Illegal Fishing gears: Quantifying, Distributions and Its Impact on Fish population – Khartoum State

Abstract

The study was conducted to report the types of illegal fishing gear used, to estimate the illegal fishing gears used by fishermen and to evaluate the impact of ghost gears on fish populations in Khartoum State. A mixed-method approach to evaluate the extent, character, and effects of using illegal fishing gears atWad Alagaly, Jebel Aulia and Almorada. The three complementary methods used to describe these fisheries and evaluate its impacts,interviews with fishermen (N 50) in these regions to collect legal and illegal fishing gears information and to decide the location of the derelict fishing gears surveyed and gather the entangled organisms, derelict fishing gears` catch efficiency, and common population.The SPSS16 program was use to do the statistical analysis by Frequency, T-testand chi-square and one-way Anova.The interviews withfishermen showed thatthe total of gears found in the study were 280 gears, 82.5 % were illegal fishing gears while just 17.5% were legal fishing gears.All the fishermen in study sample fishing for income, 90% of fishermen noticed or found the ghost gears in the water body. In addition, 46% of fishermen leaved their old gears at beaches, while 22 % of fishermen leaved it in water bodies and 32% disposal it away. All the fishermen in the study have membership in union but 96% of them Saied that the Union does not have a role in implementing laws.The surveys for derelict fishing gears indicated that lifted ghost fishing net comprised 78.5% of the total ghost fishing gears observed during the survey at the Wad Alagaly and Jebel Aulia sites. While lifted ghost fishing line comprised 21.5%of the total fishing gears observed during the survey at Wad Alagaly site. Most of lifted ghost fishing nets were founded on the deep water 63.7%, while 18.7% were founded on the shore line and 17.6% founded on the small island .Most of lifted derelict fishing nets were founded as part net 89%, while 11% were found as a whole net. More than seventy five percent of lifted fishing nets were mono panel, while 24.4% were multi panel. Most of lifted fishing nets were White 34.1%, while 33% were gray.62.6% of lifted fishing nets were made from Nylon. Proximately 35% of lifted ghost net entangled organisms.45.8% of lines found with 20 – 40 hooks, while 29.2% were founded with less than 20 hooks and 25% were founded with 41- 60 hooks.44% of lifted fishing lines were found with length 41 - 60 m. Overall, the illegal fishing gears were widely used by fishermen and this led to that fish become smaller and less in abundant than they used to be. The effect of ghost gears is relay in that gears continue catching live organisms or causing injuries,ingestion of gear physical impact of gears on the benthic environment and ultimate fate of lost gear in the marine environment. All the interviewed fishermen agreed that we have to protect fish species and aquatic organisms to make it sustainable by using legal fishing gears and determine fishing seasons.