MARINE FISHERY RESOURCES OF LIBERIA: A REVIEW OF EXPLOITED FISH STOCKS TABLE OF CONTENTS

by

G.W. Ssentongo
FAO Fisheries Department, Rome, Italy

This document has been prepared with financial support from project GCP/RAF/215/USA - Support to the CECAF Programme

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

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FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Rome, 1987
© FAO 1988

SUMMARY

Liberia is situated in the southwestern sector of the great bulge of West Africa. It lies between 4°34'N and 6°56'N, and 7°32'W and 9°26'W. It is bordered to the north by Sierra Leone, to the east by the Republic of Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire. The Liberian coast extends about 590 km (370 mi) in a northwest direction from Cape Palmas on the border with Côte d'Ivoire to Robertsport on the border with Sierra Leone. Liberia has an Exclusive Economic Zone of 200 miles. The continental shelf is from 16 to 56 km (10–35 mi) wide and the EEZ is about 18 400 km².

The hydrographic regime of Liberian waters is affected by a relatively stable shallow thermocline lying at mid-shelf. The average depth of the thermocline is between 20 and 35 m in most areas of West Africa, but in Liberia and elsewhere in the Bight of Biafra, the thermocline can be as shallow as 12–14 m.

The inshore multiple stock fisheries are exploited with a variety of gears (gillnets, cast-nets, beach-seines, trawls, purse-seines, ringnets, traps and hooks), operated from different artisanal and industrial fishing boats. The artisanal fishery has undergone less development than the industrial fishery. The total annual catch of the artisanal fishery is about 2 000 t, mostly consisting of coastal pelagic species. The total catch of the industrial fleet including imported finfish landed in Liberia ranges from 4 500 to 9 000 t. The total annual catch of shrimp landed in Liberia is now less than 500 t whereas the annual catch of tuna and tuna-like fish is 330–480 t.

The results of the 1981 trawl survey undertaken by USSR using R/V BELOGORSK led to the following biomass estimates (in t) of demersal species (ATLANTNIRO, 1981):

Fishery surveys of R/V DR. F. NANSEN (in 1981) and R/V BELOGORSK (in 1981) lead to the following range of biomass estimates of coastal pelagic species for the entire shelf area:

The differences in the estimated biomasses are possibly due to the different sampling periods and to the fact that the R/V BELOGORSK failed to locate Balistes and much of the carangids in the sampled area.

The potential for demersal finfish is of the order of 9 000–15 000 t whereas the potential for the coastal pelagic species is 19 400–41 000 t. Available data also indicate that the maximum economic yield potential (MEY) for the Liberian shrimp fishery is 800 t (Shotton, 1982, 1983) whereas the MSY is of the range of 1 200–1 600 t (Burgess et al.).

There are not yet enough data to use in formulating guidelines for managing the industrial and artisanal coastal fisheries. There are, however, some indices to warn against uncontrolled increase in exploitation of available fishery resources without a sound evaluation of present-day fishing trends.

Rational development and management of fisheries could bring additional nutritional and economic benefits to Liberia. Whether or not these benefits can be realized in future will depend on the fishery administrator's commitment to make the right policy and choose the best fishery development objective at the right time, collect the necessary information on various fisheries, consider carefully practicable management options and take the necessary actions at the right time.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Food and Agriculture Organization is greatly indebted to the following individuals who assisted the author in various ways during the preparation of this study:

Mr J.H. Boye, Director, Bureau of Fisheries, Monrovia

Mr I.D.G. Flower, Assistant Director for Statistics, Bureau of Fisheries

Mr M.N. Johnson, Technical and Regulatory Services

Mr C.D. Thomas, Processing Manager, MESAFCOM

Mr Mike Lyras, Fleet Manager, MESAFCOM

Mr A. Gherardi Gazco, Fleet Manager, Worldwide Seafood Inc.

Mr P.T. Mansey, Administrative Manager, Italian-Liberian Fishing Enterprises

Mr T. Roberts, Controller, TELAMA Fishing Corporation

Mr J.A. Kamara, FAO Consultant, Njala University College, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Mr E.B. Jones, Director, Liberian Cartographic Services

Mr. M.S. Boima, Chief, Liberian Cartographic Services

Mrs E.S. Cooper, Librarian, Liberian Cartographic Services

Mr J. Thomas, Acting Director, Liberian Hydrological Services.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

2. COASTAL TOPOGRAPHY AND OCEANOGRAPHY

2.1 Coastal Topography

2.2 Meteorology and Oceanography

2.2.1 Temperature and salinity factors

2.2.2 Water masses and movements

3. DESCRIPTION OF FISHERIES

3.1 Artisanal Fisheries

3.1.1 Fishing grounds and fish landing sites

3.1.2 Artisanal fishing vessels and gear

3.2 Industrial Fisheries

4. MAJOR EXPLOITED FISH SPECIES

4.1 Fish Communities

4.1.1 Estuarine facies of the sciaenid community

4.1.2 Coastal (suprathermoclinal) sciaenid community

4.1.3 Coastal (suprathermoclinal) sand and rocky bottom sparid community

4.1.4 The (suprathermoclinal) lutjanid community

4.1.5 Deep-water (sub-thermoclinal) sparid community

4.1.6 Eurybathic fish species

4.1.7 Pelagic fish species

4.1.8 Deep shelf community and continental slope community

4.2 Biology and Ecology of some Commercially Exploited Fish Species

4.2.1 Clupeidae

4.2.2 Carangidae

4.2.3 Sciaenidae

4.2.4 Polynemidae

4.2.5 Sparidae

4.2.6 Balistidae

4.2.7 Penaeid shrimps

5. POTENTIAL FISHERY RESOURCES AND PRESENT STATE OF EXPLOITED STOCKS

5.1 Nominal Catch Data

5.2 Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) Data

5.3 Biomass and Potential Estimates of Finfish Species

5.4 Potential of Demersal Fish Species

5.5 Potential of Coastal Pelagic Fish Species

5.6 Potential of the Coastal Penaeid Shrimp Fishery

6. MAIN DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT ISSUE FACING FISHERY ADMINISTRATORS AND THE FISHING INDUSTRY

6.1 Standardization of Fishery Statistics

6.2 Fishery Legislation, Regulations and Surveillance

6.3 Conflicts between Artisanal and Industrial Fisheries

6.4 Development and Management of Fisheries

7. MANAGEMENT GUIDLINES AND OPTINS

8. REFERENCES

Appendix 1:

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES