the past without any proper previous appraisal of the costs, earnings and benefits of the particular sections of the industry it has sought to assist. Further, the effects of government subsidies on competing sections of the industry have rarely been considered. The ill effects of government policy on artisanal fisheries in Sierra Leone have already been noted. In Ghana, on the other hand, the artisanal fishery has probably benefited over the inshore industrial fishery by the granting of soft loans and subsidies for the purchase of outboard motors. However, by efiminating the distorting effect of government subsidies, it may well be shown that the inshore industrial fishery is more effective in terms of costs and earnings. It must be recognised, however, that the criteria of government policy may not be solely based on pro~tability. For example, the need to maintain employment levels may favour labour-intensive over more capital-intensive methods of fishing, even though the employment multiplier may be greater in the latter; however, the need to maintain rural populations may favour rural-based artisanal fisheries over urban-based industrial fisheries. Foreign exchange constraints may also play a part in fisheries planning. A number of cost and earnings studies have been made in the region, but most of those in the artisanal sector

use market prices, which conceat elements of subsidy and soft loans. One study in Ghana,’ however, evaluates four types of trawling gear used in the semi-industrial fishery but does not include the capital cost of the vessel, which is assumed constant for all types of trawl. and imported inputs are not shadow priced at border prices. A useful study;” relating mainly to fisheries in Senegal may give some direction to other countries in the region. In this study, negative rates of return appeared in the artisanal sector when the fabour of fishermen was charged at the assumed shadow wage rate and the full cost of outboard motors was charged, ie excluding the subsidy element. Of the three methods of fishing studied in the artisanal sector - unmotorized canoes with handlines, motorized canoes using handlines and motorized canoes using purse seines - the last was the most favourable and also showed the second lowest cost of producing protein for all the different types of fishing including the industrial sector; the semi-industrial small purse seiner giving the lowest cost. Of course, these calculations are based on the assumption of a shadow wage for artisanal fisheries labour, and the conclusion must be that in fact fishermen working on artisanal vessels are prepared to earn an income below the shadow wage. It would be useful to identify the reasons for this. A completely different result was shown in a study by Linsenmeyer in Sierra Leone, in which fisheries labour was shadow priced at the actual market value for each firm (vessel enterprise) in its particular location, which showed that canoe fisheries generated ‘pure’ economic profit of Le 0.52 per Le I .OO of fish produced (ie 52%) compared with Le 0.10 of ‘pure’ economic profit (ie 1%) for fish landed by ‘large-scale vessels’ using bottom trawls (three trawlers with average tonnage of 32.72 tonnes). It must be noted, however, that no consistent shadow pricing of capital was used in this study, capital at a cost of 40% was taken for the artisanal canoe fishery, while the Iargescale industrial fishery received capital loans at 10% from domestic and international credit institutions. Jarrold and Everett have added an

Reports/Film

extra sophistication to their analysis by applying certain sociopolitical criteria, such as the value added per man-year the cost of providing employed, employment in terms of capital required, the foreign exchange component, and the cost per ton of landed protein. An indirect benefit in a study by Sveznor in Senegal has shown an income multiplier of 1.5 for fish catching activities. This seems surprisingly low considering the small scale of fish trade and fish processing in the region, and would certainly be higher in Nigeria and Ghana. There are at least four reasons why cost and earnings studies should be undertaken soon. First, to provide data to meet the needs of governments now they are more involved in fisheries planning and promotion; second, to project the effect of the rising price of

inputs, particularly fuel, on profitability and earnings; and third, to project the effect of an increase in effort on future earnings. Fourth, it is becoming increasingly evident that, with an increase in capital and operating costs, the traditional system of sharing is being modified and income disparities in the sector are widening between boat and gear owners and the crew. Some members of the workshop viewed the emergence of a capitalist class in fisheries with considerable misgivings. However, as long as private capital continues to provide the bulk of effort, a reduction of the return to capital which brings it below that obtainable in other capital-competing investments could be disastrous for future private investment in fisheries. Other research priorities were identified at the workshop, notably the

perennial, fish marketing, but also the role of women (a predictable item in almost any issue) and the role of traditional institutions in fisheries management and control. Cost and earnings studies should take precedence over these. Rowena M. tawson ~niversi~ of ~~11,UK Although some of the information in this note was gathered in connection with a recent assignment with FAO, the opinions remain those of the author. lEconornic E~alffa~on of /nnova~ions of F~shj~g Gear lech~i~ues on ffurai Fisheries, GhanallDRC Fishery Research and Development Project, Accra, 1979. *FL R. Jarrold and G. V. Everett, Formulation of Alternative Strategies for Development of Marine Fisheries in the Cf CAF Region, CIDA/FAO/CECAF, 1978.

Film This o~&asional column gives details of audio-visual ma~e~ais which are concerned with marine affairs. They may be useful as educational aids for university or college courses, and as supplementary training materials for ‘maritime managers’ in offshore industries.

of algae up the food chain to the cod. It then provides a visual history of the development of fishing: from searching for shellfish and fish trapping on shore, via line and hook fishing; cast netting; fixed nets; scoop nets; team fishing; drag, drift and sink Distributor: internationes, FR nets (all illustrations are drawn from contemporary practice in African and Germany. These films can be ordered Pacific peasant farming); and trawler from The German Film Library, fishing, to the most modem of conViscom, 25-27 Farringdon Road, temporary industrial fishing techniques tondon ECI, UK and so to overfishing. Examples of Internationes, the German film and overfishing begin with shrimps, where literature distributors, have made a the annual catch has halved in 30 years, series of four superb films under the and continue with the destruction of general title New Directions in the the herring fisheries since the record catches of the mid-196Os, and the Fishing Industry which deserve major attention and should certainly be threatened destruction of the white fish snapped up for television by some shoals. The history of whaling is called enterprising television company. The in to show how whole species (eg the grey first of these, Plundering the Seas, Arctic whale, the California covers what it is that makes marine life whale, the blue whale, the sperm whale possible from the phytoplankton and and the fin whale) can be reduced NEW DIRECTIONS IN THE FISHING INDUSTRY Plundering the seas Stocktaking in the North Atlantic He who will reap must sow Food from the aquarium

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the minutist

virtually to extinction by the unchecked pursuit of narrowly conceived economic motives. Fishermen, the commentary declares, must change their attitude. Stock depletion, fish hunting must end. The fisherman must now conserve and breed fish. The second film in the series, Stocktaking in the North Atlantic, provides a bit of a break in the development by providing a picture of the work of three fishery research vessels commissioned by the Federal German Fisheries Research Board and hired out to the Intergovernmental Commission on Oceanic Research (ICOR); a side a stem trawler and an trawler, Icelandic Fisheries research vessel working for ICOR. The devastation of the herring is illustrated by the fact that not a single young herring was caught in the entire expedition. The film shows how estimates are made of the size and age structure of existing fish stocks, underlining the scientific basis for the doomsday pictures drawn in the preceding film. The third film, He who will Reap must Sow, argues that the protein deficiency under which the world labours today can only be remedied by

MARINE

POLICY January 1982