Broadcasting eco-fishing
Hussein Abegaz
Senior Fishery Expert
Agricultural Extension Directorate
Ministry of Agriculture
Email: husseinfish99@gmail.com, OR abegaz.issa@gmail.com

Basic concepts
1. Environment
2. Aquatic Ecosystem
3. Fishery
– Fishing
– Fisher
– Fishing gears
– Fishing techniques
4. Fish

1. Environment
• All of the external factors affecting an
organism.
– These factors may be other living organisms
(biotic factors) or
– nonliving variables (abiotic factors),
• temperature, rainfall, day length, wind, and ocean
currents.
• The interactions of organisms with biotic and abiotic
factors form an ecosystem.

2. Aquatic ecosystem
Aquatic ecosystem
• Ecosystem, organisms living in a particular
environment (IN WATER), the physical parts of
the environment that affect.

3. Fishery
• Fisheries, industry of harvesting fish, shellfish,
and other aquatic animals.
FISHERY =FISH RESOURCE + HUMAN ACTIVITY
towards hunting fish
– Fishing: fishing operations=act of catching fish
– Fishermen : a person who is catching fish
– Fishing gears: net (different forms), hook and line,
taps,

4. Fishes as food

Fish as food

Fishing gears and techniques

1. Fish Resource Potential
Water body Annual harvest potential
(MT)
Major lakes 30,963 -35,963
Major Rivers 7,000
Major Small water bodies 6,067
Total 44,030-49,030
• Resources not yet precisely defined
• Water bodies are increasing every year
• Not all SWB not included
• Recent constructed large water bodies not
included

2. Fish resource exploitation
Fish Production
24,057 MT
Fish Farming
(15 ton)
Capture Fisheries
Lakes 14,523 MT (Ri.V
lakes and Tana) Culture based capture fisheries
Rivers 189 MT Small & large Reservoirs 2,058 MT
Total =14,712MT
T. Production share =13%
T. Production share =87% Exploitation rate= 34%
Exploitation rate= 46%

Exploitation
• Exploitation uneven
• Some lakes, which are
close to big towns are
over exploited
• Others are not yet
utilized

Main commercial fish species
Barbus
Labeo

National fish production trend (2000-2011)
30000
25000
production (tons)
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Year

Production bu fish species
Commercially important fish species
Carp sp. 2%
Others 3%
Nile perch 6%
Barbus 11%
Tilapia 67%
African catfish
11%
Annual production 24057 Tons (2011)

Fish producers
• Every fisher
• Gear supplier
• Fish processor
• Fish trader

Fishing gears
• Boats (plank, papyrus, wood dig out)
– Modern with motorized boats
• Nets (‘modern gears’)
– Gillnet (20-100m)
– Beach Seine net ( up to 250m)
– Scoop net or Reed sieves
– Cast nets
• Hooks and line
• Basket Traps
• Spears
• Stupefacient or poison plants

Fishing boats (modern)

Traditional boats

Fishing gears
Gambudi
Bichwa

Traditional Fishing gears

Contribution of fishery for development
• The fisheries have potential contribute to the
achievement of regional development
objectives includes;
– National income
– Improve food security
– Alleviation of poverty
– Source of sustainable income
– Improve the health status of the society by
providing high quality protein

Contribution of fishery for national
economy
• Total value of fish production (2004) is ETBr 400 million
– It is farm gate price
– It accounts only the production of registered/organized
fishermen.
• Replacement of imported fish preparation by locally
produced fish to save currency
• Promotion of fish exports to earn foreign currency ;
• Promotion of local and foreign investments in fish
production and related activities
– Contribution to National GDP is ~0.02%

Contribution of fishery to food
security
• Fishing is one of coping mechanism to fill the
seasonal food shortage gaps near water
bodies specially at rivers
• Fishing, hunting and gathering wild foods are
part of the livelihood system of the indigenous
communities of Gambella and Benshangule-
Gumuz regions.
• Most of regional Woreds has large food
shortage experience almost year round.

Cont’d
• Food security does not just concern food
production. It can be defined as the physical
and economics access to sufficient safe and
nutritious food to meet dietary needs. (1996
World Food Summit).
– fisheries contributes to food security in a variety
of ways
• Access quality protein to the community
• Reducing vulnerability

Access quality protein to the community
• Fishes are become source of quality animal origin
food protein
• Nutrition, Protein-Energy Malnutrition (PEM) and
Micronutrient deficiencies are the major problems in
the Country.
• Frintance Early data from MoH for BGRS
– the prevalence of chronic malnutrition or stunting for
children under the age of five is 41.3% and acute
malnutrition or wasting is 14.2% and underweight is
42.3%. (2002)
~Fishery can support to reduce these malnutrition problems
through supply of fish food for fishers and their families.

Reducing vulnerability
• Severe food deficit exist at Woredas where the
resource is available
• Fish is accessible to vast majority of
people, especially who lives on the course of
lake and river banks and it is available
throughout the year.
– ~ fishery can reduce the vulnerability to food
deficit season by providing complementary food
source as part of diversified livelihood strategies.

Poverty alleviation and employment
opportunity
• Fishery offers several opportunities:
– creates employment opportunity
– alternative income generating
– small scale fishing and trading provides a low
capital and subsistence level of employment for
youths which intern helps them to increase saving
and continue their education.

Fishery management (FM)
• Fisheries management (as defined in the FAO CCRF) is:
“the integrated process of information gathering, analysis
, planning, consultation, decision-making, allocation of
resources and formulation and implementation, with
enforcement as necessary, of regulations or rules which
govern fisheries activities in order to ensure the continued
productivity of the resources and accomplishment of other
fisheries objectives”
• Purposes of fisheries management include to:
Ensure conservation, protection, proper use, economic
efficiency and equitable distribution of the fisheries
resources both for the present and future generations.

FM Cont’d
Maximise long term sustainability and rational
utilization of fish resources through:
• Adjusting the investment level/ fishing efforts and
users to match the magnitude of fish resources;
• Combating water pollution and environmental
degradation ;
• Improving fish handling , preservation and
processing to minimise post-harvest losses and
secure quality products for local consumption
and export .

Causes of fish resource depletion
• Fishing pressure
– Too many fishing gears
– Improper fishing gears
• Pollution
– Agricultural and Industrial pollution
– Excess organic matter
• Degradation of fish habitat
– Direct human or natural intervention
• Lake shore degradation, fish pass obstacle, irrigation
– Indirect intervention
• Decrease littoral zone area through climate change

Sign of resource depletion
• The size of catch will be small and large fish is
scare in the lake.
• The quantity of catch decrease gradually
• Changed the catch composition

Current fish fish handling: poor
handling

Best fish handling

Legal framework for FM
Federal level- The Fish Resource Development and
Utilization Proclamation 315/2003
By lows and standards
The Ethiopian Quality Standard Authority declared
– Fish Product Quality Standards (12),
– Recommended code of practice (7) and
– Guidelines (2)
• Fish Products Quality Control Regulation No /2012 is
prepared and suspending for approval. ).
• Fish Resource Management Control and Fishing License
Directive are produced in some regions
National Aquaculture Development Strategy

Fishery Management (FM) systems
and approaches
The existing fisheries management systems (FMs):
Although some of these systems are used in isolations, in most cases
there are used in combination.
1. No fisheries management (Free-range)
unrestricted exploitation with open access, unregulated and
unreported fishing. The fishery is free for all
2. Command and control management
The Monitoring Control and Surveillance system
“Command and Control is essentially a centralized system
where power and authority is vested at the top and where
policy and implementing decisions are made and passed on
to lower levels down to grassroots.
Fisheries Command and control success thrives on strict law
enforcement by the authorities.
– Very little community participation

FM systems and approaches Cont’d
3. community-based management/traditional/
Gambella ponds
4. right-based management
Some Benshangul-Gumuz rivers
5. co-management or Cooperative management
• It can be defined as a partnership arrangement in which the
community of local resource users (fishers), government, other
stakeholders (boat owners, fish traders, boat builders, business
• Co-management covers various partnership arrangements and
degrees of power sharing and integration of local
(informal, traditional, customary) and centralized government
management systems.

Co-management

Fisheries co-management
Based on roles government and fishers play classified in to five
broad types
Instructive: There is only minimal exchange of information between government
and fishers. This type of co-management regime is only different from
centralized management in the sense that the mechanisms exist for dialogue
with users, but the process itself tends to be government informing fishers on
the decisions they plan to make.
• Consultative: Mechanisms exist for government to consult with fishers but all
decisions are taken by government.
• Cooperative: This type of co-management is where government and fishers
cooperate together as equal partners in decision-making.
• Advisory: Fishers advise government of decisions to be taken and government
endorses these decisions.
• Informative: Government has delegated authority to make decisions to fisher
groups who are responsible for informing government of these decisions.

FM integration
FM systems
• used in isolations, and
• in most cases there are used in combination.
• It can be integrated with Ecosystem
management, catchment protection program
and almost all lake pollution protection
programs.

Fishery management technical measures
1. Catch quota
2. Closed area
3. Closed season
4. Mesh size regulations
5. Gear restrictions
6. Limits on the nb of boats
7. Limits on the nb of gears
8. Taxes on effort or catch
9. Licensing
10.Control of Traders

Fish resource and community
• The community and Producer/consumers
should be aware on:
– Resource utilization
– Poor quality fish product can be health hazard
– Full and proper utilization of fish products
– The importance of food fish
– Collaborate the implementation of fisheries
management plan

Challenges
Lake of awareness on the fish resource among
policy makers and communities/consumers
Insufficient knowledge of the fisheries resources,
post harvest loss, marketing and distribution
Illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing (Open
access to the resources)
No reliable statistics as an essential basis for
fisheries management
Lack of trained manpower
Illiteracy and the ignorance of fisher men or
prevailing laws and regulations

Recommendation
• Promote and collaborate to conserve the aquatic and
related environment/ecosystem
• Create technical cooperation and establishing professional
links with relevant national, regional and international
institutions.
• Improve the knowledge on fisheries resources, post harvest
loss, marketing and distribution through survey
• Promote to increase fish supply from underutilized stocks
of major lakes and increase fish supply from remote
fisheries like that of rivers
• Create awareness
– on conserving fish resource
– Fish consumption promotion from underutilize water bodies

What next?
• What ECOPA can do?
• Crate awareness to consumers on importance of fish
food, handling and quality of fish product, and on
conserving fish resource.
• Study on postharvest and socio economic of fishery
at selected lakes.
• Study some issue which deems to be health hazard
for consumers.
• Support promoting subsistence aquaculture.

Thank You