GILLNET FISHING IN IGBOKODA COASTLINE AREA OF ONDO STATE, NIGERIA

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1 GILLNET FISHING IN IGBOKODA COASTLINE AREA OF ONDO STATE, NIGERIA ABSTRACT Olawusi-Peters 1, O. O., Ajibare 2*, A. O. and Ajetunmobi 1, O. A. 1 Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State Nigeria. 2 Department of Biological Sciences, Wesley University of Science and Technology, Ondo, Nigeria, * Contact Address: Christ School P.O. Box 50, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State Nigeria. mrajifem@yahoo.com The status of artisanal fisherfolks and gillnet fisheries of Igbokoda coastline area of Ondo State, Nigeria was studied in 2013 with the view of updating knowledge on the socioeconomic indices, fishing gears and prime catches of the fisher folks in the area. Forty structured questionnaire and in-depth guided interviews were used to obtain data related to socio-economic indices of the fisherfolks and were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis. The respondents were dominated by men with 87.5% while the women share 12.5%. Ilaje tribe has 65%, Apoi 27.5%, and Urobo has 7.5% of the respondents. The study indicated that fishing practices were mainly the profession of the young persons and that the educational level of fisher folks was high in the area. Findings also showed that the average annual household income of fisherfolk households was comparable to most government/public employees holding equivalent qualifications in the neighbouring area. The data obtained revealed that gill net constituted over 80% of the total gear used in the study area and which also determined the size of fish harvested. The catch compositions were Clarias gariepinus, Heterobranchus bidorsalis, Polypterus ansorgii and Hepsetus odoe. The fishery of the area could support the strides towards employment generation, poverty alleviation and supply of animal protein to the teeming Nigerian population. Keywords: Artisanal, fishing gear, fisherfolks, Igbokoda, gillnet, coastal area, Ondo State. INTRODUCTION The artisanal fishery sector constitutes the most important sector of fisheries. It accounts for the major fish supply in the developing world. According to Raw Materials Research and Development Council (2007), over 10 million people are directly or indirectly engaged in fishery in Nigeria. Also, Balogun, (1986) and FAO (1991) observed that fishing is the main occupation of the people of Niger Delta especially in the wetland area of the region. Fishery activities are executed through two main methods in the inland and coastal areas of Nigeria namely artisanal or capture fishery and fish farming or aquaculture. Artisanal fishery is the harvesting of fish from rivers, streams, lakes and ponds by small scale fishermen using both traditional and modern fishing gears. It is the most important of fish production in Nigeria and accounts for over 90% of her fish production (Ogunbadejo et al., 2007). In Nigeria more than 98% of the population of the fishing communities is dependent on fishing and fishery related activities (SFLP, 2002). The assessment of FAO (1991) shows that out of the 1.9 million people engaged in either full time or part time and seasonal fishing and about 98% belong to the artisanal sector. Adesulu and Syndenham, (2002) reported that a large population of artisanal fishermen who relies on the predominant use of small fishing gears is found around the coastal line. This group of fishermen commonly operates in inland rivers, lagoons and creeks; extending to about five nautical miles of the sea shore. A high percentage of landed fish in Nigeria is from artisanal catch. Tobor (1995) reported an access to over 180,000 metric tons of artisanal fishery resources in the area and an estimated annual yield potential of 1,830,990 metric tons of fish from which a harvest close to 350,000 metric tons are made annually. According to Fagade (1992) artisanal catch made up to about 40% of all the fish consumed in Nigeria, however, Faturoti (2010) reported that artisanal fisheries in Nigeria provided more than 82% of the domestic fish supply, giving livelihoods to one million fishermen and up to 5.8 million fisherfolks in the secondary sector. FAO (1991) reported that the most widely used fishing gear in coastal and brackish waters is gillnet. Gillnet constituted over 60% of the total gear deployed in the region. In Lagos lagoon, gill net constituted the dominant gear deployed in the water body (Udolisa and Solarin 1978 & 1979, Fagade and Olaniyan 1972). In the East of the Niger particularly in Bonny estuary, gill net constituted over 50% of the gear deployed by fishermen (Chindah and Osuamkpe 1994 and IPS 1989 and 1990). Akinwumi et al., (2011) stated that fishing is the main occupation of the people of the Ilajes and gear development is species targeted while gillnet is the most popular gear used in the region for fish harvesting. Also, artisanal fishery in the area has contributed immensely to the socio-economic conditions of the entire populace due to economic influx of people in search of fish and fish products from the adjoining communities. Empirical studies on the status of the artisanal fisherfolks in the study area are growing. Thus, this work is aimed at contributing to the studies and existing database. The major objective of this study is to update knowledge on the NJAFE VOL. 11 No. 1,

2 status of the gillnet fishery in the coastline of Ondo State with a particular emphasis on the socio-economic indices, fishing gears and prime catches of the fisherfolks in the community by: Examining the various socio-economical status of the rural artisanal fisherfolks in the study area and; Identifying the preferred gear used by the rural artisanal fisherfolks in the study area. MATERIALS AND METHODS Description of study area Igbokoda (located between latitude 6 o 21 0 N and longitude 4 o 48 0 E) is the headquarters of Ilaje local government area in the southern part of Ondo State, Nigeria. Ilaje Local Government Area has a coastline of about 80 Km which runs in a northwest to southeast direction. Ilaje Local Government Area has about 50 settlements scattered around the river tributaries that empty directly into the coast and an increasing population size of 2.2% annually (Adebowale et al., 2008). Babatunde (2010) reported that 80% of the population of the study area engages in fishing and that the area always records the bulk of fish produced in Ondo State. Collection of data and identification of gear types used by the fishermen in the area was done through personal contacts and discussions with the fisherfolks both in their homes and at fishing sites. Data related to socio-economic indices of the fisherfolks in this area were obtained by the use of questionnaires. Forty fishermen were randomly selected from the community. Identification of fish species found in the artisanal catches was done at the landing sites according to Adesulu and Sydenham (2002) and meristic data were taken using a calibrated ruler in cm. Also, the different mesh sizes used by the fisherfolks were measured from knot to knot. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive/inferential statistics and charts of explanatory variable. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Results on the demographic characteristics of the fisherfolks in the study area are presented in Table 1. The result showed that the age group dominated fishing activities in the study area and they are mainly male (87.5 %). This agrees with the observations of Okayi et al. (2013) who reported that fishing was practiced by youths of both sexes but with a preponderance of males in their study area. The hazards and rigors involved in fishing activities may be the reason why less number of female, children and old age brackets were involved in gillnets fishing. Although, the results showed the dominance of the artisanal fisheries sector by men (87.5%) (Table 1), the contribution of the women folk in fishing activities cannot be underrated. Males represent the largest number of respondents indicating that female participation in fishing is low. Thus, fishing operations in Igbokoda are basically men business. This is in line with the report of Adeparusi et al., (2003) who opined that majority of men in the study area are fishermen. This report is also similar to the findings of Williams (2002) and Akinwumi et al., (2011) who stated that women mostly use traps and nets to catch fish in most fishing communities in Nigeria, and are also actively involved in fish processing and marketing. Adeparusi et al. (2003) gave a number of sociocultural factors, such as, restricted access to water resources, low technical know-how and lack of credit facilities as limitation for full participation of women in the small-scale fisheries sector. Also, the married people engage more in fishing activity than the single individuals (Table 1). The result of this study showed that 65% of the respondents were married fisherfolks. This agrees with the reports of Akinwumi et al. (2011) and Okayi et al. (2013). AER (2003) reported that the age of marriage for fishermen in India and Senegal was usually years and years in the Philippines and Bangladesh. The authors further noted that the age for females was lower than for males in all instances, but the difference is much smaller in the Philippines and India (usually three to five years) than in Bangladesh and Senegal (usually six to 10 years). The number of children in the household of the respondents is presented in Table 1 and 45% of the respondent s household had 4-6 children. Only one respondent (2.5%) has more than 11 children while 32.5% of the respondent had no child in their household. The number of children per respondent gave an indication that each respondent has enough helping hands at their disposal thereby reducing the number and cost of hired labour required. This agrees with the findings of Adeparusi et al., (2003). Table 1 shows the tribes of the respondents which were identified to be the Apoi, Urobo and Ilaje tribes. 65% of the respondents belong to the Ilaje tribe and 27.5% belongs to the Apoi tribe and 7.5% of the respondents are Urobo. This is in line with Hoakonsen (1990) who observed that African artisanal fishermen predominantly belong to a handful of ethnic groups and referred to the principal ones in Nigeria to be Ijaw and Ilaje. The data obtained in this study showed that majority of the fisherfolks had formal education with most of the fisherfolks attaining mostly up to secondary school education and tertiary education in the study areas. 7.5% of the respondents had tertiary education and 50.0% of the fisherfolks had secondary school education, while 37.5% of the respondents had primary school education. This study compares favourably with that of Adeparusi et al. (2003) and Akinwumi et al., (2011) who reported high literacy levels among artisanal fisherfolks in the coastal waters of Ondo state, Nigeria. Okayi et al., (2013) also observed a similar trend among fisherfolks in Benue and Niger river (middle belt savannah) in Nigeria. Also Teitze et al. (2005) reported that farmers have higher levels of education than fisher folks in Malaysia and Bangladesh whereas fisher folks had a higher level of education NJAFE VOL. 11 No. 1,

3 than agriculturists in India and Senegal. Akinwumi et al., (2011) opined that the relative high level of education of fisherfolks could give such households the capacity to successfully implement income diversification strategies to cope with income fluctuations, income failure and poverty. Table 1: Demographic parameters of fisher folks in the study area Parameter Range Frequency Percentage Age < > Sex Male Female Marital Status Single Married Number of Children > Nil Tribe Apoi Ilaje Urobo Educational Qualification None Primary Secondary Tertiary The daily income analysis of the fisher folks across the study stations was observed to be solely dependent on catch volume, type of fish or species compositions of catch and the freshness of the fish. Table 2 shows the percentage distribution of the income status of the fisherfolks on daily basis. Observations showed that the average annual household income of fisher folk households was comparable to most government/public employees holding equivalent qualifications in the neighbouring area. This observation is in agreement with Akinwumi et al. (2011) who reported that an average fisherman in the coastal water of Ondo state made a daily income ranging between N5000 and N This is also in agreement with Anyanwu et al. (2009) who reported that an average fisherman along River Niger in Onitsha, Nigeria made a gross profit margin of about N96000 per month. In addition, Tietze et al. (2000) and AER (2003) in their studies of selected coastal Asian and African countries noted that the savings rate and the amounts saved were generally higher in fishing villages than in neighbouring farming villages. The authors further reported that in most of the countries studied, households in farming villages were as indebted as or more indebted than households in fishing villages. These reports are contrary to the popular belief that fisher folks are among the poorest of the rural population in coastal areas of the world. The data on fishing gears was gotten from personal interview with the fisherfolks in the study area and it was revealed that gillnet was used by 80% of the respondents alongside with other fishing gears such as cast net, hooks and line, fyke net, conical/cone traps and seine net. This was corroborated by Kingdom and Kwen (2009) who reported that more than 70% of fishers in the lower creek of the Niger Delta had more than three fishing gears in-use. Emmanuel (2010) stated that gill nets were the main gears used by local fishers, followed by longlines and castnets. Solarin (1998) and Emmanuel et al. (2008b) also found gill nets and cast nets as dominant gears in Lagos lagoon and its adjacent creeks in Nigeria. Larsson (1984) also observed that majority of the artisanal fisherfolks are characterized by utilization of low cost craft, usually one-three men/canoe. Different mesh sizes gillnet was mostly used for pelagic species of fish, such as, Clarias gariepinus (catfish), Heterobranchus bidorsalis, Polypterus ansorgii and Hepsetus odoe while Cast net was used effectively in catching tilapias and bonga. This is in agreement with FAO (2001) who reported that fish species composition is influenced by the gear type and fishing location in the artisanal fishery. The findings in this study also agree with Adeyemi et al. (2009) who reported that gillnets, cast net, Malian trap and long lines were typical of most Nigerian waters and that their catches generally included Tilapia (comprising Oreochromis niloticus and Tilapia zillii), H. niloticus, Clarias sp, fingerlings of Clarias and Tilapia sp respectively. However, Akinwumi et al. (2011) in their study reported that the gears used by the artisanal fisherfolks across the coastal waters of Ondo state consisted mostly of cast net (66%) while 14% of the respondents make use of gill net. The wide use of gillnets in the study area may be attributed to its versatility, low cost and ease of operation. The efficiency of these net types is influenced by mesh size, exposed net area, NJAFE VOL. 11 No. 1,

4 flotation, mesh shape and hanging ratio, visibility and type of netting material in relation with stiffness and breaking strength (Emmanuel, 2010). The use of these gears, however, may promote resource overexploitation as they are non selective, however, it has not been documented that the fish stocks in the study area are being under exploited. Emmanuel (2010) opined that mesh sizes of nets are good indicators of the status of exploitation level of water bodies while Chindah and Tawari, (2001) in their study suggested that gill net mesh sizes above 20mm provided opportunity for smaller fish among the species to avoid and escape capture, thus demonstrating effectiveness and table size fish catch efficiency. The result of this study indicated that there were four major ranges of mesh sizes of gill net used by the local fishermen in the study area (Table 2). 17.5% of the respondent used mesh sizes lesser 6mm while 45% used sizes between 6 and 9mm. 17.5% and 20% of the respondents used mesh sizes between 10 and 13 and above 13mm respectively. This compares favourably with the findings of Cunningham and Tietze (1995) in their study in different parts of Orissa. The authors stated that the mesh size of Kavalavala ranges from 12 mm for small anchovies to 40 mm for large sardines. Since fishermen carefully select a mesh size to catch the target species and to reduce bycatch, knowledge of the selection properties of these nets is needed to optimize yield by adopting a proper mesh size. The ecological implication of this finding is that the smaller size gill net sets deployed in the study area are less sensitive to smaller fishes (and non selective) principally to new recruit that will replace the older fish generation. The trend must be adequately examined in order to arrest any decline in fish catch and threat to fisheries in the study area. Thus, more studies on hydrobiology and population dynamics of commercially exploited species are needed to formulate a sustainable management strategy for this region. In the tropical region the important factors that affect distribution and abundance of fishes are temperature, salinity, nourishment and substrates, (Costa and Fransozo, 2004). The period of abundance as identified by the respondents varies between the months of the year however, 92.5% of the respondent identified the rainy season as the peak period of catch while the remaining 7.5% mentioned dry season. This is similar to the findings of Zabbey (2007) who reported that 60% of fishermen obtained good catches in the rainy season while 40% claimed that catches were better in the dry season. However, studies by Enin et al. (1991) on Nematopalaemon hastatus fishery in the outer estuarine region of Cross River, Nigeria showed that the catch rates rose to a major peak (24%) between March and June i.e. end of dry season and early rainy season. They also reported a secondary peak (17%) in October/November which is a period between rainy and dry season. According to their findings (Enin et al., 1991), poorer catch rates were obtained in the middle of the rainy months of July and September. Waribugo (2005) reported that the two peak periods of abundance of Nematopalaemon hastatus and Palaemon maculatus in the Nun River estuary, Bayelsa State were between October and December and from March to April which coincides with early dry season and early rainy season respectively. Nwosu and Holzohner (2004) studied lunar and seasonal variations in the catches of Macrobrachium in Cross Rivers estuary and reported two maxima, May - July and November - December. Ecologically, the abundance of an organism is determined by a number of factors, such as rainfall, temperature, light, ph and salinity. Others are concentration of dissolved gases, types of pollutants, presence or absence adequate of anions and cations, the nature of substratum, the number of predators and presence or absence of disease causing organisms (Williams, 1955; Loesh, 1965). Thus the peak period of catch recorded in this study is ecologically correct. Table 2: Respondents information on catches and mesh size Parameters Range Frequency Percent Period of Abundance Dry Season Rainy Season Numbers of fish caught/trip > Daily income from Catches (N) < > Mesh Size (mm) < > NJAFE VOL. 11 No. 1,

5 CONCLUSION This study revealed that people of the study area are predominantly dependent on fishing activities for a living. Artisanal fisher folks in the study area were mostly married adult males in active age range and with relatively high level of formal education while gillnet was used by 80% of the respondents alongside with other fishing gears such as cast net, hooks and line, fyke net, conical/cone traps and seine net. The low application of modern technologies in the artisanal fisheries of the study area could be due to lack of requisite capital to purchase modern inputs. The catch compositions which comprised of Clarias gariepinus (catfish), Heterobranchus bidorsalis, Polypterus ansorgii and Hepsetus odoe shows that the fishery of the area could support the strides towards employment generation, poverty alleviation and supply of animal protein to the teeming Nigerian population. Thus, the artisanal fisherfolks of the coastline of Ondo State holds great potentiality in terms of natural yield which could support the government strides towards employment generation. It is therefore recommended that government should intensify the right support in terms of aids and infrastructures and give localized informal training to fisher folks on the ways of improving fishing methods for sustainable management of the fishery in the area. REFERENCES Adebowale, K. O. Agunbiade, F. O., Olu-Owolabi, B. I Impacts of natural and anthropogenic multiple source of pollution on the environmental conditions of Ondo State coastal water. Nig. J. Env. Agric. Food Chem. : Adeparusi, E. O. Ajibefun, A. I. and Akeremale, E. O Smoke-curing of fish by artisanal fisherfolks in Ilaje, Ondo State, Nigeria. Asset Ser. A 3 (4): Adesulu, E. A. and Sydenham, D. H. J The freshwater fishes and fisheries of Nigeria. Macmillan Nigeria Publishers, Lagos, pp: 397. Adeyemi, S. O. Bankole, N. O. and Adikwu, I. A Fish Gear Survey of Gbedikere Lake, Bassa, Kogi State, Nigeria. Int. J. Lakes Rivers, 2(1): Akinwumi, F. O. Akinwumi, I. O. and Ogundahunsi, O. A Characterization of Artisanal Fishery in the Coastal Area of Ondo State, Nigeria. International Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Soil Science Vol. 1(3) pp Annual Economic Report (AER) Concerted action: Co-ordination of research in fishery economics and promotion of common methods for economic assessment in EU fisheries. Euro. Fish. Fleets Ann. Rep. pp: 289. Anyanwu, D. C. Mkpado, M. and Ohaka, C. C Economic analysis of artisanal fishing at River Niger Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria. Agro-Sc. 8(3): Babatunde, A The Impact of oil exploitation on the socioeconomic life of the Ilaje-Ugbo people of Ondo State, Nigeria. J. Sust. Dev. Afr. 12(5): Balogun, J. K Fish distribution in kainji lake. Nig. J. Fish Biol. 29: Chindah, A.C. and Tawari, C. C. B Comparative Study of Different Gill Net Mesh Sizes in the Exploitation of Bonga fish (Ethmalosa fimbriata) and Sardines (Sardinella eba) in Brass Coastal Waters, Bayelsa State, Nigeria J. Appl. Sci. Environ. Mgt. 5 (1) Chindah, A. C. and Osuamkpe, A The fish assemblage of the lower Bonny river. Afri. J. Ecol. 32, Costa, R.C. and Fransozo, A Abundance and ecologic distribution of the shrimp Rimapenacus constrictus (Crustacea: Penaeidae) in the northern coast of Sao Paulo, Brazil. J. Nat. History, 38(7): Cunningham, C. P. and Tietze, M. U Fishing Technology and Fishermen s Perception of their Marine Environment. Emmanuel, B. E Assessment of fishing practices in a tropical low brackish lagoon ecosystem in southwestern Nigeria. acta SATECH 3 (2): Emmanuel, B. E., Chukwu, L. O. and Azeez, L. O Gill net selectivity and catch rates of pelagic fish in tropical coastal lagoonal ecosystem. African Journal of Biotechnology. 7 (21): Enin, U. I., Lowenberg, U. and Kunzel, T The Nematopaleamon hastatus (Estuarine prawn) Fishery in the Outer Estuarine Region of The Cross River, Nigeria. Archiv fur Fischereiwissenschaft, 41: FAO Strategy and action programme for fisheries. Fish for food and development. FAO Technical report 1991, 48pp. FAO Tropical shrimp fisheries and their impact on living resources: shrimp fisheries in Asia: Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines; in the near east: Bahrain and Iran; in Africa: Cameroon, Nigeria and the United Republic of Tanzania; in Latin America: Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago and Venzuela.FAO Fisheries circular. No Rome, FAO, 378pp. Fagade, S. O Keynote on production, utilization and marketing. In Fisheries status and opportunity. Proceeding of the 10'x' Annual conference of FISON Abeokuta, 16-20`x' N o v, 992 Page NJAFE VOL. 11 No. 1,

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