Management And Conservation Of Inland Fisheries Resources

INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
In recent years there has been a growing concern that the fisheries in most water bodies in Nigeria a have been increasingly over exploited leading to reduction in socio- economic benefits far local communities and they regional economy in general. It has been estimated that most of the world’s major inland fisheries are now at their maximum level of exploitation (FAO1995) for example before now the formal East central state now consist of (Anambra Imo Enugu and Abuja) were know for their richness in terms of natural resources particularly in the area of fish production. For instance during 1980’s about 40% of the total fish supplied in Nigeria were produced form these region. But as time goes on there become a drastic decline in fish production from these region.
This became a matter of specially concern to the people of these region. However it is on record that recently specifically in March 2005 that president Obasanjo in his official visit to Delta State was asked why the present government is hesitating in signing into law a bill that would pave way for the draining of River Niger in the region in order to allow for confluence of Rivers so as to increased fish spawning. His answer was” there are more it takes to attaining full production in fisheries production than only to draining Rivers”
Meanwhile, combinations of factors were though to be responsible. Firstly environmental changes caused by drought and dam construction has resulted on lower fish production. Secondly an intensification of fishing effort has been brought about increased communalization the introduction of modern gears restriction (such as gears net mesh net etc) which are used in capturing fish. Furthermore welcome and Barthey discovered that catches from in-land fisheries are Indic line state due to deteriorating quality of aquatic environment and poor management. Similarly Nigeria and Biosphere (an association responsible for the studying of intercalation ship between man and living organism) in 1990 organized an educative seminar on Nigerian water bodies which in broad sense includes flood plain lake reservoir and swamp

Despite all these protective effort capture fisheries remains highly vulnerable to over exploitation and degradation. It follows therefore that if fisheries enhancement are to be successful the problems of overexploitations and degradation must be address in parallel from the out-set. In response to the need for better understanding of in-land fisheries management and to investigate the possibilities for designing a more effective approach to fisheries management the researcher takes Osimiri Dudu flood pond in Anambra State as a case study. A particular focus of the project is to investigate whether traditional management system which were perceive to be successful and well adopted to local condition could be use as a basis for community based approach to fisheries management in the future in in-land fisheries management.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
There have been a concerted effort by Anambra State River basin authority (ASEBA) and some organized private sector individuals to improve productivity of fish in here various water bodies recently for instance federal government and state government recently conducted a research work which was assisted by food and agriculture organizaiton (FAO) to find out the rate at which fishes propagate in in-land water bodies in Nigeria Similarly there have been also series of seminars and work-shop geared towards educating fishermen for the need for the conservation of Nigerian water bodies.
Inspite of all these effort most water bodies in Nigeria are still in declining trend. This left the researcher with no other option than only to ponder: what really are the cause of the low productivity? Is it possible that an accurate assessment of the status of these in in-land fisheries have not been conducted? Or could it be a lack of detailed information to the stake- holders? Or is the management techniques in use are not suitable? These are what the researcher want to find out in this research work and suggest a possible solutions to the problems.
The challenge to this research work is to therefore to find some management system that would best support fisheries management in the state in finding and implanting its approach by specifying institutional arrangement that would prevent degradation and over exploitation occurring in the first place rather than trying to find way to repair the damages ones it has occurred. Such strategy make clear economic sense. It is also ecologically desirable in line with precautionary principle in that there is no guarantee that renewable natural resources degradation is reversible.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
From all that has been written it is the objective of this study:
1. To find out why productivity in most in-land water bodies in Nigeria especially that of Osimiri Dude is very low
2. To find a means of minimizing over- exploitation in Nigeria water bodies
3. To determine the cause of the deteriorating quality of aquatic environment in Nigeria.
4. To degraded status of our water bodies.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
As a guide to finding solution to the research problem the research posed the following research questions.
1. What are the effect of using toxic substance in fishing activities?
2. Does environment changes have any impact on in-land fisheries management?
3. What type of management system does local fishermen proffered most?
4. How does drought and dam construction effect fish stocking?
5. What time of the year does over concentration of fishermen occurs in water bodies?
6. Is there any policy or programme regulating fishing activities?
7. Why does over-exploitation occur in Nigerian fishery industries?

1.5 HYPOTHESIS FORMULAITON
The following hypothesis forms the frame work for carrying out the study.
H0: Using toxic substance during fishing does not effect fish propagation
H1: Using toxic substance during fishing effect fish propagation
H0: Traditional management of system is not the best and general acceptable
management system in local community in fisheries management
H1: Traditional management of system is the best and general acceptable
management system in local community in fisheries management

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
It should be recognized that the fundamental issue as regards to fisheries management in most cases is the allocation of scarce (natural) resource to alternate ends. For example in the case of water bodies which contains major in-land fisheries as population pressure and other stress increase the natural resources become increasingly scare and become valuable. However because in many cases invitational management do not exist (or inadequate ) for the allocation of resource free and open access to increasingly valuable resources result inevitably in the degradation.
As a result of this, this study become very important especially today that all hands are on deck to develop Nigerian economy. this study will be of immense benefit to both public sector organization and organized private sector in the fishery industries in addition the study will determine the factor limiting fish production in this sector of economy (fishing industries). It is expected that the findings will help to rediscover the past abundant fish production in in-land water bodies in Nigeria.

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The scope of this study is very wide if it has to be carried out in all inland fisheries resource of Nigeria. The study is limited based on the fact that there is no tome and material resources to see to the whole nation

1.8 LIMITATION
Considering the time factor financial constraints, material resources at the researcher disposal and the fast approaching higher national diploma examination of the researcher the researcher therefore limit his study to Osimiri Dude flood pond in Anambra State. This is to enable him finish on time. Though he findings may not be valid for the whole in-land water bodies in the country. But on the whole what happens in water bodies in Anambra State can said to apply to other water bodies in the country.