Honourable Representative of the Institute of Rural Economy,On behalf of FAO Director-General, Dr Diouf, and of the FAO Representative in Mali, Mr Ramos, it is my great pleasure and privilege to welcome you all to the opening of this workshop.
Honourable Director of the Office for Rural Development of Sélingué,
Honourable Director of the Institute of Research for Development in Mali,
Dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
We would like to express our sincere gratitude towards all of our partners with whom we have been in close contact over several months in order to organize this workshop. First I wish to thank the directorate of the Malian Institute of Rural Economy who, in collaboration with the Office for Rural Development of Sélingué, agreed to host this workshop so that it could take place in an African country which already has some experience of biotelemetry. Also I would like to thank the directorate of the Institute of Research for Development in Mali as it has put considerable human and material resources at the disposal of this workshop and continues to do so. I also wish to say a special and warm word of thanks to my two colleagues, Dr Vincent Bénech from IRD and Dr Etienne Baras from the University of Liège - also partners in this activity - for their efficient and tireless cooperation over several months.
It is a great pleasure for me to be here today at the opening of this workshop on the application of biotelemetry to fish study in inland fisheries management in West Africa, this workshop being the first of its kind. It is a pilot workshop - and this has nothing to do with flying planes, but means that it is the first time that a workshop on the techniques and use of radio-tracking in Africa has been organized with the support of FAO. This workshop has been organized in order to improve and disseminate our knowledge of the tool of biotelemetry which can be used to generate the more accurate databases that are essential for improved sustainable management of aquatic resources.
The importance of inland fisheries should not be under-estimated and is even increasing in many West African countries, particularly in Mali where 80 to 130 000 tonnes of fish per year have been produced in recent years. Such fisheries thus play an important role in the protein supply to the mostly rural population. It is therefore essential that natural resource managers be able to protect the foundation of fishing, meaning the fish needed for stock renewal in order to ensure sustainable exploitation. Where the biological aspects of fishing are concerned, lack of knowledge about the biology or the behaviour of species that are very popular with fishermen can in some cases be a barrier to sustainability. In order to guarantee the role of fishing as an important source of protein, overexploitation of the resource must be avoided, through improved and appropriate management.
The usefulness of biotelemetry is no longer doubted, it is even taken for granted, especially in North America and in Europe. We are convinced that, in Africa too, biotelemetry can provide data leading to better decisions and therefore improved management. It is for this reason that we are here today. For this workshop, we have only invited participants from French speaking countries, in particular Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea and Mali, because it is really a first test. However, if considered useful, this type of activity, co-funded by FAO, could be repeated to train on the subject other African experts speaking French, English or other languages.
Having set out the objectives, we hope that all the theoretical and practical work to come during the next two weeks will be interesting and useful. My colleague Dr Baras will now explain to you in detail the work programme for the coming days.
