Fisheries management and fishermen's associations: the Niger River Fisheres Development Project in Niger
Price, T.
IDA Development Anthropology Network 5(2): 8-12
1987
Document Number: 500943
The project, jointly sponsored by FAO and USAID/Niger, investigated artisanial fishing along the Niger River. The Niger River has by far the most important fisheries in Niger. Despite a dramatic decline in the average flow and seasonal inundations of the flood plains, the Niger River has major potential for national fisheries in the forseeable future. The Niger River fisheries declined from an annual catch of approximately 4500 Mt in 1960 to only 900 Mt in 1985, due to both ecological and human factors. Research results from the Niger Fisheries Development Project suggest that proper resource management can double riverine production within three to five years, despite the current severe environmental conditions. Maximum sustainable yield would rise to 2000 Mt annually. The paper emphasized that the dynamic established between the Fisheries Direction and the fishers' associations will serve as the foundation for the successful application of the management plan which has been produced.