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Impact Assessment on By-catch Artisanal Fisheries: Sea Turtles and Mammals in Cameroon, West Africa

Ayissi I, Jiofack TJE

The by-catch assessment has been carried out along Cameroon coastline to map artisanal fishing effort and quantify impact of by-catch on sea turtles and marine mammals during three months from June to September 2011 and 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 by-catch on marine mammals and sea turtles.
In total 30 fishing ports were been planned but 23 were covered with 932 files in total (245 long forms and 685 short forms). In total we have 4121boats (none motorized and motorized) 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.