Aquatic Resources of Cameroon

Cameroon is a country in Western Africa with 16 million inhabitants. Located between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, the country is bordered by the Bight of Biafra. It has a 402 km long coastline. It covers an area of about 475,440 sq km. Cameroon obtains its fish supply from five distinct sources notably-small scale maritime Fisheries, inland fisheries, industrial fisheries, aquaculture and importation. Despite its enormous potential, Cameroon produces only 180,000 metric tons fish annually. The total artisanal annual catch is estimated to be 55,000 t of which bonga/Sardinella, white shrimp and demersal fish contribute 58%, 27% and 15% respectively. The industrial fleet expanded rapidly during the sixties and by 1973 there were 29 trawlers and 13 shrimpers which landed a total of about 17,600 t of fish and shrimp. The total catch of the industrial fisheries peaked at about 20,400 t in 1976 and since then catches have generally declined. The per capita fish consumption in Cameroon stands at about 17.9 kg per inhabitant per year. This means that the demand of fish in Cameroon stands at about 280,000 tons. There is a deficit of in fish supply for which the government always resort to massive importation of fish products to meet the local demand. The main fish product for export from Cameroon is the prawn (Panacus duorarum). The main export market of Cameroon's prawn is the European Union (EU). Between 1998 and 2003, Cameroon's export value has been on the decline, dropping from 1,836 metric tons of prawns for a value of 264 millions USD in 1998 to 51 tonnes, for an estimated value of 315,000 USD in 2003. This drastic drop in exportation is consequential to Cameroon's auto suspension from the exportation of prawns towards the EU as a result of non compliance with EU standards. Today, a good quantity of the catches is being exported illicitly through neighbouring countries.