1. The Committee for Inland Fisheries for Africa (CIFA) held its Fourth Session from 8 to 12 December 1980 in Blantyre, Malawi. The Session was attended by representatives from nine (9) member nations, Representatives from the United Nations Development Programme, World Health Organization (WHO), by observers from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, France and United Kingdom. A list of delegates and observers is given in Appendix A of this report.
2. The Session was opened by Mr A.J. Mathotho, Chief Fisheries Officer, Malawi who acted as Chairman of the Committee. He called up Mr Edward Bwanali, the Regional Minister for the Southern Region who welcomed the participants on behalf of His Excellency of Life President, Ngwazi Dr H. Kamuzu Banda, who is the Minister responsible for Agriculture and Natural Resources of Malawi. He drew the attention of FAO to the growing demand for fish which will necessitate the expansion of its activities to cope with an ever-increasing number of new areas of emphasis in fisheries work. He further urged CIFA delegates to come up with some positive recommendations which could be implemented and thus helping to promote the development of fishery resources for the social and economic welfare of the people (Appendix B).
3. The Chairman then called upon Mr J.-L. Gaudet who addressed the participants on behalf of the Director-General of FAO and the Assistant Director-General (Fisheries Department). He referred to the significant attention which was being directed to African countries as a result of the Plan of Action for the implementation of the Monrovia Strategy and which was adopted by the Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). The Director-General of FAO is giving top priority to Africa in his 1982–86 programme of work. He further indicated that two major proposals for technical assistance for Africa in the field of inland fishery were submitted by FAO to the UNDP and Denmark. One concerns a regional inland fisheries programme, the other is for the integrated development of small-scale fisheries in Africa (Appendix C).
4. The Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme in Malawi, Mr R.A. Borthwick, in his address to the participants, referred to the successful role the UNDP and FAO were playing in the development of inland fisheries of Malawi, both from lakes, rivers and flood plains. He also emphasized the importance of introducing aquaculture both at the commercial and small-scale levels, and the necessity for strengthening and developing fisheries manpower. The Resident Representative further indicated that the UNDP is hoping to allocate US$ 285 million for African regional projects (including fisheries) in the next programme cycle 1982–86. He further stressed the preference of having more subregional fishery projects based on common resources which might get better support from UNDP and FAO (Appendix D).
5. The provisional agenda was adopted, as attached (Appendix E).
6. The report of the seminar is organized along the lines of the sessions of the seminar which, in turn, reflect the sequence in planning for the development and management of river basins.
Policy Issues in River Basin Management and Development
7. There was a consensus that an integrated approach was required to procure the best advantage for the basin people. It was clearly indicated that optimum fisheries development is one of the best ways to ensure the welfare of basin people who receive many negative impacts in the process of basin development. This consideration is particularly important when policy issues in basin management are being resolved. To this effect it was recommended that a working group be set up by CIFA to look into the utilization of water resources in the course of basin development.
Planning Perspectives and Problems in River Basin Management and Development
8. The main issues involved were discussed in detail and it was decided that there was need for both regional and national approaches which should be complementary in the overall interest of river basin management and development. The importance of pollution at this stage of river basin development was stressed and it was noted that already CIFA had taken action to obtain data on this vital subject for the eastern African member countries. It was therefore agreed that similar action be taken for the West African Region in order to establish an African baseline for detailed national and regional follow-up action. CIFA was requested to expedite action to achieve the desired objectives in the shortest possible time in order to obviate the degradation of the environment by pollutants. These actions are:
CIFA should establish a working group on water pollution and fisheries;
CIFA should establish a working group to prepare guidelines on the assessment of the impact of resource developments on fisheries, and
CIFA should promote establishment of a Convention on Pollution Control for African Waters.
Development Planning for Fisheries in River and Lake Basins
9. There was general agreement that fisheries received most of the negative impacts in river basin management and development at the planning stage and therefore required special attention. To minimize these negative impacts, it was recommended that baseline data on practically all aspects of the resource should be obtained before basin alteration begins. Such data should include such resource parameters as composition and size of the stock, characteristics of the fishery, socio-economics, as well as relevant hydrological and hydrobiological features of the basin. The desirability for both national and regional approaches in providing the above data was stressed.
Management of Fisheries in Rivers and Lakes
10. At the implementation stage of basin development it is considered necessary to provide information on the current traditional artisanal fisheries, and fishery management procedures. This will be necessary in order to lay down the framework for relevant improvement of fisheries management with a view to maximizing benefits to local people.
11. It was also recommended that sequel to the above, new techniques for improving fishery management be introduced to the local people. In order to ensure success in this direction, a monitoring system for fisheries management and development in river basins which should provide the required inputs relevant for management of the development of the fishery be established.
Role of Aquaculture in the Optimization of Fisheries in River Basins
12. The need to optimize benefits from aquaculture within integrated basin development was emphasized. Both artisanal and commercial fish culture were considered equally necessary in the interests of the overall welfare of the basin people. The lack of basic information on the procedures of aquaculture on a continental basin was underlined. There was consensus that the following should receive priority attention in order to lay a sound foundation for successful aquaculture:
Basic biological data on the nutrition, growth, and reproductive parameters of indigenous species in order to select the best combinations for culture based on proven scientific criteria;
Economic data on the production of species of fish;
Economic viability of aquaculture projects in relation to land and water use requirements in the basin;
Relevant technological parameters essential for the success of aquaculture, for example, induced breeding, and fish seed supply, cheap feed, and clearly known feed conservation ratios, etc.;
The need for trained technical and research personnel to provide for technical development of aquaculture was stressed. CIFA Secretariat was to be asked to study ways to help to remove the impediments to economically successful culture. Specifically, CIFA Secretariat was called on to identify possible sources of funds to provide for training in the above aspects for aquaculture requirements and to give advice to relevant governments to make ample financial provision to harness fully the aquaculture resources of river basins.
Strategies for the Achievement of Desired Objectives
13. There was consensus that the overall strategies should be underlined by considerations for the welfare of local people as well as optimal development of all the resources in the basin. A system approach was therefore indicated, and it was emphasized that a multidisciplinary effort in the solution of production and management problems within the multiple purpose use system in river basin development, should be adopted. With particular reference to fisheries the various management tools available were considered and it was decided that the best-use principle was generally preferable provided that the socio-economic benefits were fully considered. The necessity of always closely linking biological information with the economic was emphasized as an essential process of planning in river basin management and development.
14. In particular, it was emphasized that all management and production problems be subjected to critical socio-economic analysis in order to ensure that commercial propositions were proven viable.
15. The Chairman called upon FAO to introduce background paper CIFA/80/Inf.4, listing FAO's current assistance activities to the CIFA region. This paper noted those projects aided by FAO at the national level but did not attempt to record the member countries' own activities being undertaken either alone or under joint subregional organizations with or without external assistance. The document did not include any account of FAO's Regular Programme funded support to CIFA countries, but examples of missions covering fishing technology, and water pollution, as well as seminars on fish processing and handling, and refrigeration with respect to small-scale fisheries, were mentioned.
16. The final pages of the paper listed FAO's inputs at the subregional and regional levels, both ongoing activities and those planned for immediate future. Amongst these were four principal activities: the inland fisheries programme for Africa (CIFA Project), The Lake Tanganyika Fisheries Research Project, The Sahel Fisheries Development Projects and the African Regional Aquaculture Centre, scheduled to be discussed in detail under the following items of the Agenda.
17. Under Agenda Item 4, the Committee was informed of the renewed efforts which FAO is now making to solicit financial support for CIFA activities. In this respect the Committee was told that FAO has recently formulated two projects - one for the integrated development of small-scale fisheries in Africa which has been submitted to Denmark (DANIDA) for financing (CIFA/80/4, Appendix I). The other one which is the topic of Agenda Item 4 is the Regional Inland Fisheries Programme for Africa called “The CIFA Programme”. The programme which has been submitted to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for funding is designed to provide through a regional centre in Africa technical expertise and support to be deployed to satisfy the need of member countries of CIFA to help them in the development and management of their inland fisheries.
18. Basically the programme submitted to UNDP aims at assisting member countries, among other things, in formulating appropriate strategies and actions for the development of inland fisheries and aquaculture. The programme will also assist in promoting national, subregional and regional activities and projects of socio-economic benefits to the small-scale fisheries sector. TCDC activities will also be promoted by the Programme. Training activities at various levels will also be undertaken as appropriate.
19. The Committee was informed that the Programme which will have two phases is proposed to start in 1981 and run through 1986. The first phase is estimated to cost only US$ 150 000, while each of the five years of the second phase requires an expenditure of about US$ 1 million.
20. The Committee was informed that the CIFA Programme as proposed is in line with the priorities of UNDP for the 1982–86 programming cycle and that these priorities have already been approved by the ECA Conference of Planning Ministers last April. Besides the Eleventh FAO Regional Conference for Africa held in Lomé in June this year supported the CIFA Programme as proposed and requested the Director-General of FAO to seek possible source of financial support for it. The Programme is also well integrated with the Plan of Action of the Monrovia Strategy for the Economic Development of Africa approved by the OAU Economic Summit at the end of April 1980.
21. The Secretariat informed the Committee that the procedure now being adopted in the approval of regional projects by UNDP called for an initial endorsement of all proposed regional projects by the ECA Conference of Planning Ministers (April 1981) before they are submitted to the UNDP Governing Conference (June 1981) for final approval. This means that projects which are given high priorities have better chances of approval. Hence delegates were requested to inform their Planning Ministers of the importance of the CIFA Programme so that it can be given the necessary support and priority position by the ECA Planning Ministers Conference next April.
22. The CIFA Programme received unanimous support from all delegates who called on FAO to make renewed efforts to solicit the necessary financial support for the Programme.
23. The Committee commended FAO's past training activities and recommended that FAO should intensify its efforts to provide more training courses to fisheries personnel. In this regard the Committee suggested that the CIFA Programme could expand and increase its training activities to provide short-term intensive training courses especially for fisheries planners. This would ensure that fisheries interests would be well protected in national development planning programmes particularly with respect to River Basin Development Planning.
24. Finally delegates unanimously agreed that they would make efforts to bring to the attention of their planning Ministers the importance of the CIFA Programme in the development and management of inland fisheries of their respective countries so that it would be accorded the appropriate priority and support by the ECA Conference of Planning Ministers in April 1981.
25. It was further suggested that since many countries were not represented at this session, the CIFA Programme document should be sent to all Directors of Fisheries of all member countries.
Following this discussion the Committee approved the following recommendation:
The Committee for Inland Fisheries of Africa
26. Aware that
The food situation in Africa is worsening at an accelerated rate,
African statesmen adopted in 1979 the Monrovia Strategy for Economic Development which, conscious of this serious state of affairs, aims first and foremost at food self-sufficiency,
the First Economic Summit of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU in 1980 adopted a Plan of Action for the implementation of the Monrovia Strategy,
the UNDP priorities for technical assistance at regional level during the 1982–86 programming cycle, as approved by the ECA Conference of Planning Ministers in April 1980, also emphasize food self-sufficiency, technical cooperation (TCDC) assistance to LDC and to land-locked countries;
Recognizing that the inland waters of Africa which already provide each year 1.5 million t of animal protein, have the capacity under further exploitation and effective management to contribute significantly toward food self-sufficiency;
Recognizing that over 60 percent of inland fishery production is already generated by the land-locked and least developed countries in the region, is thus an important economic and food production activity for these countries;
Considering that CIFA, which groups 32 African countries, has repeatedly emphasized over the past years the need to establish a continent-wide programme to assist member countries in developing strategies and to provide quickly multidisciplinary assistance and advice;
Convinced that the regional approach to inland fishery development and management is the best way to:
increase the technical cooperation between developing countries, notably by facilitating exchange of experience and expertise on many activities of common application between various national administrations responsible for the development of inland fisheries,
organize joint activities in fields such as training, surveys of shared stocks, etc., and thus achieve economies in the scale of financial resources required,
provide technical support for the activities of both national and regional fisheries bodies or institutions in solving problems of regional relevance.
26.1 Recommends that every effort should be made by national delegations to emphasize to their respective ministries, and particularly the central planning authorities, the importance which full and timely development of the inland fisheries resources can have on progress toward achieving the urgent target of self-sufficiency in production of animal protein for human consumption;
26.2 Recommends that FAO be requested to take action, firstly with UNDP's Regional Bureau for Africa, to secure funding for the immediate operation of the Inland Fisheries Programme for Africa, and secondly to continue to negotiate with potential donor agencies for supplementary assistance to this programme;
26.3 Recommends that the CIFA Secretariat inform the Directors of Fisheries of its member countries of the details of the proposed programme well in advance of the ECA meeting of Planning Ministers scheduled to take place in April 1981;
26.4 Recommends that, as soon as there are firm indications on the part of UNDP to fund all or part of this Programme, FAO, in order to speed up its implementation secure funds to facilitate establishment of the regional centre and afterwards appoint a programme leader, if possible, before the beginning of UNDP Third Cycle (1982–86);
26.5 Recommends that the conditions to be met for the location of the headquarters of the proposed programmes in Africa be: (a) accessibility; (b) facilities offered by the host country, and (c) a balanced distribution of various fisheries programmes' headquarters in the African continent.
26.6 Recommends that the Regional CIFA programmes and secretariat preferably be seated in one place. In the meantime that the Director-General should send out notifications announcing and inviting CIFA member countries to offer hosting of the Secretariat.
27. The Committee reviewed and noted document CIFA/80/5 comprising the report of the First Session of the CIFA Sub-Committee for Lake Tanganyika, held in Lusaka, March 1978. Mr Roest, Fisheries Biologist on the Regional Project: Fisheries Research on Lake Tanganyika (RAF/78/013), gave a resumé of the project's activities during the Preparatory Phase which included the formulation and submission of a draft project document for the principal phase, the consolidation of complete updated bibliographic references to hydrobiological research and development already undertaken on the lake, and the continued collection and analysis of the long series of detailed fisheries catch and effort data from the Burundi sector of the Lake. It was noted that, due to a severe shortage of funds available to UNDP Regional Programme for Africa at the end of 1980 and through 1981, the current preparatory phase of the project was being suspended at the end of 1980, pending preparation by UNDP of a consolidated Regional Programme for the cycle 1982–86, its endorsement by the meeting of ECA Planning Ministers and final approval by the UNDP Governing Council. The Committee received a summary report of the ad hoc meeting of the CIFA Sub-Committee for Lake Tankanyika (Appendix E) and endorsed the request for an early response on UNDP support for the principal phase of the project, Fisheries Research on Lake Tanganyika, now programmed for the 1982–86 cycle.
28. The Committee reviewed document CIFA/80/6 entitled Progress Report on the Development of the Fisheries in the Sahelian Zone and their Financing. The Committee noted with disappointment that CIFA member nations, member of the Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) as well as the representative of the Secretariat of the CILSS were absent from the Session and that, consequently, no discussion could take place on the financing of the Sahel fishery programme.
29. The Committee was much concerned by the lack of external financing coming forth from multilateral and bilateral sources to support the inland fishery part of the programme. It was suggested, however, that:
The CIFA Sub-Committee for the Sahel be closely associated with CILSS efforts to revise the strategy,
that the proposed CIFA Regional Inland Fisheries Programme for Africa (when a reality) should give priority to the planning of fishery development in the Sahelian Zone, and assist the Club of the Sahel in whatever ways it can to mobilize funds to implement the revised strategy.
30. In Africa, aquaculture is still a marginal activity, although, since 1977, fish culture production has apparently expanded well over the 100 000 t estimated by FAO in 1975 (Document CIFA/80/7).
31. Infrastructure for aquaculture is however expanding rapidly in some African countries, especially in those countries where a fish culture development project is implemented. Examples are fish culture extension in rural areas in Central African Republic and Ivory Coast, aquaculture development in fresh and brackish waters in Madagascar and multiplication of private fish farms in Ivory Coast. In order to accelerate aquaculture development, projects supported by external financing are under way or have been approved in some 25 African countries. In order to offset the lack of trained personnel or adequate research for this development, the Regional Aquaculture Centre for Africa was established in Port Harcourt for the training of specialists (24 in 1980) and research workers (capacity 20).
32. Recommendations concern:
32.1 Extension, which is the key to acceptance of aquaculture by rural people. Involvement at school level as a means of consolidating implantation of aquaculture in rural areas requires special attention (examples of Ivory Coast and Malawi).
32.2 Training, from the lowest to the highest level, with special attention to the motivation of trainees.
32.3 Research, which must be organized, coordinated and developed according to clearly expressed needs;
32.4 Necessity to bring to the attention of the governments that aquaculture be considered an essential agro-economic activity and receive adequate human and financial investments.
33. The Committee approved that report of the Correspondence Working Group on Stock Assessment without modification (CIFA/80/12, Appendix E). In essence, the report and its annex recommend that two new stock assessment working groups be formed to more efficiently cope with the varying stock assessment needs of African inland water fisheries. One new group will place emphasis on the assessment of pelagic fishery resources in large lakes and reservoirs in support of pelagic fishery management and development. The other group will concentrate its efforts on the appraisal of artisanal fisheries in support of improvement of management strategies for artisanal fisheries. The former group will henceforth be known as the CIFA Correspondence Working Group on the Assessment of Pelagic Fishery Stocks of Reservoirs and Lakes, and the latter Group will be called the CIFA Correspondence Working Group on Appraisal of Artisanal Fisheries. In accepting the report of the Correspondence Working Group on Stock Assessment, the Committee supported the need for meetings of both Working Groups in 1982.
34. The report and its annex (CIFA/80/10, Appendix F) were accepted by the Committee. This activity is aimed at assisting member countries to more fully realize the potential benefits of their river basin fisheries through:
Upgrading capabilities for prediction of fishery yield from reservoirs, and from upstream and downstream fisheries, in the early planning stages before basin alteration has begun,
the formulation of a set of the most viable fishery management options to be adopted in the post-alteration phase, and
the improvement of capabilities for planning for matching fishery development activities in newly altered river basins with the biological potential of the fisheries for exploitation.
35. The mechanism adopted for this activity is an Africa-wide synthesis of information on African river basin fisheries; however, because fo the sheer enormity of the task of compilation and synthesis, the Committee has chosen to place priority on reservoir fisheries in the execution of this activity.
36. For the timely execution of this activity a step-wise process has been advocated involving a consultancy of about three weeks' duration in 1981 to lay the framework for the reservoir synthesis, and for the formation of a Working Group on River Basin Fishery Synthesis with a meeting of this Group in 1982.
37. An interim product of the activity should be a compilation of national synthesis along the lines of “The Present Status of Reservoir Fisheries in Africa”, and the final output of the activity will be a manual along the lines of “Planning for the Development and Management of Fisheries in River Basins in Africa”.
38. The Committee accepted the report of the ad hoc meeting on this subject and gave its support to the course idea as outlined in the Annex to CIFA/80/11 (Appendix G) along with the observations that in content the course should be flexible, and that with regard to the scope of training that much training activity was required in the various disciplines of fisheries in addition to those explicitly addressed by this CIFA activity which concerns itself only with a course for fishery appraisal and fishery management.
39. The need for a meeting of a Working Group on the Course on Fishery Appraisal and Fishery Management was envisaged for the 1982/83 period with terms of reference similar to the objectives outlined for this Group in the Annex to CIFA/80/11.
40. The Committee was informed of a proposal prepared by FAO for a Symposium theme for the 5th Session of CIFA, which would deal with “Extension Services in African Inland Fisheries”. The essential role of extension service as connecting link between the production sector and the fisheries institutions was pointed out and, in this connexion, the importance of the feedback information to fisheries research was emphasized.
41. With regard to the symposium theme of the present Session it was recalled that at the Bujumbura Session a recommendation was made that it should concern the planning of inland fisheries development. Although the Committee was aware that the present Session on river basin management and development was not in full agreement with this recommendation, it was agreed that the contents of the contributions and the related discussions had to some extent covered this aspect and, consequently, it was not necessary to have another symposium on this subject in the near future.
42. It was also mentioned that, in addition to extension services, the problem of the coordination of collection and interpretation of fishery statistics could be retained. However, there was a general feeling that the topics suggested were already comprehensive enough and that the addition of another subject should be avoided. The Committee therefore agreed to adopt the symposium theme on extension services as presented in the document CIFA/80/9.
43. The Committee was pleased to note that its efforts over the past years to develop a regional project for the development of artisanal fisheries had finally become concrete in the form of a project proposal presented to the FAO/DANIDA Cooperative Programme in 1980.
44. The Committee reviewed the Summary of this proposal given as Appendix 1 to CIFA/80/4. The Committee fully agreed with the approach suggested which is the promotion, coordination and support of community-level fisheries development activities with a strong community participation in the planning and execution of the projects.
45. It is realized that the proposed programme for the integrated development of small-scale fisheries in Africa will need to be very closely coordinated with the Proposed Regional Inland Fisheries Programme for Africa (the CIFA Programme) described in document CIFA/80/4 and would, in fact, become the operative arm of the CIFA Programme in the field of inland artisanal fisheries.
46. The Committee reasserted the importance of small-scale fishery development on the food situation in Africa, and commended FAO for its efforts in preparing this regional programme and getting donor nations interested in its financing.
47. Further information of technical nature related to the project proposal were given to the Committee. In particular it was pointed out that its main objectives were a follow-up in a more elaborated form of the Fisheries Community Centres (CFC) concept which was presented on the occasion of the third session of CIFA in Bujumbura. Emphasis was put on the essential role played in the project implementation by the Fisheries Development Unit (FDU) which is intended to ensure the required technical support to the development activities at community level. In this connexion, the attention of the Committee was drawn to the recently published FAO Fisheries Technical Paper “The Fishing Technology Unit” which could be used as guidelines by all member countries interested in the planning and organization of the nucleus for the Fisheries Development Unit. The Committee was informed that information copies of this document were to be sent by FAO to all delegations immediately after the session. A French version of the document should be prepared afterwards for the attention of French speaking member countries.
48. The Kenya delegation proposed to establish a CIFA Sub-Committee for Lake Victoria in order to coordinate fisheries research and development activities on this major lake shared by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. He proposed that the terms of reference should be similar to those of the CIFA Sub-Committee for Lake Tanganyika and should cover those activities previously undertaken by the independent and now defunct Lake Victoria Fisheries Commission.
49. The Tanzanian delegation supported this proposal and noted its general agreement to cooperate with its neighbouring states in such matters of mutual interest. The Committee therefore urged the CIFA Secretariat to study the matter, prepare draft terms of reference, take the necessary action to satisfy the aims of the participating countries, and submit the draft proposal for consideration by the next session of CIFA.
50. The Committee noted with satisfaction that Rwanda had recently joined CIFA thus becoming its thirty-second member. Other countries not yet members of CIFA were urged to apply for membership to the Director-General of FAO.
51. Under Rule II of its Rules of Procedure, the Committee is required to elect at the end of every session a Chairman and a maximum of three Vice-Chairmen. Before the election, the Committee reaffirmed previous procedure that if possible the Chairman should be from the host country.
52. With this understanding, Egypt was unanimously elected Chairman of the Committee. Madagascar, Sudan and Tanzania were elected as Vice-Chairmen.
53. As a result of discussion concerning Rule II of the CIFA Rules of Procedure, the delegate of Kenya supported by other delegates, proposed to amend this rule so that the Committee shall elect the Chairman and Vice-Chairmen at the beginning of every session instead of at the end of every session as currently presented by Rule II. Consequently the Agenda of the fifth session should include this item in accordance with Rule XII of CIFA Rules of Procedure.
54. The Chairman read the text of two telexes from the Academy of Science and Technology in Egypt and from the FAO Country Representative in Egypt inviting CIFA to hold its Fifth Session in Egypt.
55. The Committee agreed unanimously to the kind invitation of Egypt.
56. Madagascar, Sudan and Tanzania in that order also indicated their interest in hosting the Fifth Session of CIFA should the need arise.
