Catch rate of juveniles Ethamatosa fimbriata, Sardinella maderensis, and Brachydeuterus auritus fishing in Freetown Peninsular

Transcription

1 Africa Joural of Evirometal Sciece ad Techology Vol. 4(8), pp , August 2010 Available olie at ISSN X 2010 Academic Jourals Full Legth Research Paper Catch rate of juveiles Ethamatosa fimbriata, Sardiella maderesis, ad Brachydeuterus auritus fishig i Freetow Peisular M. Sheriff 1 *, K. Kevi 1, T. N. Ndomahia 2, E. Taylor 1, O. K. M. Badr 3, K. J. Boateg 1 ad R. Sadi 2 1 Iteratioal Cetre for HACCP Iovatio, Salford Busiess School Uiversity of Salford, Machester, Uited Kigdom. 2 Istitute of Marie Biology ad Oceaography, Fourah Bay College, Uiversity of Sierra Leoe, Freetow, Sierra Leoe. 3 El Safa Street, El-Seouf, Shamma, El-Falaky, Alexadria, Egypt. Accepted 13 July, 2010 We ivestigated the icideces of juveile fishig accordig to fishig practices i Freetow peisular. The idustrial trawl fishig sector, despite its techology is ot fully selective to avoid bycatch of juveile fish, ad artisaal fishig is so less for ecoomic reasos. Ieffective eforcemet of fishig regulatios is a major cause to the catch of both targeted ad o-targeted juveile fish. We collected data o the quatity of juveile fish ad the daily duratio of fishig trips i four ladig sites over a two-week period Beroulli radom variables ad properties of uiform distributio were used to aalyze the data. Catch rates of juveiles Ethamatosa fimbriata, Sardiella maderesis, ad Brachydeuterus auritus aroud the Freetow peisular were 170.8, ad kg per hour per day, respectively. This rate revealed that the curret tred of juveile fish ladigs is a threat to the sustaiability of fishery capital, reveue, ad biodiversity. Key words: High juveile, ladig, atioal problem, Sierra Leoe, by-catch juveile. INTRODUCTION For decades ow, several studies have reported sigificat declie i the worldwide catch of fish ad fishery products maily due to recruitmet failure ad problems to sustai global fishig capital (Watso ad Pauly, 2001). Juveile fishig is the harvestig of youg ad ewly hatched fish ad sometimes accidetal harvestig of eggs laid by fish are causig over fishig ad collapse of global fishig capital. Wrog fishig gears icludig et types are capable of catchig large quatity of fish bycatch ad have bee idetified as oe of the most sigificat causes for overfishig ad collapse of fishig capital worldwide (Pauly et al., 2002). Juveile fishig affects the fishig capital, employmet ad foreig earigs through reductio i species ratio ad catch rate where target species reach a threateed *Correspodig author. mifsheriff@live.com. Tel: , , , , threshold. The ratio of targeted ad o-targeted juveile fishes to the overall catch is very large especially i coutries where various types of fishig gears are used uder iadequate fishig regulatios or ieffective eforcemet of fishig regulatios (Hall ad Maiprize, 2005). Evidece of recruitmet failure from the cotiued exploitatio of juveile fishes icludig shrimp ad high value fishes, lies ot oly i decliig catch rates but also i reduced mea legth of some ishore stocks, ad chages i catch compositio (Sobrio et al., 2003). The fishery of Sierra Leoe is divided ito two mai sectors: Artisaal ad Idustrial. Commercially importat species caught i the artisaal fisheries sector icludes Ethmalosa species (local ames Boga ad awefu juveile) Sardiella species (local ames Herrig ad mia juveile), Illisha Africaa (local ame - Lati ); Pseudotolithus elogates (local ame - Gwagwa ), Pseudotolithus seegalesis (local ame - lady fish ), Detex species (local ame- sapper ), Galoides

2 518 Afr. J. Eviro. Sci. Techol. decadachtylus (local ame- shieose ) ad may others (Ndomahia ad Chaytor, 1991). The marie artisaal fisheries sector produces about 78% of fish for the local market. Some 50% of these are small pelagic of which 20% are demersals (Seisay, 2005). Several gear types ad strategies are used with expert ad o-expert kowledge that differs from fisher to fisher or vessels to vessels to exploit the marie resource, ad o gear is 100% selective, but some deliberately target uauthorized categories like the juveile. The mai aim ad objectives of this study is to ivestigate the catch rate of juveiles Ethamatosa fimbriata ( Awefu ), Sardiella maderesis ( Mia ), ad Brachydeuterus auritus ( Caima ) fishig i order to review regulatory measures for maagemet of fishery capital at the time whe Sierra Leoe is workig hard to lift ba o export of fish ad fishery products to developed coutries through implemetatio of HACCP system. Four out of fifty ladig sites icludig Goderich, Tombo, Portee/Rokuprr ad Levuma, kow to be well established commuities for artisaal fishig were idetified for 20 days samplig ad data collectio by direct observatio, sortig, measuremet ad weighig. Direct measuremet of fish legth ad sortig by species laded were the methods used to determie juveile fish ad species ratio. The fish legth was compared to mea legth of adult fish calculated durig the two weeks pilot survey of the fifty ladig sites alog the Freetow peisular. The ratio of meas estimator was used to calculate the catch rate by calculatig total average catch estimatio (kg). Total average catch (kg) = Total average legth of trip (Effort) (h) catch rate (kg h -1 ). For each boat, mixtures of juveile ad adult fish were laded, but the study did ot ivestigate the ratio of juveile ad adult fish, because the aim of the study was to determie catch rate of juveile. The determiatio of the ratio of juveile to adult fish ad subsequet estimatio of stock level are sigificat areas this study recommeded for future research. It was foud that the use of illegal mesh sizes were highly resposible for the catch of juveile fish. The allowable mesh sizes i millimeter (mm) accordig to Sierra Leoe fishery regulatios are shrimp trawlers 42, fish trawlers 60 ad artisaal 43 (MFMR, 2003; Thorpe et al., 2009). However, over 90% fishig ets observed durig this study were 29 or below. This shows clear violatio of atioal fishery regulatio maily due to ieffective eforcemet by MFMR. The miistry is fully aware of these bad practices but little or othig is doe to combat the situatio. I fact, survey report i Sierra Leoe showed that 75% of driftet ad 85% of beach seie i the wester area are illegal (MFMR, 2008; Thorpe et al., 2009). Study area Sierra Leoe lies betwee Latitudes 7 N ad 10 N, ad betwee Logitudes 10 W ad 13 W o the coast of West Africa. It is bordered o West, North ad Northeast by the Republic of Guiea ad to the Southeast by Liberia. Sierra Leoe covers a total area of about 71,740 km 2 with a coastlie of about 350 km. Sierra Leoe has a estimated populatio of some 5.7 millio ad 55% of the populatio lived withi 100 km of coastlie (FAO, 2002). The cotietal shelf of the coastlie of Sierra Leoe is about 100 km wide i the orth ad tapers to about 13 km i the south towards Liberia Figure 1, (MFMR, 2003). The total cotietal shelf area covers about 30,000 km 2. The coastlie, which is some 500 km log, is characterized by extesive flora of magrove plats, maily the Rhizophora species, a umber of estuaries ad rivers that are avigable for short distaces. The area of the 200 miles exclusive ecoomic zoe (EEZ) is about 15,700 km 2. The coastlie of Sierra Leoe stretches for about 560 km; its total shelf area is about 27,000 km 2 which desceds to a depth of about 200 m (Thorpe et al., 2009). Most of the fishig activities take place withi 17,000 km 2 of the exclusive ecoomic zoe (Seisay, 2005). Maritime fisheries i Sierra Leoe are classified ito ishore ad offshore zoes. The ishore zoe is officially reserved for artisaal fisheries ad is exteded up to 5 autical miles from the baselie. Beyod this is the exclusive ecoomic zoe (EEZ), which costitutes the idustrial fishig zoe. There are about 321 ladig sites alog the coast ad 530 ladig sites atiowide, but oly 9 of these ladig sites do provide substatial quatities of fish laded (Seisay, 2005). There are about 50 ladig sites alog the Freetow peisular i the wester area of Freetow though oly 4 are recogized ad supervised by the Miistry of Fisheries ad Marie Resources. The 4 are cosidered semi-urba fishig commuities aroud the Freetow peisular icludig Goderich, Tombo, Portee/Rokuprr ad Levuma. Goderich ad Portee/Rokuprr beig the closest to the capital city Freetow are highly active ad subjected to various studies, ad majority of the fishes marketed i Freetow are from Goderich ad Portee/Rokuprr. Tombo ad Levuma are busy fishig tows that supply the provices with fish maily Ethmalosa, Brachydeuterus ad Sardeella species. METHODS Data collectio A pilot survey was carried out alog the Freetow peisular coverig 50 ladig sites to examie the extet of fishig activities, the itesities of juveile ladig ad supervisio or eforcemet put i place by Miistry of Fisheries ad Marie Resources. The survey lasted for two weeks but oly 4 ladig sites were idetified for samplig ad data collectio. The reasos are that these 4 sites are semi-urba commuities that are actively ivolved i large scale artisaal fishig usig differet categories of gear-craft combiatio, ad were the oly sites where ispectors from MFMR are placed to

3 Sheriff et al. 519 Figure 1. Miistry of Fisheries ad Marie Resources (MFMR) (2003) Sierra Leoe Coastlie. eforce atioal fishery regulatios. Sample was ay article of fishig boat selected at the ladig site per day, uloaded, examied, sorted, measured ad weighed all juveile fish usig measurig tape ad weighig scale calibrated i cetimeter (cm) ad kilogramme (kg), respectively. The data were the quatity of juveile fish i kg ad the duratio of fishig trip i hours obtaied per boat per day. The duratio of fishig hours was obtaied by face-to-face iterviewig of fisherme per boat per day. The data were therefore collected from ay similar boat laded ad sampled o the same day of samplig at a particular ladig site. The data for quatity of juveile fish i kg ad duratio of fishig trip i hours for 10 boats per day or 200 boats per 20 days were stadardized ito averages for E. fimbriata ( Awefu ), ad S. maderesis ( Mia ). The data for quatity of juveile fish i kg ad duratio of fishig trip i hours for 10 boats per day or 50 boats per 5 days were stadardized ito averages for B. auritus ( Caima ), because this species was idetified at oly oe ladig site called Levuma. (see Table 1 ad Figure 2, for more iformatio o data o juveile fish for the three species collected from all the 4 ladig sites for 20 days. The samplig ad data were collected from 13th April to 9th May 2009, excludig Fridays ad Saturdays, which are cosidered holidays ad o-fishig days for all the four ladig sites. Sample or data per fishig boat does ot always require the same day fishig

4 520 Afr. J. Eviro. Sci. Techol. Table 1. Average catch compositio of juveiles Ethamatosa fimbriata ( Awefu ), Sardiella maderesis ( Mia ) ad Brachydeuterus auritus ( caima ) laded at Goderich, Tombo, Portee/Rokuprr ad Levuma wharfs by 200 boats i 20 simulatio days ad a average of 149 h of fishig ad travellig. Day o. Locatio of ladig site/wharf Average startig time of fishig trip (am) Average edig time of fishig trip (pm) Average duratio of fishig trip (h) No. of boat per day Average quatity of juveile fish laded ad weighed (kg) Awefu Mia Caima 1 Tombo ,130 1, Tombo , Tombo 9:30 4: ,110 1, Tombo 7:30 4: ,190 1, Tombo 8:30 4: ,260 1, Goderich , Goderich 7:30 3: ,010 2, Goderich 8:30 4: ,000 2, Goderich 7:30 2: , Goderich 7:30 2: , Portee/Rokuprr ,830 1, Portee/Rokuprr ,840 1, Portee/Rokuprr ,730 2, Portee/Rokuprr ,970 1, Portee/Rokuprr ,890 1, Levuma 7:30 3: , Levuma 7:30 2: , Levuma , Levuma , Levuma 7:30 3: ,090 boat for ext day's trips. The data i this study were collected to ucover maily the catch rate, but measuremets of size ad species ratio were also ivestigated to help achieve the research objectives. Data aalysis The data o catch rate shows the fishig power per effort or boat per hour per trip per day. That is catch per uit of fishig effort. Though the statistical theory ad modellig for estimatig the fishig effort from istataeous or progressive couts is fully established, there are still lot of cofusios regardig the correct method of catch rate of fish (Va de Avyle, 1986; Pollock et al., 1994). The total effort could be estimated i fishig hours ad the catch rate i fish per hour, while the total catch is estimated as the product of total efforts ad catch rate, ad thus Total catch = total effort catch rate or Catch rate = total catch/total effort (Hoeig et al., 1997; Greee et al., 1995; Pollock et al., 1994; Wade et al., 1991; vo Gelder ad Tomliso, 1973). Therefore, the researcher used the ratio of mea estimator to estimate the total catch rate of all boats sampled usig the followig formula: Catch rate = {[Total of average juveile fish laded (kg)] / [Total of average legth of trip (effort) (h)]}. Catch rate for juveile E. fimbriata ( Awefu ) Give: Total of average juveile Awefu laded (kg) = 25,450 kg Total of average legth of trip (effort) (h) = 149 h Therefore: R of Awefu = [(25,450 (kg) / 149 (h)] = kg/h Catch rate for juveile S. maderesis ( Mia ) Give: Total of average juveile Mia laded (kg) = 31,650 kg Total of average legth of trip (effort) (h) = 149 h Therefore: R of Mia = [(31,650 (kg) / 149 (h)] = kg/h Catch rate for juveile B. auritus ( Caima ) Give: Total of average juveile Caima laded (kg) = 7,200 kg Total of average legth of trip (effort) i hours = 37 h Therefore:

5 Sheriff et al Average quatities of juveile fish (kg) simulatio days Average quatity of juveile fish laded ad weighed (kg) Awefu Average quatity of juveile fish laded ad weighed (kg) Mia Average quatity of juveile fish laded ad weighed (kg) Caima Figure 2. Average catch compositio of juveiles Ethamatosa fimbriata ( Awefu ), Sardiella maderesis ( Mia ) ad Brachydeuterus auritus ( caima ) laded at Goderich, Tombo, Portee/Rokuprr ad Levuma Wharfs by 200 boats i 20 simulatio days ad a average of 149 h of fishig ad travellig. R of Caima = 7,200 kg / 37 h = kg/h The stadardized sum catches of species for 20 days i kg show o cosistet tred i catch rates of E. fimbriata ( Awefu ), S. maderesis ( Mia ) ad B. auritus ( Caima ). Durig some days, the catch rates icrease rapidly, followed by a steep declie o other days, ad so o ad forth. Thereafter, the catch rates show a geerally icreasig tred throughout the data collectio exercises. The comparative estimated catch rate of "Awefu", "Mia", ad "Caima" are at highest i "Tombo", "Goderich" ad "Levuma" respectively, but the catch compositio for all these species are still higher i all the ladig sites ad creatig a potetial treat of recruitmet failure, stock depletio ad damage to biodiversity. From ratio of mea estimator we ca deduce the followig equatio to estimate relatioship betwee data (Hoeig et al., 1997; Greee et al., 1995; Pollock et al., 1994; Wade et al., 1991; vo Gelder ad Tomliso, 1973): R = C j j=1 L j = C j/ j=1 L j/ j=1 j=1 (1) This equatio ca also be viewed as the ratio of mea catch to mea effort. That is: ( = 1 C j/ ) : Mea effort ( = 1 L j/ ) j =1 j=1 Where: C j = Total juveile fish caught by boat j up to the time it laded at the wharf for weighig i kg ad uloadig; L j = Legth of the trip (effort) i hours from the time of

6 522 Afr. J. Eviro. Sci. Techol. departure up to the time it laded at the wharf; L j * = Legth of the total trip i hours ukow per day; = umber of boat ecoutered ad iterviewed at the wharf after fishig ad laded per day; R = catch rate. Some importat relatioships ad assumptios: i) For each boat j, fishig is a statioary process; ii) The rate of fishig does ot vary with the boat startig time or with the legth of fishig trip; iii) Sice the researcher did ot witess the boat durig travelig ad fishig, the data collected o catch ad effort provided oly a estimate of the actual catch rate for the completed trip. Therefore, let: = N j =1 X j (2) X= Vector of the idicator variables X j The probability of ecouterig ad iterviewig a boat is proportioal to the legth of time the boat fishes per day ad the tedecy to arrive at wharf for uloadig at the time of samplig. The boats sampled idicated a represetative fractio of all the fishig boats per day. Thus: P(X j = 1 L j *) = L j */T (3) X j = Beroulli radom variable with expectatio ad variace give by E(X j L j *) = L j */T ad V((X j L j *) = (L j */T)(1- L j */T) (4) The Beroulli radom variable ad expectatio take oly two values 1 ad 0 with probability p ad 1 p with 0 < p < 1; for example P(X = 1) = p P(X = 0) = 1 p; We write X _ Ber(p) Where: T = Number of time i hours i fishig o the fishig day Time required for the researcher to make oe complete circuit of samplig of fishig boat at the wharf per day; N = Number of boats fishig per day; j = Statioary catch rate; that is umber of fish per hour of a sigle boat j (j =1,.N); L j = Legth of trip (h) till the time boat laded, ecoutered ad iterviewed; j (J =1,.N). L j was defied to be 0 (zero) if the boat was ot iterviewed; L j * = Total trip legth (h) of boat j( j =1, N); L* = Total hours of fishig i the day, L* = N j=1 L j *; L = Vector of the trip legth up to the time laded, ecoutered ad iterviewed, L j ; C j = Catch of boat j at the time of iterview ( j = 1,.N). C j was defied to be 0 (zero) if the boat was ot iterviewed; C j * = Catch of boat j at the completio of the fishig trip (j = 1,..N); = Number of boats ecoutered ad iterviewed; X j = Variable idicator; that is, let: X j = 0, if boat j was ot ecoutered ad iterviewed; X j = 1, if boat j was ecoutered ad iterviewed. Beroulli radom variable is a variable that has 2 possible outcomes: \success", or \failure". Success occurs with probability p ad failure with probability 1 p; ad it is used to model biary outcomes like True/False, Up/Dow, Success/Failure (Carlos ad Fracois, 2003). It is easy to verify that E X = p ad Var X = p (1 p). Ideed, EX = 1 p+0 (1 p) = p ad; Var X = (1 p) 2 p+(0 p) 2 (1 p) = (1 p) (1 p) p+p p (1 p) = p (1 p) (1 p+p) It is the startig poit to defie aother importat radom variable ad a realizatio of oe of the values of X called a Beroulli trial (Carlos ad Fracois, 2003). The legth of time a boat fishes ad arrives at the wharf before beig ecoutered ad iterviewed, assumig that the boat was ecoutered ad iterviewed, is a uiform radom variable (U). Therefore: L j ~ U (O, L j *) give X j = 1 (5) From properties of uiform distributio, lets assume that X 1,X 2,...,X represet a set of idepedet ad idetically distributed radom variables ad deote the correspodig order statistics by X 1 :, X 2 :,...,X :. I cases of various properties of order statistics we may refer to Ahsaullah ad Nevzorov (2002), Arold et al. (1992) ad David (1981). Therefore: E(L j L j *, X j = 1) = L j */2 ad V(L j L j *, X j = 1) = L j * 2 /12 (6) Equatio 5 meas the expected value ad variace of the reciprocal of fishig trip legth at the time of boat ecoutered ad iterviewed (give the completed trip legth ad the fact that X j = 1) are ifiite. Therefore the expected catch at the time of ecoutered ad iterviewed, give that the boat was iterviewed whe the fractio L j L j * of the trip is over, is the total catch for the trip times fractio of the completed trip. That is: E(C j L j, C j *, L j *, X j = 1) = C j * L j / L j * (7) Ad V(C j L j, C j *, L j *, X j = 1) = C j * (L j / L j * ) (1- L j / L j * ) This supports the assumptio that fishig is a stagat process. Therefore, the catch rate does ot vary over

7 Sheriff et al. 523 time. O average, a fishig boat was ecoutered ad iterviewed by the time the fishig was completed o that fishig day ad the whole trip catch was sampled ad aalyzed at the time of ecouter ad iterview. Thus the catch per fishig trip o ay give day arises from a stagat process ad the expected catch per trip is: E(C j * L j *) = j L j * (8) Therefore the variace is: V(C j * L j *) = j L j * The approximated j is weighted average of the idividual species catch rates. Thus, the approximate expectatio is the ratio of total catch to effort. This provides theoretical estimatio for calculatig catch rate usig catch per uit effort i juveile fishig. A simulatio work was developed to aalyze the data. Several simulatio activities have bee adapted ad utilized by various programmes to estimate catch rate (Gree et al., 1995). 20 simulated days were spet i all of the four ladig sites ad the researchers spet six hours per simulatio day. I all the four ladig sites, each boat had catch rate parameter that was idepedet of the legth of the trip. This was verified where the boat fished for 9 h ad caught less fish tha boat that fished for 10 h. Similarly boat that fished for 6 h caught more fish tha boat that fish for 7 h, ad so o. This meas that fishig is a statioary process ad does ot vary with the legth of fishig trip. DISCUSSION Lack of proper eforcemet of fishery policies ad regulatios compouded with iadequate capacity ad capabilities of the Miistry have certaily accelerated the juveile fishig throughout the coastal stretch that harbours millios of fisherme. These have elevated the ladigs of juveiles, which are maily due to itesive targeted artisaal fishig ad iter-coastal commuity fishig competitio. From the ecoomics poit of view, the demad for juveile by cosumers also ecourages this method of fishig (Boyce, 1996); low icome earers i capital city Freetow ad its eviros go i for mia juveile sardielle, Awefu juveile E. fimbriata ad "Caima" juveile B. auritus as cheap source of protei. Majority of fisherme go i for low productio efforts by purchasig cheap ad destructive methods of fishig, such as usig drift et, beach seies, chael et, poisos ad dyamite that directly target juveile species. To achieve sustaiable fishery practice, juveile fishig should o o accout be acceptable (Pascoe, 2006). Fisheries resources are reewable, if give a chace to rejuveate (Hall ad Maiprize, 2005). Juveile fishig will lead to loss of biodiversity i the marie ecosystem (Hall et Al., 2000). Fishig serves as oe of the mai reveue earer for the Govermet of Sierra Leoe, through licesig, door ad hoorariums etc (MFMR, 2008), ad the fisheries actually cotribute about 9.4% to the atioal gross domestic product (NGDP) (MFMR, 2003). The importace of the fisheries sector i the ecoomic developmet of ay coutry is revealed i its share of the gross atioal product (GNP) ad by its participatio i employmet ad growth adjustmet process like food security ad exteral trade (Pascoe, 2006). The govermet provides fishery maagemet strategies ad policies for sustaiability i view of developmet with its foreig exchage earigs that foster idustrializatio ad settlemet of debt. Coastal dwellers deped o fish ad fishery products for their livelihood ad employmet. With this kid of tred of juveile exploitatio, it is clear that the major share of GNP ad mai source of atioal protei is therefore uder serious threat. Coclusio Catch rates of juveile E. fimbriata ( Awefu ), S. maderesis ( Mia ), ad B. auritus ( Caima ) aroud Freetow peisular are 170.8, ad kg per hour per day, respectively. Durig the two weeks pilot survey, the researcher, calculated the mea legth of the followig adult species i "Tombo", Goderich, "Portee/ Rokuprr", ad "Levuma" icludig, E. fimbriata 19.6 cm, P. elogates 23.3 cm, S. sphyraea 41.3 cm, S. maderesis 17.9, ad T goreesis 25.0 cm. Comparatively, the exploitatio of the clupeid was foud to be high i these four ladig sites at legth for juveiles S. marderesis below 14 cm ad E. fimbriata with a average of 6 cm. The maximum legth of adult E. fimbriata examied i the four ladig sites was betwee cm, but a legth of 6 cm of juveiles were laded as well. The legths of cm of E. fimbriata i these areas were caught by rig et of mesh size 43 mm. The boat type of stadard 3-5 ad driftet with mesh size of 29 mm for Mia ad Awefu, beach seiig for Caima were ecoutered ad iterviewed. The rig et of mesh size 29 mm catches the highest percetage of up to about 30% of juveile E. frimbriata (awefu) i all the four ladig sites. The use of illegal mesh size of fishig et is the key cause of juveile mortality (Reithe ad Ascha, 2004). The study revealed that the curret tred of juveile fishes ladigs has threateed the potetial fishery capital, reveue, ad biodiversity. It is timely for the govermet to pay more attetio to the artisaal sector by brigig the resource users together, educate ad sesitize them o resposible fishig practice. Fisherme should be ivolved i plaig ad decisio makig ad

8 524 Afr. J. Eviro. Sci. Techol. be empowered by providig alterative livelihood to allow recruitmet of the species. To eforce proper policy ad regulatio, a co-maagemet system of bottom to up approach should be used as a tool to achieve the maagemet of marie protected areas, seasoal closures, gears, crafts ad meshes size regulatios. The govermet strogly eeds to discourage the use of illegal mesh sizes of ets ad i fact ba the importig, sellig ad use of illegal gears. The govermet should also ba pair trawlig i the idustrial fisheries ad beach seiig i the artisaal sector. The shrimpers i the idustrial sector should oly trawl at ight istead of day time, because target shrimps are highly caught at ight rather tha day time whe most ladigs are by-catch juveiles (Reithe ad Ascha, 2004). By-laws should be developed ad properly eforced to help promote compliace ad eforcemet o the bas of fishig gears ad methods like, dyamites (explosive), poisos, chael ets, moofilamet ets, import, sale ad use of illegal fishig gears with illegal mesh sizes. The mesh sizes for all artisaal fishig ets should be icreased to at least 50 mm, ad complete ba of beach seiig i all fishery practices. Seasoal closure policy should be developed ad fully eforced i all fishery sectors to allow exploited resources to rejuveate. It ca also serve as coservatio measures ad ca be a maagemet pla for marie protected areas. Seasoal closure must be icluded i the overall fishery resource coservatio policy ad regulatio. Fisherme who are specialised i fishig juveile species should be iterviewed for grow out. Juveile fishig fisherme to a larger extet possess relevat iformatio o seasoality ursery, spawig, ecological iche, habitat prefereces, ad periodical treds i abudace of the targeted species i their territorial waters. These types of iformatio are sacrosact because fishers who possess them deped o them for their livelihoods, ad are therefore cosidered ivaluable ad reliable to researchers, idustry ad govermet (Johaes, 1981). Sierra Leoe govermet should seek ot oly sigle objectives of fishery resources maagemet but must icorporate a wide-rage of other objectives. Govermet eeds to ivestigate ad uderstad social ad ecoomic beefits of relevat fishig commuities, i order to educate ad sesitise the fishers about their rights ad obligatios to protect their habitats from poachers ad destructive fishig activities. Fishers uderstadig such rights ad obligatios ca serve as motivatios ad icetives to build their habitats ad eve protect those that are built for them by their acestors. Subsequetly, such rights ad obligatios ca groom fish aggregatig devices to establish ad reiforce the impetus for improved, sustaiable ad commuity based fishery ad marie coservatios for curret ad geeratios yet ubor. These ca also stimulate owership, proprietary ad protective iterest i surroudig fishery territories ad sigificatly discourage ad declie destructive fishig practices such as the use of illegal craft gear combiatio, explosives or dyamites ad poisos (Galvez, 1991). Fisherme should also be grated the right to ivolve i licesed fishery o a exclusive basis i the licesed fishery territories. Such rights should be based o the use of fishery territories which have bee classified i coastal waters log period of time. Fishery right should be grated through liftig of prohibitig measures but various regulatios such as craft-gear combiatio, closed areas ad seasos as well as size structure caught limits must still remai i full force. Licese should be give to applicats based o their qualificatios i the order of priority of prove record of compliace i fishery policy ad regulatios. Fishery right system should be allocated oly to artisaal fisherme's groups vetted ad registered by govermet that are residig i the coastal areas. Trasfer ad loa of such rights must be strictly prohibited ad liable to crimial offece. It is justifiable that stoppig juveile fishig will help improve catch rate of adult species, ad the overall state of the fishery. Icrease i the average size of the fish will lead to improvemet i socio-ecoomic beefit ad livelihood. Though the market demad for juveile by low icome earer cosumers idicates high socio-ecoomic beefit, the biology, if eglected will lead to future ecoomic losses ad recessio i fisheries productio. Cosiderig the sigificace of fishery sector i the share of GNP, the govermet of Sierra Leoe should be careful ad midful of fish depletio. Further research is recommeded to determie the ratio of juveile ad adult fish that laded alog Freetow peisular ad subsequetly, estimate the impact of juveile fishig o atioal fishery capital. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The suggestios, critical reviews ad motivatios by my supervisors, Professor Erest Tom Ndomahia, Director, Istitute of Marie Biology ad Oceaography, Fourah Bay College, Uiversity of Sierra Leoe, Kevi Kae, ad Professor Euice Taylor, Iteratioal Ceter for HACCP Iovatio, Uiversity of Salford, Machester, Uited Kigdom are gratefully ackowledged. Mr Jude K Boateg ad Ms Raita Sadi were my study parters who volutarily provided suggested commets ad direct cotributios i the data collectio ad aalysis as part of their academic ad professioal capacity buildig throughout this work. I thak my wife Madam Omeya Khamis Mahmoud Badr for her academic, moral, fiacial ad clerical supports durig this study ad preparatio of the mauscript. REFERENCES Ahsaullah M, Nevzorov V (2002). Ordered Radom Variables. Nova

9 Sheriff et al. 525 Sci. Publi. New York. Arold BC, Balakrisha N, Nagaraja HN (1992). A First Course i Order Statistics. Wiley, New York. Boyce JR (1996). A ecoomic aalysis of the fisheries bycatch problem. J. Eviro. Eco. Maage. 31: Carlos AL, Fracois P (2003). Extremal properties of sums of Beroulli radom variables, Statistics & Probabilities, 11(5): David HA (1981). Order Statistics. Wiley, New York. FAO (2002). Fishery fleet data are from the Food ad Agriculture Orgaizatio of the Uited Natios (FAO), Fishery Iformatio, Data ad Statistics Uit (FIDI). Galvez RE (1991). Some socio-ecoomic issues i artificial reefs maagemet: a case study of Ligaya Gulf, Philippies, Tropical Coastal Area Maagemet. April/August: 6-7. Gree CJ, Hoeig JM, Barrowma NB, Pollock KH (1995). Programs to simulate catch rate estimatio i a rovig creel survey of aglers. Atlatic Fisheries Research Documet 95/99, Caada Departmet of Fisheries ad Oceas. (Available free of charge from Atlatic Stock Assessmet Secretariat, P.O. Box 1006, Dartmout, Nova Scotia B2Y 4A2, Caada). Hall M, Alverso D, Metuzals K (2000). Bycatch: problems ad solutios. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 41: Hall SJ, Maiprize BM (2005). Maagig by-catch ad discards: how much progress are we makig ad how ca we do better? Fish Fish. 6: Hoeig JM, Cythia MJ, Keeth HP, Douglas SR, David L Wade (1997). Calculatio of Catch Rate ad Total Catch i Rovig Surveys of Aglers. Biometerics 53: Johaes RE (1981). Words of the lagoo: fishig ad marie lore i the Palau District of Microesia. Uiversity of Califoria Press, Berkeley. p Miistry of Fisheries ad Marie Resources (MFMR) (2003). Fisheries Policy Of Sierra Leoe; & the Fisheries (Maagemet ad Developmet) Decree, 1994; Supplemet to the Sierra Leoe Gazette. 125: 58, Dated 8 th December Miistry of Fisheries ad Marie Resources (MFMR) (2008). Catch ad export statistics for Fish ad Fishery i Sierra Leoe, Upublished Mauscript. Ndomahia ET, Chaytor DEB (1991). The Status of the Stocks of small Pelagic ad Demersal Species of Sierra Leoe. FAO Natioal Semiar o Fisheries idustries Developmet, Nov. Pascoe S (2006). Ecoomics, fisheries, ad the marie eviromet. ICES J. Mar. Sci. 63: 1-3. Pollock KH, Joes CM, Brow TL (1994). Agler survey methods ad their applicatios i fisheries maagemet. Special Publicatio 25, America Fisheries Society, Bethesda, Marylad. Reithe S, Ascha MM (2004). Bioecoomic aalysis of by-catch of juveile fish i the shrimp fisheries a evaluatio of maagemet procedures i the Barets Sea. Eviro. Resour. Eco. 28: Seisay MBD (2005). The Demersal Trawl Fishery of Sierra Leoe Bull. Ist. Mar. Biol. Oceaogr. U.S.L. 5: 1-8. Sobrio I, Baldo F, Garcia-Gozalez, CJA, Silva-Garcia A, Feradez- Delgado C, Arias AM, Rodriguez A, Drake P (2003). The Effect of Estuarie Fisheries o Juveile Fish observed withi the Guadalquivir Estuary (SW Spai). Istituto Espaol de Oceaografia, Fisheries Departmet, Apdo. 2609, Muelle Pesquero s/ Cadiz, Spai. Thorpe AD, Whitmarsh, NET, Baio A, Kemokai M, Lebbie T (2009). Fisheries ad Failig States: The case of Sierra Leoe. Marie Policy 33: Va de Avyle MJ (1986). Measurig agler effort, success, ad harvest. I Reservoir Fisheries Maagemet: Strategies for the 80 s, G.E. Hall ad M.J. va de Avyle (eds), Bethesda, Marylad: America Fisheries Society. Vo Gelder CE, Tomliso PK (1973). O the aalysis of agler catch rate from warm water reservoirs. Califoria Fish ad Game 59: Wade DL, Joes CM, Robso DS, Pollock KH (1991). Computer Simulatio techiques to assess bias i the rovig creel survey estimator. Am. Fish. Soc. Symp. 12: Watso R, Pauly D (2001). Systematic distortios i world fisheries catch treds. Nature 414: