Best for pleasure, not for business: evaluating recreational marine fisheries in West Africa using unconventional sources of data

Abstract

West African recreational fisheries, previously overlooked, are often assumed to be insignificant, yet they are increasingly present on social media given anglers' tendencies to document their experiences. It is important to catch the trend early on as recreational fisheries develop in order to support their sustainable development and to make the most of the alternative economic opportunities that they offer. Here, the recreational fisheries of 11 West African countries are assessed using tourist records from YouTube, blogs and other unconventional records. We introduce the concept of "Recreational-to-Commercial Ratio (RCR)", that is, the market-equivalent value per tonne of recreational fish injected to the economy, which is similar to "willingness to pay" for fish caught for recreation. Since the recreational fisheries of West African countries gained popularity in the last few years, catches increased and reached a total of 34,000 t annually, none of which was reported in official fisheries statistics. Recreational catches through a total annual revenue of US$152 million had an RCR of approximately 7, which means that developing recreational fisheries would increase the value of fish (whether caught or released) sevenfold. These findings could have major implications for the economy and conservation of fish stocks in West African countries.

Assessing Guinea Bissau's Legal and Illegal Unreported and Unregulated Fisheries and the Surveillance Efforts to Tackle Them

“…These sectors are mainly unregulated in Guinea Bissau (Belhabib et al, 2016a), however, coupled with the artisanal sector, they provide employment for over 226,000 people and their dependents in the country (Belhabib et al, 2015b). Subsistence and recreational fisheries are operated mainly by hand (gleaning for oysters), and from the beach using handlines, respectively.…”

“…We then multiplied the total number of fishers by a CPUE of 18 kg/tourist/day (Belhabib et al, 2016a). The 2012-2015 catch trend was then extrapolated to estimate recreational catches for 2016 and 2017.…”

“…Subsistence and recreational fisheries are operated mainly by hand (gleaning for oysters), and from the beach using handlines, respectively. Recreational fisheries, operated by some 1,500 in 2010 (Belhabib and Pauly, 2015) target mainly baraccudas (Sphyraena barracuda), Carangidaes, and cobia (Rachycentron canadum) amongst other species, and are highly dependent upon the tourism sector (Belhabib et al, 2016a).…”

Identifying recreational fisheries in the Mediterranean Sea through social media

“…Unconventional sources of information, such as social network videos, are increasingly being used in recreational fisheries research in other parts of the world (Banha, Veríssimo, Ribeiro & Anastácio, ; Belhabib et al., ; Shiffman et al., ), but never so far in the Mediterranean Sea. Taking into account the scarcity of data regarding recreational fishing in the area (Hyder et al., ) and the poor situation of the Mediterranean fish stocks (European Environmental Agency (EEA), ), this work contributes to understanding recreational fishing in the Mediterranean and the Common Fisheries Policy goal for incorporating recreational fishing in national stock assessments.…”

Recommendations for the future of recreational fisheries to prepare the social‐ecological system to cope with change

“…), which is also happening in several African countries (Belhabib et al . ) that traditionally focused on commercial or subsistence fisheries.…”