The seminar followed the established programme, with participants showing great engagement. It was chaired by Mr. George Everett, FIP/FAO, following an introductory note delivered by Mr. Mensah, Benin's Director of Fisheries (see appendix 2).
A review of the artisanal fishery context and the situation of migrant
fishermen in the different countries represented was undertaken through a
summary of the document "Migrant fishermen in
The discussions mostly concerned the statistics for the fishery sector (FAO, 1986) which the participants requested to be brought up to date using more recent data obtainable in the different countries. The presentation of the migratory patterns, their impact and future prospects for the migrant fishermen in each of the countries considered, also stimulated lively discussion which brought to light the concerns of fishery administrators as well as national policies on the topic.
On the whole, a distinct willingness to work towards greater integration of migrant communities in the economic and social life of the host countries was expressed, as well as a desire to obtain more active collaboration between immigrant and emigrant countries (coastal and continental) in the management of this particular phenomenon.
In the discussions it was also reminded that other aspects of the problem should not be neglected ; in particular, the question of internal migrations, continental migrations and that of auxiliary workers to the fishery sector (such as women) or other sectors connected with fisheries.
The revised version of the document "Problems and prospects" will take into account a significant part of the complementary information gathered during these discussions.
This questionnaire had been distributed to the 14 countries long before the seminar was to take place. It covered certain legislative or regulatory aspects concerning artisanal fishery and migrant fishermen. It also included a section dealing with the way in which the responsible services perceive the conditions and contributions of migrant fishermen to the economy of their respective countries. 13 countries replied and the results, as presented in the course of the seminar, are included in appendix 3.
In the absence of an official representative from the ECOWAS, Mrs. Hannah King made a concise summary of the regional organization's engagement in the subject, especially on food security. It was emphasized that, although the ECOWAS has not really looked into the matter of fishermen's migrations, the connection between these and food security objectives are sufficiently evident to justify increased interest. In the general recommendations made during a reunion of regional fishery experts in Dakar in 1985, the ECOWAS also emphasized the importance of scientific research and the necessity to coordinate scientific studies on a regional level so as to facilitate the establishment and utilization of the data bases, as well as the carrying-out of different quantitative measures, of validation or follow-up of research.
Three working groups were assembled as a result of the general discussions in order to formulate recommendations on the subject. Their first task was to look into a fictitious case (appendix 4) in which different problems and different levels of comprehension concerning them were presented. The purpose of this simulation was to encourage active collaboration within the groups, through problems to which everybody would be neutral.
Although conceived so as to avoid any resemblance with real situations in the region, the simulation nonetheless handled plausible problems, for which all participants actively took part in trying to find a solution. Following the three cases studied during this exercise, the participants elaborated a certain number of recommendations which they were able to use later on when considering the real situation in the region.
This simulation work was thus followed by a second meeting of working groups to discuss the problems in the region and elaborate the recommendations of the seminar. This work, the results of which are presented below, was also carried out in excellent spirit. All the working group meetings were followed by discussions in full session.
