Journal of Marine Science: Research & Development
Open Access

Abstract

The bycatch assessment has been carried out along Cameroon coastline to map artisanal fishing effort and quantify impact of bycatch on sea turtles and marine mammals. Specific objectives include: ? To interview fishermen in various fishing villages or ports in Cameroon regarding fishing effort and catch ? To estimate fishing gears used in these fishing ports ? To evaluate impacts of bycatch on marine mammals and sea turtles In total 30 fishing ports have been planned but 23 were covered with 932 files in total (245 long forms and 685 short forms). In total we have 4121 boats (non motorised and motorised) and the common gears used are gillnet and surround seine. The results reveal that, yearly around 1228 turtles with back (green, hawksbill and olive) were caught and 13 Leatherback; most not intentionally. But in Sandje port we noted the intentional catch by local fishermen with around 400 individuals per year for international commercial uses. These numbers are low according to certain data on sea turtles surveys along Cameroon coast. About cetaceans and manatee we had the following data 97 and 292 respectively for each group, but most manatees are caught intentionally for bush meat trade. The survey was limited in time and lack of baseline information on the issue but in future it could be good to involve more permanent data collectors and scientific observers. These results must be feedback to official services for good monitoring of marine faunal and their ecosystem.

Biography

Isidore Ayissi is Associate Lecturer in Institute of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences at Yabassi, Department of Oceanography (University of Douala) and Researcher in Specialized Research Centre for Marine Ecosystems in Kribi-Cameroon (Institute of Agricultural Research for Development). He is actually stilling finalized his PhD in Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, University Abdelhamek Essaadi, Tetouan, Morocco on Marine Biology. He is author and co-author of more than 16 papers in reputed journals particularly on marine biology and tropical ecology of West-Africa.