Marine Fisheries Review 2011: Vol 72 Iss 4

2011·10.7 MB·English

T OF
..‘ ph¥ a CO,¢ 2 f ay
\
v
Commerce
Commercial Fishing in
Sao Tomé e Principe
and Cape Verde
Marine Fisheries
BTate (=o m e\ = AI \V /
| = *
W. L L. Hobart, Editor
J . A. Strader, Managing Editor
On the cover:
Upper left—
wooden open-deck
artisanal fishing boat
outside the capital city of
Sao Tomé, on Sao Tomé Island,
Sao Tomé e Principe. Upper right—
sale of artisanal catch at the beach in
Praia Gamboa, Sao Tomé Island, S40 Tomé
e Principe. Lower—small open-deck wooden
artisanal fishing boats on the beach at Tarrafal,
Santiago Island, Cape Verde. Upper left photo by Jorge
Carvalho do Rio, other two photos by Gongalo Carneiro.
Special Issue 73(4), 2011
“They Come, They Fish, and They Go:” EC Fisheries
Agreements with Cape Verde and Sao Tomé e Principe Goncalo Carneiro
U.S. DEPARTMENT The Marine Fisheries Review (ISSN 0090-1830) is pub printing this periodical has been approved by the Director of
OF COMMERCE lished quarterly by the Scientific Publications Office, Na- the Office of Management and Budget.
John Bryson, tional Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, 7600 Sand Point ‘he NMFS does not approve, recommend, or endorse any
Way N.E., BIN C15700, Seattle, WA 98115. Annual subscrip- proprietary product or proprietary material mentioned in this
Secretary of Commerce tions are sold by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S publication. No reference shall be made to the NMFS, or to
Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. The this publication furnished by the NMFS, in any advertising
annual subscription price is $25.00 domestic, $35.00 foreign. or sales promotion which would indicate or imply that the
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND Single copies are $9.50 domestic, $13.50 foreign. For new NMFS approves, recommends, or endorses any proprietary
ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION subscriptions write: New Orders, Superintendent of Docu- product or proprietary material mentioned herein, or which
Jane Lubchenco, ments, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954. has as its purpose an intent to cause directly or indirectly the
Under Secretary Although the contents of this publication have not been advertised product to be used or purchased because of this
copyrighted and may be reprinted entirely, reference to NMFS publication. POSTMASTER: Send address changes
for Oceans and Atmosphere
source is appreciated for subscriptions for this journal to: Marine Fisheries Re-
Publication of material from sources outside the NMFS is view, c/o Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government
not an endorsement, and the NMFS is not responsible for the Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. This issue, volume
National Marine Fisheries Service
accuracy of facts, views, or opinionso f the sources. The Sec- 73 number 4, was printed and distributed in April 2012.
Samuel D. Rauch III, retary of Commerce has determined that the publication of
Acting Assistant Administrator this periodical is necessary for the transaction of public busi- This publication is available online at
for Fisheries ness required by law of this Department. Use of the funds for http://spo.nwr.noaa.gov/mcontent.htm
“They Come, They Fish, and They Go:”
EC Fisheries Agreements with Cape Verde and Sao Tomé e Principe
GONGALO CARNEIRO
Introduction ski and Fluharty, 2002; Bartels et al., Acronyms used in this paper.
2007; SSNC, 2009).
ACP African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of
Fisheries agreements between the Eu- Largely in response to this criticism, States
ropean Community (EC,o rC ommunity) EC fisheries agreements have been sub- Common fisheries policy
CV Cape Verde
and third countries! have, like much of ject to successive modifications in order EC European Community
the European common fisheries policy to better account for issues of sustain- FPA Fisheries partnership agreement
ICCAT International Commission for the
(CFP), been a recurrent topic of debate. ability and responsibility in fishing, and Conservation of Atlantic Tunas
The policy itself has been repeatedly to enhance their potential contribution ILO International Labour Organization
criticized for its failure to adequately to broader socioeconomic development INDP National Fisheries Development Institute of
Cape Verde
address issues of ecological and, to a in those partner countries. The extent to NGO Nongovernmental organization
lesser degree, socioeconomic sustain- which this has been achieved in the EC RFMO Regional Fisheries Management Organization
STP Republic of Sao Tomé e Principe
ability in European fisheries. Critics of fisheries agreements with Cape Verde UNCLOS United Nations Convention on the Law of the
the policy’s international dimension add (CV) and Sao Tomé e Principe (STP) is Sea
VMS Vessel monitoring system
to these concerns a moral judgment of the main subject of this paper.
the righteousness of rich and powerful Regarding the ecological sustainabil-
Europe buying fishery resources from ity of the agreements, there are concerns counterparts to the agreements. This
poor and vulnerable countries (Kaczyn- about the level of knowledge about often reflects a more widespread lack
the status of many of the negotiated of capacity of public administrations
'Third country is the designation used in Euro- stocks, and the generally insufficient in some of the poor countries that are
pean policy circles to refer to countries other than levels of monitoring and control of EC partners to the agreements. Although
the EC’s member states.
fleet activities. In general, EC fisheries improvements have been recorded in
agreements have been and continue to many of these countries, disparities still
This work was conducted while the author was be implemented in contexts of insuf- exist. CV and STP illustrate this point
with the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, ficient information and control, and the rather clearly, with the former displaying
Cardiff University, Park Place, Cardiff, Wales, two cases reviewed here constitute no a capacity to apply and track EC funds
CF10 3YE, U.K. He may now be contacted at
Tygelsj6 231, 24791 Sédra Sandby, Sweden exception. that largely surpasses that of the latter.
([email protected]). Views or opinions Insufficient monitoring of activities at The third issue analyzed is the degree
expressed or implied are those of the author
sea has, in some instances, had a parallel to which fisheries agreements with the
and do not necessarily reflect the position of the
National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. in inadequate tracking of the financial EC contribute to broader socioeconomic
development in CV and STP. The moral
disapproval of the agreements alluded to
earlier has much to do with this particu-
ABSTRACT —Fisheries agreements with and Sdo Tomé e Principe in terms of those lar point, as it is often believed that the
the European Community (EC) are an domains, considering both the contents of
only benefit of the agreements accru-
important component of the fisheries sector the agreements and their practical imple-
in Cape Verde and Sao Tomé e Principe, mentation. The fisheries sector in each of ing to third countries is the money that
constituting today a key source of income these countries is reviewed, as are some enters the state treasury and which, all
for the respective fisheries administra- of the fundamentals and criticisms of EC too often, is not seen to improve the lives
tion. In spite of this, and of the fact that fisheries agreements. It is argued that the of poor fishing communities, which are
these agreements have been renewed sev- agreements with Cape Verde and Sado Tomé
those who stand to lose the most from
eral times over the past decades, chal- e Principe will not live up to the stated
lenges remain in domains such as control objectives of sustainability and responsi- having Community vessels fishing in
and communication of fishing activities, bility in fisheries until improvements are their waters.
follow-up of financial counterparts, and made to the control of EC vessels, the This paper discusses how these three
integration of European fleets’ opera- follow-up of funds paid by the EC, and the
issues have been handled in the fisher-
tions with the Cape Verdean and Santo- size and diversity of benefits accruing to
mean economies. This paper analyzes the the fisheries and related sectors in the two ies agreements between the EC and the
EC fisheries agreements with Cape Verde countries. two African countries. It will be shown
that, notwithstanding improvements to ment of financial counterparts, and so- Table 1.—Land mass, length of coastline, and EEZ of
CV and STP."
the letter of the successive protocols cioeconomic integration of Community
and agreements, important challenges fleet activities. The conclusion considers Item Cape Verde Sao Tomé e Principe
remain unsolved in practice, compro- how the shortcomings identified in each Land mass (sq. km) 4,033 1,001
mising stated objectives relative to of these aspects can be addressed. Coastline (km) 1,108 210
EEZ (sq. km) 734,000 160,000
fisheries sustainability and responsibil-
ity, and to socioeconomic integration. Cape Verde and Sao Tomé e ‘Sources: Government of Cape Verde, 2004; text footnotes
Principe Fisheries Sectors Rio* and Oceanic Développement et al.°.
With this study, the existing body of
literature on fisheries agreements in- The fisheries sectors in both Cape where the shelves are less abrupt and
volving the EC is expanded in two ways: Verde and Sao Tomé e Principe are dom- where levels of biological productivity
first, by focusing on two countries, the inated by traditional, small-scale fishing are substantially higher than those of
fisheries sectors of which have seldom activities. This has been due, primarily, deeper waters. These areas have tradi-
been dealt with in scholarly literature, to an historical paucity of capital for in- tionally been important fishing grounds
in particular in the English language; vestments in the sector, a situation that is for demersal and small pelagic species
and second, by analyzing specific as- common io most African fisheries (Heck in both countries.
pects of the fisheries agreements that et al., 2007). Since neither country has In CV, two particularly important
the EC has signed with CV and STP. an operational distant-water fishing areas exist, one in the windward (bar-
The reason for considering these two fleet, their fisheries sectors are shaped lavento) group of islands extending
countries simultaneously lies not only in exclusively by the resources avail- from S. Antao in the west to S. Nicolau
the similarities between the respective able in the respective national waters, in the east, and the other spanning the
EC Fisheries Partnership Agreements principally those closest to shore. sea area to the south of the island of Sal
(FPA), but especially in the fact that, Both countries are archipelagic states and around the islands of Boavista and
despite important differences in how located in the central eastern Atlantic, Maio. In STP, the extended insular shelf
fisheries are managed in these countries, CV about 350 nmi west of Senegal, is found south of the island of Principe
the implementation of those agreements and STP about 200 nmi west of Equa- and encompassing the Tinhosas islets.
currently faces similar challenges. torial Guinea and Gabon, in the Gulf of The average levels of marine biomass
The work presented here results first Guinea (Fig. | and 2). CV is composed in the EEZ’s of both countries are rela-
from the analysis of the contents of the of ten islands, of which nine are inhab- tively low. Table 2 provides estimated
fisheries agreements and respective pro- ited’, whereas STP consists of the two volumes of exploitable fishery resources
tocols involving the EC and each of the islands that compose the name of the in the two countries.
two African countries.” This analysis has country. Both archipelagos have many Current exploitation levels are be-
been complemented with the few exist- islets. Table | presents data relative to lieved to fall much shorter than the ex-
ing studies on the fisheries sectors of CV the geography of the two countries. ploitable potentials, estimates pointing
and STP, in particular with those dealing The volcanic origin and the large at total yearly catches in CV between
with implementation and consequences average depths of the sea bottoms 7,500 and 10,800 t (INDP, Nd.; Govern-
of those agreements. In addition, the around the two archipelagos result in ment of Cape Verde, 2004; Fonseca‘),
author conducted observations and held comparatively narrow insular shelves, and in STP of approximately 4,000 t for
interviews with individuals involved the sea areas above the shelf down to artisanal fisheries (FAO’; CETMAR’),
in fishing, fisheries and public fiscal the 200 m isobath amounting only to although Rio* proposes the figure of
administration, and marine surveillance 1,572 sq. km in STP and 5,394 sq. km 3000-3 500 t. The notable exceptions
and maritime activities in both countries, in CV (Rio*; Oceanic Développment to this situation of presumed under-
during the month of January 2010. et al.”). In both cases there are areas exploitation are the high-value lobster
The structure of this paper is as fol- fisheries in CV, which are considered
lows. First, the main characteristics of the *§t. Luzia, the smallest of the ten islands, is occa- fully exploited in the case of muddy
fisheries sector in each of the two coun- sionally inhabited by fishermen from neighbor- spiny lobster, Palinurus charlestoni
tries are reviewed. Then, an overview is ing islands. It is, however, considered officially (locally known as lagosta-rosa), and
uninhabited.
provided of the rationale and evolution of *Rio, J. M. C. 2006. Horizon 2012. Vers un
EC fisheries agreements in general and développement intégré, durable et responsable ®Fonseca, B. O. 2000. Expansion of pelagic fish-
of those with CV and STP in particular. du littoral. Sous secteur de la péche artisanale. eries in Cape Verde. A feasibility study. United
MARAPA, S. Tomé, STP, 305 p. Nations Univ., Fish. Training Program, Reykja-
Followed by three sections analyzing vik, Iceland, 27 p.
‘Oceanic Développement, Poseidon Aquatic
aspects related to fishing opportunities Resources Management Ltd., and Megapesca 7FAO. 2009. Programa integrado de reestrutu-
and control of fleet activities, manage- Lda. 2004a. Interim/ex post evaluation of the cur- racao da pesca. Relat6rio FAO/SFC/STP. Minis-
rent protocol to the fisheries agreement between tério da Agricultura, Desenvolvimento Rural e
the European Community and the Republic of Pesca, Sao Tomé, STP, 67 p.
Sao Tomé e Principe, and analysis of the impact SCETMAR. 2009. Diagnéstico e proposta de
>The texts of the agreements and protocols are of the future protocol on sustainability, includ- plano operativo para promover o desenvolvim-
publicly accessible through the EurLex legal ing ex ante evaluation. Unpubl. final rep., FPA ento da pesca artesanal em Sao Tomé e Principe.
database, online at http://eur-lex .europa.eu. 1/STP/04. AECID, Sao Tomé, STP, 61 p.
Marine Fisheries Review
Ponta
Ol. _Ribeira Grande
®p re bas
Santo Antao
4 Ponto Novo
Sao Vicente / < 44 5
Mindela, > oa Seine
Mageiral / Santa Luzia
ra)
Vila da O
Ribera Brava
rN cain
Tarratal *Prequica
Sao Nicolau
Boa Vista
NORTH
SENEGAL
THE GAMBIA eee
wSw 3 OCEAN
hos
GUINEA-BISSA%U Gul.
C00701 7}
Cape Verde pO Santiago
S
wh tara '
* \\ % N) aky a Py CaSie heMtao vede
_ |] LHEUS DO ROMBO Z . »_ Mosteiros ibeira da BarAcaag,o mmada & pao Sro f DomBiangto s VilaM awd oe
fh Fogo fd oe ~
-— +se is VilSae nNtorav a . i » Cova Figueira Ciddaaddee VelVteil ha. Praia
Figure |1.—Cape Verde (Source: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/cape_verde.html).
Table 2.—Estimated volumes of exploitable fishery resources in CV and STP.
Country Estimated resources (t/yr) Source Comments
Cape Verde 32,500-41 600
(of which 25,000—30,000 large pelagic species) Government of Cape Verde, 2004
36,000—44,000 Almeida et al., 2003
38,000—47,000 Text footnote Fonseca®
Sao Tomé e Principe 12,000 coastal species Text footnote Rio* No estimate for large pelagic species, but reference to 8,500 t/yr
(of which 3,600 demersal species) in EC agreement
12,000 coastal species
(of which 4,000 coastal pelagics, 2,000 demersals, Text footnote FAO” Estimate for large pelagic based on Russian surveys from the
and 6,000 shellfish species) and 17,000 large pelagic mid 1980's (Adelino et al., 2005)
species
over-exploited, in the case of coastal With regard to large migratory pelagic As alluded to above, artisanal forms
species such as green spiny lobster, species, foreign fleets account for the of fishing predominate in both STP and
Panulirus regius; brown spiny lobster, majority of catches. With the exception CV. Such dominance is absolute in the
Panulirus echinatus ;a nd slipper lobster, of Japanese vessels operating in San- former country, given the absence of
Scyllarides latus. tomean waters (Costa’), there are no industrial and semi-industrial fishing
In neither of these countries are there reliable data on these catches, although, fleets.!° The figures relative to the size
any systematic and comprehensive pro- as will be discussed later for the case of
cedures for collecting data on fishing EC vessels, this is in contravention to ‘Following independence, the Santomean gov-
effort or catches from artisanal fisher- the fisheries agreements with the EC. ernment attempted to operate an industrial fish-
ies, this being especially true in STP. ing fleet. An economic failure, the project was
abandoned after a few years (Espirito Santo,
This fact explains much of the vari- °Costa, G., Dir. Gen. Fisheries, Sao Tomé, STP. 2009; Rio*). More recently, the national media
ability in the estimates presented above. Personal commun., 28 Jan. 2010. Continued on page 5.
73(4)
SAO TOME-ET-PRINCIPE Pedra da Galé PRINCIPE |
a --- =e _ Not Bombom Pointe
| Banana
Pointe Marmuia f-ascalheira 7 Belo Monte Mhoosttsi edrooss } |
|
GUINEE |
BQUATORIALE
Principe , x S. kbge |
SAO TOME- Ponta do Sel ¢
ET-PRINCIPE wy UBREVILLE lola @
SAO TOME
Sao Tome GABON SanAtbToewd ne- C)r i©s toC hPionidnetel a
Anselmo
Die fAmmotein Francisco Mantero
FUINEE BQ —, (Maric Coerreiha} nddo
Portela do Lumiar PAGUE Ribeiro Frio
SAO TOME 337 * 248 4
Pic do Principe
intonte
Dom Henrique
ome
Neves
N\ Ferreira'e Pointe Café
Praic des
Morro Carregado
Praic Pdraosv eP ldogn caCs, PrNauinae sG amboo \ \ ~ PPiocion tNe egdre o s 305( Hot lBootn é Cdaor oJgoog quei) ||
Ribewo Funda yyp tbned aio Nazore
ves A AGUA GRANDE Pedras Tinhosa |
e d'el SRAei O TOME iT inhosa Pequena |
}|
BR. Pointe de S. Jerénimo | }
|| |
| Timhosa
Manuel Morois Grande
*
Cascota » ER|o k oSR c k |
Rebordelo
PPce Gdaeg oS toC ovTeonmnee
m2
* llot de
Santana
liot Sdéo Migue Fo
ae
Not Gaba
Capitale d'Etat
Pounte Azeitona (plus de 40 000 hab.)
Santo Antonio Ville |
Village |
Ribeira Peixe
Bourg |
Hot Quixiba Siége d'entreprise |
agricole |
Méno
Dépendance agricole
a Conceicdo Santo Anténio Capitale de province |
Sete Pedras
Limite de district
Porto Alegre
Capitale de district |
Pointe Lama Porco SAO TOME-=_ Route principale
ET-PRINCIPE Route secondaire
Autre route |
s. Gago Coutinh
| (Hot das Rolas) Aéroport, aérodrome |
| f tia Sam J|S
Onion Geograptuque (Arceht Dwocuvmenetatsion ) du Mirestére des Aftarres Etrangeres © 1967 Imprpiarm iee MéA E
Figure 2.—Sao Tomé e Principe (Source : http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/cgsd/stp/index.html).
Marine Fisheries Review
of the fisheries sectors and subsectors, that productivity in the sector has not Table 3.—Empioyment and fleet size in the Santomean
including fleet sizes, species composi- been affected by apparent improvements fisheries sector in 1995, 2003, and 2007.'
tion, and employment levels show im- in equipment. In this respect, it has Item 1995 2003 2007
portant discrepancies between different recently been suggested that “[f]isher- No. of fishermen 2,060 1,989 2,428
sources. This fact, which is particularly men take advantage of motorization No. of fish vendors Note? 2,052
evident in the case of STP, is due not more as a safety measure and as a means No. of fishing boats 1,840 1,614 1,921
Motorization rate (%) 36 21 23
only to temporal variations in each of of spending less time at sea, than as a
those dimensio—ne s.g . people entering factor enabling them to fish in more ‘Sources: text footnotes Rio*; Oceanic Développement et
al.5; and CETMAR®
or leaving the profession; boats that are productive, but also more distant fishing 2An estimate of 6,000 fish vendors in 2000 is mentioned
built and dismantl—e bdu t also the low grounds” (FAQ’: 21). in Oceanic Développement et al. This number seems
excessive in comparison to the figure for 2007, even
frequency of data collection campaigns Rio* describes six main units of considering the variability of employment in this activity.
and, to a lesser extent, to differences in artisanal fisheries in STP according to
the classifications used (e.g. in regards vessel and gear types. Table 4 sum- mercial potential in European markets,
to boat types). The informal nature of marizes these units, to which beach namely seabreams, Pagrus spp. (locally
most of the artisanal fisheries sector in seines, an ancient and declining form known as pargo) and wreckfish, Poly-
both countries also renders systematic of fishing, has been added. Some of the prion americanus (locally known as
data collection and follow-up both dif- fisheries carried out by larger motor- cherne). Small pelagics are caught both
ficult and costly. Table 3 summarizes ized fiberglass vessels (corresponding by Santomean artisanal fishermen and
data relative to the size of the Santomean to the two bottom rows in Table 4) are by foreign industrial fleets, although in
fisheries sector. sometimes referred to as the Santomean the case of the latter, the principal target
The decapitalization of the artisanal semi-industrial fleet (Oceanic Dével- are large migratory pelagic species,
sector identified in the 2004 evaluation oppement et al.°; FAO’; Adelino et such as yellowfin tuna, Thunnus alba-
of the EC fisheries agreement appears to al.!'). Others oppose this classification, cares, bigeye tuna, T. obesus; skipjack
have been reversed in recent years (Oce- arguing that STP does not have any tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis; Atlantic
anic Développement et al.>), considering processing industry that such vessels swordfish, Xiphias gladius; and various
the figures relative to the size of the fleet supply, and that the vessels are too small species of sharks, such as hammerhead,
and the respective rate of motorization. to qualify as semi-industrial. Designa- Sphyrna spp.; mako, /surus spp.; and
Still, this apparent reversal of the earlier tions such as “offshore artisanal” or blue shark, Prionace glauca (Oceanic
decline must be considered with care. “advanced artisanal” are then preferred Développement et al.°). Although for-
First, many of the improvements in the (Rio*; Anibal!?). eign fleets stand for most of the catches
Santomean fleet have been funded by Demersal fish stocks found in the of large migratory pelagics, some of the
donor money and hence do not mirror a coastal waters of STP, which constitute smaller species are frequently caught by
de facto increase of investment capabili- the mainstay of most artisanal fisher- local artisanal vessels and are commonly
ties or an actual accumulation of capital ies, combine elements of eastern and found in Santomean markets. These
by local shipowners. Second, there has western central Atlantic stocks (Oceanic include mackerel and round scad, De-
been a stagnation of catches from arti- Développment et al.>). Some of these capterus macarellus and D. punctatus;
sanal fisheries at an estimated 4,000 t/ have been considered to have com- Spanish sardine, Sardinella aurita; and
year (FAO’; CETMAR’), suggesting different species of carangids and flying-
fish, Cheilopogon spp.
'l Adelino, F., E. Moniz, and M. Nascimento. Artisanal fishing is carried out in the
'0(continued) discussed the possibility of gov- 2005. Evaluation de la contribution socio-écon- coastal waters of the Santomean archi-
ernment reentering the industrial fishing busi- omique de la péche au PIB et au développement
ness by rehabilitating some of the vessels of the de Sao Tomé e Principe. Sustainable Fisheries pelago. The degree of motorization and
ill-fated Astipesca fishing company. The fact Livelihoods Programme, DFID, London, U.K., the availability of safety equipment on
that Astipesca’s abandoned ships have capsized, and FAO, Rome, Italy, 20 p. board determine the distance from shore
grounded, or simply disappeared might explain !2 Anibal, O. Director, Dir. Gen. Fisheries, S.
why no visible steps have actually been taken. Tomé, STP. Personal commun., 20 Jan. 2010. where fishermen decide to operate.
Fishermen from the island of Principe
Table 4.--Main types of artisanal fisheries in Sao Tomé e Principe, including targeted species."
Description Targeted species No
Harpoon fishing; divers from beaches or from small canoes Demersal fishes and cephalopods; Marine turtles 350 divers
Beach seines, trawling, and seining to beach Demersal fishes and cephalopods Unknown
Hand lines and gilinets for both surface and bottom fishing; small wooden canoes (3-6 m) with sail and oars Demersal fish species, occasionally small pelagics 1,012 canoes
Gillnets for surface and bottom fishing; medium-sized wooden boats (6-8 m) with motor (8-15 h.p.) Demersal fish species, occasionally small pelagics 290 boats
Purse seine nets; large wooden boats (8-12 m) with motor (25-20 h.p.) Small pelagic fish species 114 boats
Hand line for surface and bottom fishing; large open deck fiberglass boats (8—13 m) with motor Demersal fish species, occasionally small pelagics 3 boats
Hand line for surface and bottom fishing; large closed deck fiberglass boats (8-13 m) with motor Demersal fish species, occasionally small pelagics 2 boats
‘Sources: text footnote Rio* and Oceanic Développement et al.5
and larger vessels from S. Tomé often
fish in the richer grounds to the south
of Principe. Most of the fleet, however,
consists of dugout canoes unsuited for
navigation beyond a few nautical miles
from the coast (Fig. 3, 4).
Capture activities are the exclusive re-
sponsibility of men. They also carry out
the first sale, which typically takes place
on the beach upon arrival from a fishing
trip. From this stage onward, women
take the lead on all processing and
commercialization of fish products. As
is also the case in CV, women perform
their work in complete independence
from men, and are solely responsible
for managing the economic and financial
aspects of commercialization. Fish pro-
cessing exists only in relatively incipient
forms, limited mostly to sporadic salting
and smoking. Recently, a small coopera-
tive processing unit was established with Figure 3.— Arrival of fishing boats at Praia Gamboa, STP, showing typical fiberglass
the assistance of the nongovernmental vessel and large wooden dugout canoes used in coastal fisheries.
organization (NGO) MARAPA, the
International Fund for Agricultural men’s associations have been formally Table 5.—Employment and fleet size in the Cape
Development, and the Spanish coopera- established in the past but, apart from Verdean artisanal fisheries subsector in 1999 and
2005.'2
tion agency AECID, enabling women to a few exceptions, are mostly inopera-
Item 1999 2005
produce and sell different products with tive today.
higher added value.'> Conservation fa- NGO’s with persistent and extended No. of fishermen 4,283 3,108
No. of fish vendors Note? 893
cilities are scarce and poorly maintained, work in the sector are limited to one,
No. of fishing boats 1,267 1,036
which poses additional problems for the MARAPA, although other organizations Motorization rate (%) 73 74
conservation of fishery products in an working with local development issues
‘Sources: FAO, 2004; Government of Cape Verde, 2004;
equatorial country where fish processing sometimes also support fishing activi- text footnote FAO and DFID'®
is minimal and often inadequate. ties. Finally, the ubiquitous presence of 2Silva, O., INDP, Mindelo, CV. Personal commun., 6 Apr.
2010
The institutional set-up of the fisher- bilateral and multilateral cooperation 3Government of Cape Verde (2004: 45) refers to an
ies sector is relatively underdeveloped. agencies has manifested itself through- estimate of 3,500 fish vendors in 2000. This number
seems excessive in comparison to the figure for 2005,
Government structures include the min- out the years since independence in the which results from a survey conducted by the INDP in all
istry responsible for fisheries and the financing and implementation of numer- fishing communities in CV.
respective directorate general. Maritime Ous projects in the sector, of which many
surveillance and policing of the whole have failed.'4 CV has semi-industrial and industrial
of the EEZ is the responsibility of the Figures relative to the size of the fleets of some dimension, dedicated to
coast guard, while the ports captaincy of artisanal fisheries subsector in CV are fisheries of tunas and tuna-like species,
STP— itself part of the coast guard—is presented in Table 5. More than one- small pelagics, and deep-water lobster.
tasked with near-shore patrolling of all third of all artisanal fishermen and fish Together, these fleets are composed of
maritime activities, including granting vendors are registered in the island of some 70 vessels of varying sizes (8—25
and controlling fishing licenses. Fisher- Santiago, itself home to more than half m; 2.5-121 GRT'>) and engine power,
of the country’s resident population. employing an estimated 840 people, up
from approximately 600 at the turn of
3This processing unit is part of a larger mar- the millennium (Almeida et al., 2003;
keting cooperative named Copafresco, which Fonseca®; FAO and DFID!®). The tuna
aims at improving the processing, transportation, '4Tn recent years, two of the most visible fail-
and commercialization of fish products in STP. It ures were the Spanish-funded fisheries com-
currently handles over 15,000 kg of fresh fish per plex at the port of Neves, which, after an initial
year (IFAD. 2009. Implementation of the second investment of 1.5 million Euros in 2000, was '5Gross Registered Tonnage.
cycle of the Participatory Smallholder Agricul- abandoned in 2004; and the Taiwan-funded '©FAO and DFID. 2005. Evaluation de la contri-
ture and Artisanal Fisheries Development Pro- fish auction built outside the capital city in a bution socio-économique du secteur des péches
gramme. Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and place allegedly unsuited for berthing, which au PIB et au développement rural au Cap Vert.
Principe. EB 2009/98/INF.3. Int. Fund for Agric. has never been used and is said to be awaiting Sustainable Fisheries Livelihoods Programme,
Develop., Rome, Italy, 10 p.). conversion to a hospital. DFID, London, U.K.,and FAO, Rome, Italy4,3 p.
Marine Fisheries Review
pe
Figure 4.—“Prao” canoe with sail in STP. Photo courtesy of Jorge Carvalho do Rio.
Table 6.—Main types of artisanal fisheries in Cape Verde, ir = g targeted sp
Description Targeted species No
Divers from small boats, at depths up to 25 m, both free diving and scuba diving (illegal); may include gillnets Coastal lobster, mollusks, demersal fish species Unknown
and traps for lobsters and mollusks and cephalopods
Beach seines, trawling, and seining to beach Small pelagic fish species 50 units (1999)
Gillnets for surface fishing from boats; concentrated in Santiago (82%), S. Vicente, and S. Antao Small pelagic fish species (Blackspot picarel Unknown
Sppi cara melanurus, ca. 85%)
Purse seines for surface fishing; medium-sized boats (9-10 m) with outboard motors Small pelagic fish species 24 units
Hand lines for surface and bottom fishing; small and medium-sized boats (3-9 m) with outboard motors Tunas and tuna-like species and demersal fish 1,229 boats
species, alternatively
'Source: Almeida et al., 2003
fleet operates different fishing gears ac- 6.5 m operating purse seines to catch proximately twice those of the latter
cording to season, including longlines small pelagic species such as mackerel subsectors (FAO, 2004). Five main
and pole-and-line for tunas (primarily scad, round scad, and bigeye scad, Selar artisanal fisheries have been identified
skipjack and yellowfin), hand-held lines crumenophthalmus. Catches from the in- in CV, as indicated in Table 6. Most of
for demersals, purse seines for small dustrial and semi-industrial fleets are pri- them take place on all islands. Pending
pelagic, and traps for lobster. The lobster marily for export and for Cape Verdean weather conditions and vessels char-
fleet is smaller in size—four vessels processing industries (Fonseca®). These acteristics (Fig. 5, 6), fishermen often
in the early 2000’s—and is composed are concentrated in the islands of San- travel to other islands and offshore fish-
of larger 15-22 m vessels that, during tiago, S. Vicente, and Sal, and to a lesser ing grounds. In particular, the two areas
October—June, target primarily muddy extent in S. Nicolau and S. Antao. of extended insular shelf, described
spiny lobster (Almeida et al., 2003). Artisanal fishing is of greater im- previously, congregate fishermen from
A third segment of the semi-industrial portance than its industrial and semi- different, often distant islands.
and industrial fleets has been proposed industrial counterparts, not only for the The organization of the artisanal
by Almeida et al. (2003), comprising number of people and vessels employed, subsector in CV shares a number of
about 70 vessels of length greater than but also because catch levels are ap- commonalities with the organization
73(4)
5.—Small nonmotorized artisanal fishing boats at Bafa das Gatas, SV, CV.
Figure 6.— Motorized artisanal fishing boats outside Tarrafal, ST, CV.
in STP. Capture activities are pre- utterly autonomous manner. Important the coast, as well as in towns further
dominantly male—with the notable fish markets include those of Praia inland. As in STP, most fish is sold and
exception of the fishing community in (Santiago) and Mindelo (S. Vicente), as consumed fresh, salting and smoking
Porto Rincdo, Santiago, where women well as the touristic island of Sal. Fish being the two most common artisanal
are both fishermen and vendors — while products, being an important part of the processing techniques.
women engage in post-capture process- diet of most Cape Verdeans, are also The larger fish canning plants based
ing and commercialization, again in an sold in all fishing communities along in S. Vicente, S. Nicolau, and Santiago
Marine Fisheries Review