Poverty, short term earning and fisheries management practices: realities from Ondo State coastal wetlands, Nigeria

Abstract

This study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between poverty and the different fishers management practices being employed by fishermen in the exploitation and harnessing of the costal wetlands of Ondo State. Over 80% of the fisher-folks are by nature very poor and thus will more often than no `eat deep' into the fish resources at their disposal. The results of the study show that the most prevalent management practices were gillnetting, caste netting and seine-netting. These were found to be very versatile, durable and affordable. It reveals that those practices which posses the highest potentials for short-term income generation were more commonly used. The lowest direct cost of investment in engaging in any practice was in gill netting, while the highest was in the use of chemical and herbal poisons. The perceived ability of each practice to generate short-term income gains was highest for gill netting and followed by total draining. The least practice in the generation of short-term income gains was hooks and line, spears and closed season. The paper recommends among others the effective tackling of the poverty-related issues in the Nigeria's artisanal fishery sub-sector.


[JEXT Vol.1(1) 2000: 54-62]