ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF THE SEED FISHERY

Fingerling collection for aquaculture is usually performed in lowlands inside farm plots after flooding has started to subside. To date, no negative reports, formal or informal, have indicated any decline in the wild stock. Nonetheless, as the wild stock itself is an important local food commodity, adequate fishery statistics need to be collected and monitored systematically to ensure that there is no impact on the stocks as a result of collecting wild catfish juveniles.

Over 95 percent of the fish catch in the Nkam Valley consists of the local catfish species, Clarias jaensis (80 percent), followed by the introduced Clarias gariepinus (20 percent). Tilapia and the exotic snakehead, Parachanna obscura, are among the principal non-target species recorded in the catch data. At Lelem, one fisher reported a recent progressive increase in the percentage of Parachanna in his catch indicating that the population dynamics of native species may need further investigation.
No prohibited fishing methods (e.g. fire, poisons, explosives) have been observed in the valley. Foreign commercial fishers using unsustainable fishing gears (e.g. the cast net “gourah” of Malians, or the beach seine “taro” of the Ghanaians) or extreme levels of fishing intensity have not been observed in the Nkam fishery.

The key strategy for protection of the environment appears to be the full involvement of native fishers in resource management. In the case of the Nkam Valley, ancestral knowledge of the Mbo people, in addition to the national law providing priority in land ownership rights to natives, somewhat guarantees a management control over the fishery resource.