Cameroonian fisheries have undergone considerable development during the last two decades (1960–80). The industrial sector has undergone relatively more development than the artisanal sector which is still operating at a low commercial level. The fishery manager should now concern himself with the management of available resources and, where appropriate, with fishing innovations, and exploitation of new untapped resources (if economically viable) off the slope. It is not clear that increased fishing intensity will result in a significant increase in catch of those dominant species presently exploited by artisanal and industrial “fleets”. Hence, attention must be focused on control and adjustment of fishing effort (i.e., control the number, type and size of gears and vessels used). It has already been demonstrated in Cameroon that haphazard changes in fishing strategy could result in a decline in catches and catch rates with serious socio-economic consequences. In light of this, the Government has, in the Fifth Development Plans (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning, 1981) outlined objectives for the fishery sector:
reorganization and renewal of the industrial fleet through establishment of a National Fishing Corporation;
feasibility studies on developing deepsea fishing;
establishing fishing agreement with neighbouring countries exploiting the same resources;
enforcing fishing zone regulation (2-mile limit) and checking fishing gear restrictions;
research studies to ascertain need for establishing fishing season limits;
establishing an effective fishery statistics system;
patrolling waters and controlling any infringements;
modernization of artisanal fishing craft;
development of artisanal fishing techniques;
creation of a development authority for small craft sea fishing (MIDEPECAM);
It is recognized that fair progress has been made in the collection of fishery statistics, but there are still many information gaps on landings by artisanal fishing boats, as well as on by-catch of shrimpers and finfish trawlers. There is a need to update the inventory of all types of canoes, number of fishermen, fishing gears and landing sites along the entire coast of Cameroon. In addition, it is necessary to revise the inventory of all industrial fishing vessels, indicating nationality of vessel, type of boat, horsepower, overall length, Gross Registered Tonnage and also fishing gear characteristics and fishing grounds.
Some fish stocks exploited by Cameroon are shared by Nigeria, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. It is expected that the fishermen exploiting these species will move to follow fish migration patterns. In view of this, catch data are needed from various locations along the coast to explain the seasonality of various fisheries.
Without reliable fishery data and statistics on what is currently being caught, it is obviously difficult to predict fishing trends. Also,series of catch and effort statistics - if continued over a period of years - provide the best measure of changes in a stock of fish and the impact of fishing on it. Comprehensive statistical survey designs exist, which can produce estimates to an acceptable precision at a reasonable cost, and these should be applied now and used often to cover both artisanal and industrial fleets.
Rational management of the fishery resources in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) requires greater control on the fisheries. It is imperative that proper legislation and regulations be established and, whenever possible, harmonized with those of adjacent coastal states, jointly exploiting the migratory stocks. In particular, specific resources evaluation programmes might be developed in common when required.
As regards extended jurisdiction, the most obvious course of action is the control on fishing in the EEZ, especially on foreign fishing fleets. The artisanal and industrial fleets interact in that they share the same stocks. Therefore, the two types of fisheries should be protected by proper legislation and regulations which already exist but are difficult to enforce due to lack of patrol and surveillance. The overall exploitation strategy will be successful only if implemented within a framework of an overall effort control policy.
The artisanal fishermen and owners of industrial vessels should be made more aware of the need for their positive involvement and participation in the management of their fisheries. If fishermen cannot understand the importance of a particular regulation, it will be difficult to enforce that regulation. Hence, it might be necessary to hold national seminars to reach a better understanding of the justification for fishery regulations and to discuss fishery policy options.
The artisanal canoe fishermen interact with trawlers and shrimpers in the inshore waters of Cameroon. The migration and dispersion of fish enable large fishing vessels to intercept fish species before they can be caught by artisanal fishing units. In these circumstances, expanding the fleet of industrial vessels will reduce the catches of canoe fishermen in the coastal sector. Although trawling is restricted in the shallow coastal zone, infringement by trawlers leads to gear damage and high fishing costs to the artisanal fishery sector.
Information on fish species exploited by various artisanal fisheries in Cameroon is not adequate to enable accurate estimates of current catch rates and to determine the combined effort of shrimpers, trawlers and canoes. Nevertheless, considering the total catches and average catch rates of the industrial vessels, it can be deduced that the continental shelf of Cameroon is fairly overfished, at least in the shallow traditional areas and that the effort of the industrial fleet is probably beyond the level corresponding to MSY (see Figures 7 and 8). This implies that additional industrial vessels and greater efficiency of finfish trawlers and shrimpers would inevitably lead to reduced catch rates, and reduced economic efficiency of both existing artisanal and industrial fleets.
Rational fishery management would require regulation of the overall fishing effort, possibly together with some of the following restrictions: closed areas, closed seasons, use of specified types of gears and mesh size. Without effort regulation, enforcement could be impraticable, except at a very high cost. If the administrators could delimit fishing grounds for trawlers and canoe fishermen, this would be a very positive step in the right direction. The trawlers and shrimpers could effectively be banned from fishing in the estuaries, and inshore waters delimited, for instance, by a 25 m depth isobath and/or a 2–3 mi limit from the shoreline. The proper limits should be established after careful examination of the bio-economic and local factors.
The density of fish stocks, the catch rates of individual fishermen and of trawlers/shrimpers are determined by fishing intensity. For stocks that are becoming heavily fished, as those of Cameroon, any increase in fishing effort will decrease the catches and catch rates of vessels already fishing. If the well-being of existing national fleets is a priority fishery policy issue, then entry of additional trawlers and shrimpers should be controlled. Control on new entry of artisanal fishermen could be more difficult. The first measure should be to register all existing canoes and to identify already existing traditional regulation of effort.
The introduction of additional industrial fishing vessels to exploit the stocks, which are also fished by canoe fishermen in the inshore waters, will have adverse effects. Fishery administrators must carefully evaluate the benefits of and increase (if any) in total catches in a short run and the socio-economic costs of conflict between existing fishermen.
There is a difficult issue of fishing on the spawning concentrations. Various artisanal fisheries exist in the shallow inshore areas, estuaries and lagoons, which are also the spawning and nursery areas of many species. The nyamtolo fishery operating around the estuary of River Cameroon and which is directed at juvenile bonga and sardine might seriously affect fish recruitment.
Some of the species exploited in inshore waters are also caught offshore areas where they extend at a bigger size. Hence, fishing activities of the artisanal fishermen can result in a decrease on total catch of industrial vessels operating offshore. Fish migration and dispersion over the continental shelf of Cameroon should be studied and mapped in order to understand such interaction.
It would be difficult for the fishery administrator to opt for the right fishery policy unless fishery research scientists and the fishermen are also involved in the decision-making process. Therefore, the Fishery Department, Fishery Research Institutions and the fishing industry should interact.
