Tips for practice

10. Voluntary restrictions on small pelagic

Since 2012, the department of Mbour in the Petite-Côte region has imposed restrictions on night fishing by boats targeting small pelagic resources, using such tools as purse seine, drift net, and enclosed gillnet. The original measure was not to conserve resources but to regulate production so that fishers would be kept from being forced to discard their catches when fish prices dropped during periods of high sardine catch. It was initiated by a local initiative, supported by COMFISH, and came into force as a departmental decree. Later, the restriction of night fishing ban was extended to the water of central-south part of Senegal, and The Gambia.

Case studies (case 3-3)