Assessment of incidental catch of cetacean and fishing methods in three coastal states in Nigeria

Abstract

A multistage sampling technique was employed for the study of cetacean from January to June 2016. The first stage used stratified random sampling to select major fishing communities. The survey was done in 3 coastal states namely; Lagos, Ondo, and Akwa Ibom. 19 communities were selected based on the target species of interest for the study. The second stage involved purposive 5 fishing communities based on information from interviewed fishermen. A total of 159 fishers were interviewed; Lagos state had the highest number of fishers while Akwa Ibom state had the least. Ondo state had the highest number of fishers with 47.8% while Akwa Ibom state had the least fishers of 10.3%. A total of 7650 active canoes were observed with plank canoe representing 95.8%, Ghana boat having 3.6%, and fiberglass having 0.5%. Their target species are sharks. The incidental catch was mainly dolphins with the gill net having the highest catch, 50%, using pelagic fishing methods, followed by the purse seine 30% while the tow net had the least incidental catch of dolphin by 20%. This survey provides information that may highlight the dangers of their fishing methods that could cause the mortality of some cetacean species.