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The fish and shrimps are the most highly traded food commodity in the world, as only 40 per cent is left between the point of catch and consumption, adding that more that 80 per cent of the shrimp caught in Nigeria’s territorial waters is exported
Nigeria is one of the tropical countries endowed with rich shrimp resources.
With rich organic deposit arising from runoff the Niger Delta region is the heartland of shrimp and oil production in Nigeria. Having a production capacity of 12, 000 metric tons (MT) per year, Nigeria’s shrimp supply are presently from capture fisheries Shrimping in both the small-scale and large-scale fisheries sub-sectors in Nigeria is unregulated.
Issuances of trawl-permit to industrial operators by the Federal Department of Fisheries (FDF; the regulating agency), is driven principally by the permit fee and foreign exchange that export from the sub-sector generates; thus, least attention is paid to Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) of the shrimps stocks, which no doubt, is the panacea for sustainable fisheries.
Marketing of Shrimps
The major markets for the Nigerian shrimp in Europe are Belgium, Portugal, Spain, France and the USA. The semi-processed white Prawns attract higher price (ranging according to sizes 1-7 from US$ 3 – US$ 18/kg) than the peeled, deveined and decapitated brown shrimps sold between US$ 2 and US$ 3. All are usually packaged in 2.2-kg packets into master cartons. The shrimp catches are ususally fairly clean, though they may contain a little bit of debris and mud/sand, which are easily washed on-board the vessel.
Out of the 36 operational and active shrimping companies, 14 exported shrimps to Europe in 1998. The total export was 8 028.157 MT valued at 25 865 786.43 US$. Only one company exported processed shrimps, while the others sold them unprocessed. It is worthy to note that fishery products like cuttle fish and crab legs are gradually coming into the export trade though at a marginal level.
Fish fillets especially soles (cynoglossidae) were also exported in 1998. Nigeria met the European Union quality standards and is therefore authorized to export shrimps to Europe. Since then, shrimp export has become better organised and it is safe to say that no product from Nigeria has been rejected in the international market as before the introduction of international standards. The Federal Department of Fisheries as the “Competent Authority” to certify shrimps for export has worked hard to ensure that shrimp and other fishery products meet the above mentioned standards.
- REGULATIONS AND MANAGEMENT MEASURES
Nigeria’s efforts to ensure responsible inshore fishing practices and proper management of the living marine fish and shell fish resources date back to 1971 when the first comprehensive marine fisheries legislation came into force under the Sea Fisheries Decree No 30 of 1971. In order to further promote the sustainability of the inshore fisheries and the fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone of Nigeria, the old decree was repealed in 1992 and replaced by the Sea Fisheries Decree No 71 of 1992.
The y2859e Decree contains the general provisions for the conditions for issue of “Motor Fishing Vessel Licences”, duties and powers of Authorised Persons and penalties for offences committed under it. The supplements of the Decree namely “The Sea Fisheries (Fishing) Regulations” and the “Sea Fisheries (Licensing) Regulations” contain specific provisions which guide and control investment in industrial marine fishing business and mode of operating such a venture in Nigeria.
The current sea fisheries licensing and fishing regulations which impact on shrimp trawling, its by-catch and discard are:
- Obligatory pre-purchase assurance in writing by the licensing authority that any procured vessel entering into Nigerian shrimping business would be licensed after due process. This is a measure to control, before investment, fishing effort and for preventing over-capitalisation.
- Vessel survey and tonnage measurement in Nigeria by the Federal Ministry of Transport’s Government Inspector of Shipping (GIS) to ensure that only suitable and permissible vessels enter into the Nigerian shrimping or fishing fleet.
- Restriction of size of a shrimp trawler to 23.2-m LOA and 130 GT to prevent over-sized vessels from entering into the trawl shrimp fishery.
- Delimitation of a 5 nm non-trawling zone which places restrictions on trawling in a sea water area covering about 7 898.78 km² of the Nigerian continental shelf essentially to protect the nursery ground from indiscriminate fishing. It is also to protect the artisanal fishermen who operate within the zone, as well as to reduce conflict between them and trawler operators.
- Code and mesh size specification, 44 mm (1¾”) stretched, for any shrimp trawl net to promote sustainability of inshore trawl fisheries through rational exploitation.
- Prohibition of the use of the same vessel licensed to trawl for fish from trawling for shrimps in order to limit the efforts to trawl for shrimps.
- Prohibition of dumping (i.e. discard) of edible and marketable sea products and transhipment at sea of by-catch. The immediate purpose is to encourage vessels, by bringing all catches back to the home port, to increase supply of fish to the domestic market; indirectly this should also discourage non-compliance with mesh size regulation which lead to catching small-sized or juvenile fish. By the side, when this provision is complied with by the industry, it will allow for easier study of the by-catch problem.
- Regulation concerning a minimum size of fish for sale to discourage the catching of under-sized fish and ensure the use of legal meshsize in the codend.
- Prohibition of single and pair trawling by motorized vessels less than 20 GT and in waters shallower than 18 m to protect the juvenile fish and biodiversity in fishing grounds which also happen to be the nursery grounds in some areas.
- The installation of Turtle Excluder Device (TED) on shrimp trawl nets is a requirement from 19 September 1996.
The issue of closed areas and/or season is major concern for the stakeholders in the Nigerian Shrimp trawling industry and the fisheries authority. Researches are being intensified in order that concrete decisions are based on scientific knowledge and evidence. There are periodic meetings among the members of Nigerian Trawler Owners Association, the Federal Department of Fisheries, the Nigeria Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR) and all other fisheries law enforcement agents i.e. the Nigerian Navy, The Marine Dept. of Nigeria Police, Nigerian Customs Service, surveyors or examiners appointed under the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act. At these consultative fora, matters relating to legislation or any issue of interest to the inshore fishing industry, such as the management of the finite marine fisheries resources are exhaustively deliberated upon.
Constraints to better participation of stakeholders in the management of resources y2859ely relate to the fear of profit loss through perceived reduction in catches when gears with better selectivity are used.
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