Studies on Fish Market Chains and Livelihoods of Fishers for Sustainable Fish Stocks:the Cases of Lake Tana and three Other Rift Valley Lakes in Ethiopia
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Date
2024-04
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The fishing subsector in Ethiopia is one of the potential intervention areas to increase employment, ensure food security with quality protein supply and alternative sources of income generation to improve the livelihoods of rural communities in a sustainable way. However, the natural stocks of the fishes in Ethiopian waters are depleted by illegal and unregistered fishing practices that use undefined market chains. As a result, this project was designed to study the
contemporary status of the fishing industry in Ethiopia along with the market chains and to find out how this is related to the depletion of stocks (overexploitation). For this purpose, the study areas were purposefully selected based on their high fishery productions, accessibility to market outlets (big cities like Addis Ababa and Bahir Dar) and the general fishing operations, as these systems reflect what is practiced in other minor fishing operations systems.
In the primary data collection of this study 597 individuals were involved. The study examined and analyzed the fish market value chains from 2018 to 2020. The data were gathered through fish catch analyses, field observations, structured questionnaires, focus group discussions, key informants, and other secondary data sources that examined numerous published and unpublished but official reports of regional fishery offices and those found in the archives of the
fishery section of the Ministry of Agriculture. These were analyzed using both descriptive and econometric analytical methods that employed ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation method and others.
It was found out that fishing is the first major source of income accounting for 59.3%, 67%, 68.9% and 73%, of fishers in Lakes Chamo, Tana, Hawassa and Ziway, respectively. Monthly incomes from fishing fluctuated from 350 to 15,000 Birr per month, with an average income of 2,039 ETB per month (equivalent to 45 USD). The average for all the study lakes is just a little less than 5,000 ETB. However, there is a significant difference (P<0.001) in the level of mean
monthly income from fish in the ETB. Linear OLS regression analyses showed that the number of reed boats, gillnets, land owned for crop productionand fishing trips were the determinant factors significantly influencing the volume of fish produced.
All fishers and assemblers engaged in the study did not have fishing licenses, and 65.2% of market actors were not licensed in fish trading, which probably contributed to unhealthy competition in the fish market. Transportation of fish from the collection points to registered storage sites has shown a clear association with licensed fish traders (P<0.005), while a considerable amount of catch entered the market using illegal and unregistered routes bypassing standard storage facilities. Fishers shared financial benefits rated 46.82%, 3.18%, and 50% from assemblers, cooperatives, and retailers, respectively. Fish retailers and assemblers obtained the highest gross profits of 1,620 and 1,572 ETB/Qt (quintal), respectively, whereas fishers and cooperatives obtained lower gross profits of 1,514 and 1,050 ETB/Qt, respectively. Fishers, assemblers, retailers, cooperatives, wholesalers, hotels, and consumers were important fish market intermediaries. Members of the fish market channel clearly indicated that the chain is predominantly traditionally split and that there are too many market networks.
Illegal fishing gear and practices are the most serious barriers constraining fish value addition among fishers. Other constraints included agricultural land expansion all the way to the shorelines in Lakes Tana between 1986 and 2018 (1954km2), Ziway 1990 to 2020 (1308.42km2), Hawassa 1987 to 2019 (121.7km2), and Chamo 1990 to 2019 (30.65km2); meanwhile in the same year, degradation of fish breeding habitats (bushes and wetlands) decreased in Lakes Tana by -1480km2, Ziway by -1201km2, Hawassa by -47.7km2 and Chamo by -247.67 km2 Based on the findings, it is recommended that the policy of free-for-all should be scraped off and be replaced by agreed-upon management system, all stakeholders from fishers to administrators should take part in awareness programs, alternative fish productions technologies should be developed (e.g., aquaculture), re-structuring the market chains with the authorization of regulated and licensed operators must be put in place.
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Keywords
Ethiopian Fishery, Fish Markets, Fishers, Fishery Value Chain, Ethiopian Lakes