Bioeconomic Analysis of Sardinella aurita (Val., 1847) within Ghana’s Artisanal Marine Fisheries

Abstract

Among the small pelagic species in the Ghanaian marine artisanal fisheries, the Sardinella marine fishery is considered one of the most important economic activities with relatively cheap food source. The resource also constitutes the livelihood of many fishers. But, over the years Ghana’s Sardinella marine fishery has experienced a sharp decline in catch. This study seeks to provide a stock assessment of the Sardinella aurita fishery caught mainly by the purse seine, beach seine and driftnet gears of the artisanal marine waters of Ghana. Economic analysis is also applied to develop a bioeconomic model for the fishery. Standardisation of the three fishing gears were done using the Generalised linear model. In addition, a surplus production model using the Clarke-Yoshimoto-Pooley (CYP) model, based on the Gompertz growth function was employed to estimate the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and the allowable biological catch (ABC). The maximum economic yield (MEY) was also estimated with a bioeconomic model. The model estimated YMSY, YMEY and YABC at 42,023, 40,788 and 16,619 metric tons with an associated effort of 526,337, 408,000 and 92,000 fishing days respectively. it is concluded the round sardinella stock is overexploited and that the current fishing effort rate be reduced to sustain the resource and while generating economic benefits.