Over 200 species of valuable ornamental fish live in the rivers of the Lower Guinean rainforest in Cameroon. The export trade for these fish largely benefits foreign businessmen, though, who keep up to 95 percent of profits. More sustainable approaches to trade are needed if local people are to benefit.

The trade in ornamental fish (fish kept for their beauty rather than for food) is dominated by ‘middlemen’. They keep the profits and their crude capture techniques result in an average fish mortality of 85 percent. Low quality products and unreliable services mean that aquarium fish from Cameroon have a poor reputation internationally. Many fish stocks are at the point of collapse and local people gain little from the industry.

The WorldFish Center in Cameroon, in partnership with the Organisation pour l’Environnement et le Développement Durable (a local non-governmental organisation), is working on an ongoing project with middlemen and fishers. The aim is to turn an inefficient, exploitative business into a profitable local enterprise that benefits local populations. This is done by improving the handling and transport of fishes for overseas markets, and renegotiating the distribution of profits.

The project is applying several principles:

• underpin business with good science: research into the ecology of river ecosystems has been vital for identifying the best strategies for fish capture, husbandry and stock monitoring
• establish partnerships: a committed long-term involvement with local communities is essential to success
• launch new technologies: these include training courses, loan schemes to build fish holding stations, improved natural fish food, discipline in recording catches and mortality, and a centre for holding and packaging fish
• establish cooperatives: community groups can mediate between individual fishers and external buyers for better prices and help to use profits for community projects
• integrate technology, good business planning and market understanding, as well as knowledge of local traditions and customs
• help local authorities to appreciate the financial value of rainforest ecosystems, so they can support their protection.

There is a low natural abundance of fish in Lower Guinean Rainforest, and limited infrastructure. As a result, the trade in wild ornamental fish will not produce enough money on its own to sustain rural communities, or justify the responsible management of rainforests.

However, cultivating ornamental fish through aquaculture could form the basis of a sustainable and profitable rainforest river management project. This could provide alternative employment for young men and women, who might otherwise live by slash-and-burn agriculture or illegal logging, or be forced to migrate for work.

The key lessons from the project so far include:

• Ornamental aquaculture systems that have minimal impacts on streams, and depend on natural nutrient cycles, provide incentives for forest-dwelling communities to conserve rivers.
• A profitable and environmentally sustainable trade in non-timber forest products - such as ornamental fish - can help to conserve rainforest ecosystems and sustain traditional livelihoods.
• Projects should work with local organisations to improve marketing skills, and advocate conservation and the fair valuation of ornamental fish.
• Reducing the number of deaths in shipments of ornamental fish to overseas markets helps to conserve fish in their ecosystems, whilst increasing the profits to local communities.

Source(s):
‘Africa’s Age of Aquarium: Farming Ornamental Fish in the Rainforests of West Africa to Improve Livelihoods of the Poor’, WorldFish Center Lessons Learned 1706, The WorldFish Center: Penang, 2007 (PDF) Full document.

Funded by: This project has been funded at different stages by: WorldFish’s core investors, World Bank, UK Department for International Development, The National Geographic Society and also supported through fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation and the International Fund for Agricultural Research.

id21 Research Highlight: 27 April 2008

Further Information:
Randall Brummett
The WorldFish Center - Cameroon Office
Humid Forest Center
B.P. 2008 (Messa), Yaoundé
Cameroon

Tel: +237 2237434 / 2237522
Fax: +237 2237437
Contact the contributor: r.brummett@cgiar.org

The WorldFish Center - Cameroon Office

Other related links:
'Slipping through the net: can poor people benefit from the international fisheries trade?'

'Tackling illegal fishing practices in Africa’s protected waters'

'Shrimp farming at the cross roads'