State of the Northwest African marine fisheries

resources

Press briefing to accompanythe International Symposium onMarine fisheries, ecosystems and

societies in West Africa: half a century of change

held in Dakar, Senegal,June 24-28 2002

Prepared by the Sea Around Us Project,University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

in collaboration with WWF-International

West Africa has a long tradition of fishing, via both local and distant water fleets …

This graph illustrates the reach of Ghanaianfishers during the period up to 1959

The fish wealth of West Africa has also attracted distant water fleets from other continents …

Number of ‘country access years’by area, 1960-1969

Number of ‘country access years’by area, 1980-1989

… and these have increased tremendously over the years …

… finally reaching the present, staggering

levels.

Number of ‘country access years’by area, 1990-1999

What is the impact of all this fishing on the resource base?

• We show this impact for the countries of the Northwest African sub-region using a methodology previously applied to the North Atlantic and which is documented at www.fisheries.ubc.ca;

• This methodology is based on maps of catch data and twenty ecosystem models, as presented at the Dakar Symposium by Villy Christensen, Reg Watson, and other members of the Sea Around Us Project.

Fish biomass in 1950(excluding small pelagics)

Fish biomass in 1975(excluding small pelagics)

Fish biomass in 1999(excluding small pelagics)

The reason for this is fishing intensity, which was low in 1950 …

… but increased tremendously over time …

… finally reaching the very high present levels of fishing intensity.

Biomass

1950

1999

intensityFishing

CatchIn summary, we have:

Or, put differently …

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Bio

mas

s an

d c

atch

(m

illio

n t

on

nes

)

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

Fis

hin

g in

ten

sityCatch

Biomass

Fishing intensityBiomass

Thus, we have found for West Africa, similar trends as for the North Atlantic …

1900

1999

Biomass Fishing intensity

Conclusions

• The fish resources and ecosystems of Northwest Africa are as depleted as those of the North Atlantic and the fisheries are not sustainable;

• Surplus fishing vessels shifted from the ‘North’ to the ‘South’ will not increase catches;

• Rather, they will continue to undermine the development and food security of the West African countries.

• Colleagues in West Africa, notably the members of the EU-funded SIAP project (Fisheries Information and Analysis System);

• The Environmental Program, Pew Charitable Trusts;

• The Sea Around Us Project Team at the Fisheries Centre, UBC, Vancouver, notably Villy Christensen (biomass maps), Reg Watson (catch maps) and Jackie Alder (country/fishing access maps).

Acknowledgements