Case 3-9 Habitat improvement through the installation of artificial reefs: case study off the coast of Bargny, Petite-Côte

The area off Bargny was chosen for the installation of artificial reefs because of the ease of monitoring and the fact that there are few natural reefs in the area, making it easier for the effects of the fish reefs to be realized. Six artificial reefs made of 3 m concrete blocks were placed on a circumference of 30m in diameter and natural rocks weighing 500 kg each were placed on 130 m3 inside this area to create a conical mound with a base diameter of 13m and a height of 3 m. After installing the reefs, the DPM and CRODT carried out awareness-raising activities among fishers in the area, and a management committee composed of representatives of fishers from the five coastal villages (Rufisque, Sendou, Menam, Yenn and Bargny) was formed. On the advice of CRODT, the committee imposed a total ban on fishing in the area where the reefs had been installed in order to protect the resources and included this measure in the Rufisque departmental decree.

For the management of the reefs to be conducted by the inhabitants themselves, it is essential that they cover the management costs. Therefore, the JICA fisheries resource assessment and management planning study attempted to convert a no-fishing zone into a controlled fishing zone in hopes of empowering inhabitants to manage the artificial reefs themselves. However, at the end of the development study, it was concluded that the complex management of the fishery together with that by the inhabitants had hardly worked.

When the current situation was verified in 2020, the area where the artificial reefs were installed was managed by the local management committee as a limited fishing area with the aim of creating and rehabilitating fish resource habitats. According to local fishers, the resource protection effect of the artificial reefs would allow for the replenishment of fisheries resources in the surrounding waters.

Senegal to adopt a complicated management system in which the reefs are managed but inhabitants can use it as fishing grounds. In the context of the Senegalese government’s initiative to establish MPAs, it is currently considered desirable that the artificial reef area be managed in the same way by a local management committee as a limited fishing area.

Chapter 3 Implementation of resource management measures

Methods to improve the habitat of the resource include the establishment of protected areas and restricted fishing areas to preserve the nursery grounds of juvenile fish, the creation of nursery grounds with artificial fish reefs, and the planting of mangroves that serve as nursery grounds.

This case study is an effective example of how to improve the habitat of marine fisheries resources using the method of constructing artificial reefs. There are many points to learn by comparing this case with the case of the artificial fish reefs off the coast of Yenn, which is Case 3-10.