ENVIRONMENT-GABON: Gov’t Regulates Sardine Fishing

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Antoine Lawson

LIBREVILLE, Jan 16 2003 (IPS) - Gabonese authorities are regulating sardine fishing following failure by fishermen to conform to accepted fishing standards, according to a government spokesperson.

The spokesperson, Rene Ndemezo Obiang, says government has ‘’prohibited access by professional fishermen to Komo and establish a one-month ban on sardine-fishing each year in the Komo estuary”.

Libreville, the capital of Gabon, is situated on the Komo estuary.

The measure, that was announced this month, will also affect the small-scale fisherman as well as low-income households. ‘’I eat grilled or smoked sardines at least twice a week because I have a big family. Under the new measure, I will pay double for sardines what I pay for other fish,” complains Anne Mboumba, an unemployed mother from Libreville.

‘’We’re not happy about the decision because we can catch sardines without having to go way out into the middle of the ocean. If we’re prevented from fishing sardine, it’ll be a matter of survival for us,” says Azoulay Messan, a fisherman.

Messan says ‘’sardines are not endangered because they are not consumed that much. There is always a shortage of sardine in the market”.

For the past few years, sardines have become more popular and are frequently prepared at home, especially among the poor. Sardines are the cheapest available fish in the market. A kilogramme of sardines varies between 700 CFA (about 1.11 U.S. dollars) and 1,045 CFA (about 1.65 U.S. dollars), depending on their size.

Small-scale fishermen say they are ready to re-scale their nets so that they do not catch the smallest fish like sardines. In return, they are demanding that the government compensate them during the spawning season when they are not working.

‘’Regulating sardine fishing is a direct attack on consumption in the most disadvantaged households because it is also the favoured fish of the poor, and is eaten in various forms by all Atlantic coast residents,” explains Michel Ekoh of the Adventures Without Borders, a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

The group is concerned with the management of aquatic fauna, especially the protection of marine turtles.

Emile Doumba, Minister of Forestry, Water and Fisheries, says the ‘’ hindrance of sardine reproduction in the Komo estuary, is due to the fishermen’s use of destructive and highly indiscriminate fishing equipment and techniques”.

More than 8,000 tonnes of fish are caught each year in Gabon, although the market could support 24,000 tonnes, according to the Ministry of Forestry, Water and Fisheries. The shortage of sardines could upset the plankton balance, according to officials from the ministry.

Adult sardines are delicious and can be eaten smoked or marinated. Particularly fragrant when grilled, sardines are small, deep-sea fish, which average between 15 and 25 centimetres in length. They normally travel in dense schools in the temperate waters of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, from the Azores to Senegal and as far north as Ireland, Scotland and Norway.

Sardines from Gabon vary in size. Mediterranean sardines are smaller than those from the Gulf of Gascony. Sardine migrations are cyclical and limited. Sardines have silvery sides, blue-green backs, and prominent jaws.

The fish is rich in Omega-3 oils – the fatty acids, which reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, according to specialists.

A major craft fishing centre, funded by the Japanese government, was established in Port-Gentil, Gabon’s oil capital on the southern Atlantic coast, in October. It aims to ‘’improve food security by facilitating oceanic economic activity and reducing fish loss,” a Japanese embassy official told IPS in Libreville on Tuesday. But small-scale fishing only provides 60 percent of the Gabonese seafood demand.

Besides sardines, fishermen also catch tuna and Nile perch, two abundant species at this time of year, but whose price per kilogramme varies between 1,500 CFA (about 2.38 U.S. dollars) and 2,000 CFA (about 3.17 U.S. dollars).

When fresh sardines are not available, consumers rely on canned sardine, which costs 350 CFA (about 55 U.S. cents) a tin in the market.

With 219,000 kilometres of coastline, Gabon possesses considerable ocean resources, prized by fishermen in Togo, Benin and Niger.

Gabon, a central African country, has a population of 12 million, half of whom live in the urban area around Libreville.