Tropicultura (Jan 2018)
Baisse des ressources halieutiques du lac Toho au Sud du Bénin: Perceptions des pêcheurs et efficacité des pratiques de gestion et stratégies d'adaptation
Abstract
Declining Fishery Resources in Toho Lake in Southern Benin: Perceptions of Fishermen and Effectiveness of Management Practices and Coping Strategies. In southern Benin, declining fishery resources is a major concern that some local populations overcome by developing management and coping strategies. This paper analyzes the perceptions of the evolution of the abundance of fish stocks and the effectiveness of management practices and coping strategies for maintaining a sustainable ecological balance of the Lake Toho in southern Benin. The simple random sampling method was used to select 129 fishermen in Lokossa and Houéyogbé districts around this lake. The Pearson chi-square homogeneity test was performed to analyze changes in fishers' perceptions, while the Kendall's rank-w test was used to analyze perceptions of the effectiveness of management practices and coping strategies. The results show that a large share of fishermen (91.47%) have a negative perception of fish stock changes. Their perceptions vary according to their socio-cultural membership, their age category and their educational level. The fishermen's perceptions of the depletion in fish stocks include: the disappearance of some fish species, the decrease in size of the collected fish, the high price of the fish and the decrease in the abundance of species suitable for drying and smoking process. Several management practices and coping strategies have been developed by fishermen to cope with this decline, including the adoption of income-generating activities other than fishing, the use of regulatory fishing nets, the reduction of hand fishing and the development of fish farming. Fishermen's perceptions vary from village to village.
