FIS 510 LECTURE GUIDE
BY
O.T. AGBEBIPh.D
University of Agriculture, Abeokuta
1
FIS 510: FISH FARMING AND FISHERY BUSINESS MANAGEMENT (3 UNITS)
MATERIALS ARRANGEMENT Generally, in most third world countries fish and most fish products are sold fresh, dried, smoked or frozen and these enterprises are women dominate. As there is a general lack of storage facilities in these countries, a large proportion of the catch, sometimes up to 50%, perish at peak periods in artisanal fisheries. Thus, for pond reared fish, as well as fish caught in the wild, there is needs to dispose off the stock early on the day it is harvested. In some areas, like Lake Kainji (Nigeria) women fish traders have established their own battery of large domestic freezers to preserve catches prior to transportation to cities. In areas which are far removed from this type of preservation, some form of processing is practiced, almost exclusively by women. Smoking is the favoured form of preservation, especially where availability of firewood is not a constraint. In place where smoking is too expensive, salt drying is sometimes employed. However, in some countries, fishermen co-operatives transport their catches in refrigerated trunks to government cold stores where they are sold gradually to the public and the co-operatives maximize their profits. Generally, most fishermen have regular customers, the fish trader who buys their entire catches wholesale. The relationship between the fishermen and the fish traders is one of survival through close co-operation. They are virtually partners as the fishermen sell exclusively to the fish traders, who support them through both good and bad times, sometimes even providing netting materials and at times “chop money”. Some even buy the boat. These women therefore have a virtual monopoly on landings in their spheres of influence. The fish farmers, is not subject to the uncertainties of