Population dynamics of major fish species and socioeconomic status of inland water fisheries in the Kebbi State, Nigeria
Kebbi State is blessed with abundant fisheries resources in their riverine system that contributes to the artisanal fishermen's life in Kebbi State. However, basic information such as fish species composition, age structure, growth, mortality, habitat status and socioeconomic profile of fi...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/84065/1/FP%202019%2059%20-%20ir.pdf http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/84065/ |
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| Summary: | Kebbi State is blessed with abundant fisheries resources in their riverine system that
contributes to the artisanal fishermen's life in Kebbi State. However, basic information such as
fish species composition, age structure, growth, mortality, habitat status and socioeconomic
profile of fishermen for fisheries management are not available in the Kebbi State so far. A study
was conducted on fish species composition, catch-per- unit-effort (CPUE), population dynamics
of three (3) selected major species and socioeconomic status of small-scale fisheries from
the Kebbi State, Nigeria between January and December 2017. Fish sample were collected from
three (3) selected fishing communities namely Argungu, Sabiyel and Yauri. Water quality
parameters were recorded in situ using YSI 556 MDS (YSI Incorporated, USA) professional
handled multi-parameter recorder, these include dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, ammonia,
phosphate and total dissolved solid, meanwhile chlorophyll-a were determined ex-situ.
The age, growth, mortality and recruitment of major fish species (Bagrus bayad, Hyperopsis
bebe occidentalis and Synodontis nigrita) were investigated based on monthly
length-frequency data, using FISAT software. A set of structured questionnaire was used to collect
all information from the fishermen and total of 289 fishermen were approached and the data
collected was analyzed using SPSS software (version 22.0). In total 18 fish species belonging to 11
families were identified from the waters of Kebbi State. Among the 11 families Mormyridae was the
highest with (16.66%) comprising of three species. The average monthly CPUE was 37.44 kg/ gill
net/hour and the highest catch was recorded during July to September. The CPUE of fishes
varied significantly (p < 0.05) among the different stations. A total of 11 different types
of gears fishing gears was recorded, these include: gill net, surrounding net, cast net,
beach seine net, trap net, gura trap, Indrutu, hook and line, Ara trap and Kawari. The study of
population dynamics parameters revealed that Bagrus bayad, Hyperopsis bebe occidentalis and
Synodontis nigrita attained an average growth rate/year of 4.56cm, 3.73cm and 3.71cm respectively with
a recruitment pattern of two major recruitment events per year. The natural mortality rate (M) of
B. bayad, H. occidentalis and S. nigrita were 0.97 yr⁻¹, 0.91 yr⁻¹ and 0.90 yr⁻¹ while fishing
mortality rate (F) was 0.56 yr⁻¹, 0.75 yr⁻¹ and 0.99 yr⁻¹ respectively. Results from the analysis
of the exploitation rate (E) shows that B. bayad (0.37 yr⁻¹) and H. occidentalis (0.45 yr⁻¹) were
26% and 10% under fished while S. nigrita (0.52 yr⁻¹) was slightly above optimum level of
exploitation (E = 0.50). This implies that the fish stocks in the study area are underexploited as
a subsistence fishery. The socio- demographic study revealed that most of the fishermen were
between 31 and 40 years old (31.8%). All the fishermen are Muslim (100%); with 97.9%
fishermen were engaged in fishing as their occupation. However, only 41.9% had the formal
education in Islamic field of studies. Meanwhile, about 49.5% were categorized in the
low income earners of the fisher’s community. This result implies that the fish stocks in the study
area are underexploited. Fishermen community largely depends on fishing as their source of
livelihood and daily income was USD 1.50 which is sufficient to survive sustainably. This
finding confirms the close relationship between fishery resource exploitation rates and the
socioeconomic development of fishermen at the individual level and as an alternative source of
available resources at the community and State level in general. There is a need to diversify into
aquaculture to reduce the
impact on wild fish population. |
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