INFORMATION DOCUMENTS : (continued)

MONOGRAPH ON OPERATION FISHERIES, MOPTI (continued)

2. POPULATION DATA

2.1 Population

The area of operations is divided into six sectors which are subdivided into 40 bases for extension work. The number of bases varies from sector to sector, depending on demographic, economic and social factors, and on the size of fishing area and volume of fish production.

The breakdown of population, by sector, is as follows:

Table XI

2.2 Ethnic Groups

The fishermen belong to several ethnic groups, with Bozo and Somono clearly predominating. The table below gives a breakdown by ethnic groups:

Table XII

Area of Operations - Ethnic Groups

* Miscellaneous: Dogon, Fouta, Mossi, Bellah and Habbe

2.3 Density

Density of fishermen on usable area is about 21 persons per square kilometre, or about two families per square kilometre.

2.4 Habitat

Concentrated and mainly permanent settlement is to be found on the upper reaches up to the northern limit of the Mopti sector. Beyond that line, settlement is more scattered.

2.5 Nomadism

Nomadism is a feature among fishermen. Some of them follow migrating schools of fish, others leave their villages and settle in another place for the fishing season of five to ten months.

Nomadism increases from the upper to the lower reaches of the Niger:

Table XIII

Nomadism

A breakdown of nomads by region and district of origin gives the following data:

3. ECONOMIC DATA

3.1 Resources

3.11 Areas

Fishing activities are carried on in all biotopes, especially in the basins of minor river beds at low water, in water-filled depressions when the floods subside, and in lakes virtually throughout the year.

In a year with normal rainfall, exploitable areas in the area of operations are put at 387 000 hectares. The productive areas are as follows:

3.12 Yields

Referred to exploitable area, the 76 000 tons of production estimated in 1973 correspond to a yield of 196 kg/ha.

The productive area of zones subject to flooding is about 17 000 square kilometres. A production of:

• 100 000 tons would correspond to 59 kg/ha
•   90 000 tons would correspond to 53 kg/ha
•   76 000 tons would correspond to 45 kg/ha
•   70 000 tons would correspond to 41 kg/ha

3.13 Boats

Ninety five percent of the fishermen's vessels consists of Djenne-type pirogues, a pointed, flat-bottomed boat of wooden planks (Khaya senegalensis).

Fishing pirogues are 9 to 18 metres long. Those used for transportation (passengers or fish) are up to 30 metres long.

Great care is taken to make them watertight (rags, tar, karite butter); the hull shows good flexibility.

The number of boats in the area of operations is listed in the table below:

Table XIV

Boats

NM = non-motorized
M  = motorized

The table shows that 83.8 percent of the pirogues is used exclusively for fishing; 10.8 percent is used for fishing and transportation, and 5.4 percent is used exclusively to carry cargo and passengers.

3.14 Outboard Motors

Outboard motors were introduced in Mali about 20 years ago. At present, there are 749 engines in the area of operations, as follows:

Table XV

Outboard Motors

Motorization has a very slight impact on fishing proper because fishermen use motors only to carry their produce and their family members.

But it s significant that the equipment of big pirogues is still far from the optimum.

Table XVI

Existing Equipment - Optimum Equipment

^a Motors of fishermen working in places far from their encampments (Debo, Faguihine, Niangaye)
^b 17.1% of pirogues is used for fishing and need not be equipped
^c 21.7% of pirogues has two coupled motors

3.15 Fishing Gear

The most important fishing gear comprises nets (setnets, driftnets, seines, castnets), trawl lines, harpoons and baskets. The textiles used are almost entirely synthetic.

1. Seines: “Dioba” or “Dioni”
   They are usually 500 to 1 500 metres long, with a height of 6 to 8 metres, rarely 10 metres. Their meshes vary from 25 to 65 millimetres; exceptionally one finds seines with 80 to 100 millimetre meshes. A seine, depending on size, costs from Mal.F. 600 000 to 2 500 000. A seine 775 metres by 12.5, made by the pupils of the Fisheries Vocational Training Centre at Mopti, costs Mal.F. 1 400 000.

   Fishermen use seines at low water. This net takes all kinds of fish, including small ones of quality species.

2. Driftnets: “Teni” or “Fele Feledio”
   Drift or gillnets are usually made from nylon. Their size varies greatly: they may be from 50 to 250 metres long, but usually they are 50 to 150 metres, with a height of 1 to 3 metres; meshes mostly range from 40 to 80 millimetres. Plant material is used for the floats and baked clay for the sinkers. A driftnet (230 metres long by 2.9 metres), made at the Vocational Training Centre, costs Mal.F. 25 000.

   This net is used especially at the beginning of the flood and when it subsides to catch Hydrogrons, Synodontis, Clarias, Tilapia, Lates, etc.

3. Setnets: “Bamadio”
   Setnets are similar to driftnets and are used for night fishing. They take especially Hydrogrons, Lates, Tilapia, Heterotis, etc.

4. Castnets: “Cilidio”
   The size of these nylon nets varies with the nature of the bottom or depth. They are used in rivers where the bottom is rocky and are highly productive at low water. Castnets catch all kinds and sizes of fish.

5. Two-hand Nets: “Koba”
   This net, a sort of double landing net pulled by hand, is used especially in water-filled depressions by farmer-fishermen (Rimaibe, Marka, etc.). It is not effective in rivers.

6. Trawl lines: “Gangari” or “Duba”
   Fishermen normally use baitless hooks, sizes 1 to 10, numbering 100 to 800. The leaders are 15 centimetres long, spaced 10 centimetres. A main line of nylon and plant floats are generally used. Such lines are quite effective. Hooks with live fish as bait are used to catch Lates niloticus, Hydrogrons, Bafius and Heterobrondius of large size.

7. Harpoons: “Tina”
   Harpoons are widely used in rivers, water-filled depressions and near hydraulic installations to catch fairly big fish.

8. Baskets: “Djene”
   The normal type of basket is made from palm fronds. It is set at high and low water. Baskets are quite effective.

9. Barriers
   Of wood, shrubs and thorny plants, they are fairly numerous between depressions or between the main river and a branch. They are put up at low water.

   A survey by field assistants in the area of operations gives the following picture:

Table XVII

Fishing Gear

3.2 Marketing

It is not exaggerated to describe the marketing situation for dried and smoked fish as disquieting. From 1966 to 1973, exports dropped from 7 079 to 1 514 tons. Total quantities of controlled dried and smoked fish at Mopti declined from 11 600 tons in 1966 to 5 333 tons in 1973.

The figures show that:

• since 1970, smoking has been more widely used than drying as a method of preservation;

• since 1968, fish exports have sharply dropped, reaching their lowest point in 1973; by contrast, domestic trade has increased from year to year.

Table XVIII

Marketing - 1966–73

3.21 Marketing Forecast for 1974

On the basis of the figures for the first quarter of 1973 compared with the first quarter of 1974, a very small quantity - 3 550 tons - may be expected to be marketing in 1974.

3.3 Quantitative Evaluation of Total Production (1973)

Effects of Drought

The immediate effect of drought in the Central Delta was a progressive reduction of water which hampered fish reproduction and growth by interrupting the flood cycle. The migration of species in flooded areas is due to biological needs. The trophic level of species is regulated by the cycle of flooding which carries considerable quantities of feed (phytoplankton, zooplankton, etc.) into the river bed that are indispensable to fish growth. In the ecosystems of the flood areas, productivity is linked to abundance of feed which influences the biogenic capacity of the environment. The quantity of feed varies with the size of flooded area. Drought, therefore, causes an imbalance between the animal and plant biomasses which has seriously interfered with the biology of species, considerably reducing fish production.

Attempted Analysis of Drought Effects

The table shows important correlations between the various factors, which result in a considerable decline of fish production.

If we refer to a hectare yield of 43 kilogrammes (2 200 000 hectares: 95 000 tons = 43 kg/ha) and multiply it by the deficit of 170 000 hectares which were not flooded, we get a production deficit of 7 310 tons.

VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTRE FOR FISHERY FIELD ASSISTANTS IN MALI

by

P. Raimondo
responsable de la formation
Opération Pêche, Mopti
Service des Eaux et Forêts
Mali

1. PURPOSE AND RECRUITMENT

The Centre trains field assistants for river fisheries whose task is to:

• provide information and spread new techniques and methods for preserving fresh, dried and smoked fish, thereby raising the value of marketable fish production;

• organize the collection of fishery products.

2. GENERAL INFORMATION

2.1 Admission

The Centre is open to fishermen aged 19 to 40, designated by the team of extension workers of Operation Fisheries. The maximum number is 30 trainees.

2.2 Selection

Candidates have to pass a week's preliminary examination. The best candidates are admitted. The examination is designed, among other things, to ensure some degree of homogeneity in the group of trainees.

The examiners are officers of the Directorate of Operation Fisheries. Selection of future field assistants is announced by the Director of Operation Fisheries.

2.3 Duration of training and final examination

The training course lasts three and a half months, on a full-time basis (a six-hour working day: 08.00 h to 12.00 h; 15.00 h to 17.00 h) from Monday morning to Saturday morning. The course ends with a final examination, as a result of which the 21 best trainees are employed as fishery field assistants by Operation Fisheries.

3. THE CENTRE'S RESOURCES

3.1 Equipment and supplies

The Centre has the following equipment:

• 1 small 20-seat bus to transport trainees (visits to fishermen's encampments accessible by track, study trips, surveys)

• 2 pirogues equipped with outboard motors, for touring fishing areas and for practical fishing and river navigation exercises

• 1 outboard motor for theoretical and practical exercises in mechanics

• fishing gear for fishing exercises

• small-scale audio-visual equipment (slide projector, photo camera) for enhancing the value of the main study subjects (better understanding and assimilation).

3.2 Instructors

The teaching staff consists of 10 instructors of whom six are members of the Directorate of Operation Fisheries and four belong to local administrative and technical services, under voluntary collaboration between Operation Fisheries and those services.

3.3 Funds

Board and lodging: The Centre is a boarding school. Trainees shall travel at the expense of the Centre (study trips).

Allowances: Trainees shall receive a monthly allowance during the training course in the amount of Mal.F. 3 000 per month.

Salary: After training, a field assistant's salary during field work shall be as follows:

• fourth category (Collective Labour Agreement) Mal.F. 11 300 gross - social security benefits.

Bonuses: Annual bonuses of up to one month's salary may be granted to a field assistant in accordance with his performance.

4. PROGRAMME CONTENT AND ELABORATION

The general and technical knowledge acquired during the training course should enable the future field assistant to grasp development problems in the area where he is going to work.

Therefore, his training covers disciplines geared to the various aspects of a fisherman's life (fishing, mechanics, management, accounting, economics, hygiene, first aid, administration, history, geography). The subjects are grouped in three phases:

Each phase is devoted to studying various subjects at the same level of complexity. A phase, whose duration is in line with its degree of complexity, normally consists of three stages:

1. A preparatory stage in the classroom, to specify the objectives of the phase and to prepare the instruments and knowledge needed for study.

2. A stage of discovery through surveys in the field, to gather concrete elements and to experiment certain techniques.

3. A stage of synthesis in the classroom, during which the results of the second stage are used to help achieve the objectives of the phase by a degree of conceptualization and ideas based on reality, not only on abstract words. This stage is also an opportunity for exercises in oral and written expression.

Each phase “incorporates” the preceding phase: “Fishery” studies will be taken up again at “Village” level from the economic, demographic, sociological and other angles, just as the ideas and techniques acquired during the “Village” phase are going to serve as a basis for studying “The Region and the State”, etc. Thus, concepts become more numerous and more general and the techniques of study and expression are perfected and better assimilated.

5. PEDAGOGIC CONSIDERATIONS ON PROGRAMME CONTENT

As far as the content of each phase of the programme is concerned, three procedures are used in varying degree:

5.1 A first procedure consists above all in the conceptualization of the things the trainees know and experience every day but which are not clear enough and expressed by precise concepts (such as, economic, demographic and other facts).

5.2 Then there are the things that one must know, data, figures, facts which have to be learned and cannot be discovered on the basis of previous experience.

5.3 Finally, there are the techniques one must know how to use in practice. It is a matter of know how, less a question of purely intellectual understanding or an effort of memory.

Each category calls for a different teaching method. For the first category, an active method (guided discussions, group work) should mainly be used, while the second category should resort to a more traditional teaching procedure, that is to say, imparting knowledge. The third category requires practical exercises and individual work or work in small teams.

6. PEDAGOGIC PRINCIPLES

A teaching method involves principles that should be specified in order to work out and apply a method suited to a given teaching activity. The pedagogic principles set out below are not new. They are the result of numerous experiences and are often quoted in various forms, especially in relation to adult education.

6.1 First principle: Communication and participation

The training course must be guided and the trainees led toward the objectives laid down. To this end, one has to obtain certain reactions from the trainees on the basis of the information given to them concerning the direction to be taken, the target of their efforts. In return, it is necessary that the teachers should receive information from the trainees on the direction they have actually taken, the real target of their efforts, so that they can make the necessary corrections and their way back to the line leading to the objectives.

In a word, it is a question of establishing a system of permanent communication between teachers and trainees to determine and employ the means needed to attain the objectives which are being perceived better and better and approached by the trainees. These means may be tests, examinations of knowledge and assimilation, information, explanations, examination of motivations. The application of this principle in training extension workers is of particular importance because they will have to establish relations between Operation Fisheries and fishing communities to ensure that the latter participate in implementation of the development programme.

6.2 Second principle: Progression

This is one of the most frequently quoted pedagogic rules, but is is rarely applied because the natural tendency is to follow an opposite procedure.

A constructive procedure is needed which permits progressive conceptualization and generalization, without which words are meaningless and may become intellectual toys. Progression from the simple to the complex, from particular to general and from “easy” to “difficult” things. You do not build by starting from the top.

While deductive demonstration is often more natural or more satisfactory for those who explain a thing, it may turn out to be an illusion. The construction exists in the mind of him who presents, but cannot pass en bloc into the listener's mind by the magic of words alone. An inductive method is needed for the listener to enable him to erect that construction for himself.

The principle of progression also applies to learning a technique.

6.3 Third principle: Concretization

You cannot learn to swim in a room. Contact with the “element”, with the environment is necessary. One must get familiar with the environment. Therefore, efforts must be made to create the context in which the extension workers will have to develop later on. This contact with the real context of work should enable the trainees not only to try out what they have learned, but should also serve as points of support after their training. In general, reference to actual experience is indispensable.

6.4 Fourth principle: Equilibrium and alternation

One cannot envisage continuous progression over several months without stops. Certain natural rhythms must be respected, all the more so in the case of adults who are no longer able to adapt themselves to any rhythm.

Such rhythms and stops may either be planned in advance or will have to be determined in light of the group's reaction. The group should be able to proceed homogeneously.

In addition to rhythm, attention should be paid to alternating work, work in the classroom, work in the field, individual work and collective work.

Finally, there is the factor of periodicity, a fresh start and renewal, but this should not slow the general progression.

PROGRAMME OF TRAINING COURSES

Summary¹

DETAILED PROGRAMME

¹ Time spent in teaching either theoretically or in practical exercises, investigations, study tours, etc., is included. It should be decided by the instructor as and when necessary