Industrial fishery at sea
The important number of lagoons and estuaries, like those of Ogoué and Gabon, as well as the area of muddy grounds constitute favourable conditions for the development of P. duorarum. The presence of shrimps had been observed in the northern part of the Gabonese continental shelf during the “Guinean Trawling Survey”, (Williams, 1968). The growing scarcity of shrimps in the south is linked to the increase in the proportion of hard bottoms and with the diminution of the sea/lagoon connexions.
In 1966, a total catch of three t was reported (Crosnier and De Bondy, 1968). In 1968, PECIG was created and they commissioned a 650 HP experimental shrimp trawler in 1969 fishing with a couple of trawls. The results of these surveys were analysed in detail (Fontana and Bâ, 1972). The catch rates obtained being comparatively low (215 kg/d of heads-on shrimps, a catch-rate reduced to that of a 300 HP shrimp trawler), the experiment was short-lived. Total catches reached 30 t in 1969, with rates of 10 to 20 kg/h of heads-on shrimps.
Artisanal fishery in lagoons
An artisanal fishery does not exist in Gabon.
