Conservation of Fishing Grounds in Nigeria

Fish species are being threatened with extinction in Lagos, Nigeria, due to over fishing. The Nigerian Government at national and state level have put in place laws and regulations to curb over fishing, as a step towards... [ view full abstract ]

Fish species are being threatened with extinction in Lagos, Nigeria, due to over fishing. The Nigerian Government at national and state level have put in place laws and regulations to curb over fishing, as a step towards conservation. Regulatory agencies have also put measures in place to conserve fishing grounds and protect endangered fish species. This occurs through the ban of drift nets which indiscriminately traps all forms of the life ;such as the use of fishing  nets with a certain west size so that young fishes are not caught; regulation of  the size of ships allowed into fishing grounds; and the ban of  harvesting of endangered species. In addition to raising the number of fishes in hatcheries and releasing them into fishing grounds where the fish population are decreasing. With this view, the paper discusses the effectiveness of legal and regulatory frameworks for fish conservation in Lagos State, Nigeria. The paper assesses fishing strategies adopted by local fishermen with a view to examining their compliance with the Lagos state fishing conservation policy.

The study was qualitative in nature. Twenty fishermen from  the Ilaje  coastal community in Lagos were  selected through convenient sampling .Based on interviews with the fishermen, findings from  revealed that majority of the respondents comprised of women, youth and men are characterized by low educational status .Enforcing conservation policy in the coastal area is problematic and difficult because of illiteracy and poverty. The study recommends massive enlightenment programmes  for fishermen on the importance of  fish conservation.

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