Growing Diversity – West Africa

TITLE OF EXPERIENCE: Fishing in the village of Dohi

AUTHOR: Association ITONNIN

COUNTRY AND REGION: Benin, Dohi

ECOLOGICAL ZONE: Humid and coastal region

ABSTRACT

The village of Dohi is a lake village in the district of Mono 60km from Cotonou. The main activity is fishing. On the Ahémé lake, in the South-West of Benin, a traditional law bans fishing during a period of two or three months every two years, to allow the fish to breed. For the same reason, fishing is prohibited on Sundays and offenders are punished and banned. But at present the lack of fish causes survival problems for local people and young people in particular are without a future, despite the promises made by politicians during the election campaigns.

For a number of years, the disappearance of certain species of fish, such as skate, has been noted, as well as the reduction of mangroves, areas where fish take refuge and breed. The excessive use of small mesh nets has prevented the successful reproduction of fish. The silting up of the lake with sand has caused large fish to migrate to deep, distant areas. In the search for solutions to these various problems, the state (Fishing Department) has banned certain types of fishing boats, such as the 'acadja', fine mesh nets and the building of dams (iha), but without results. Many young fishermen are choosing to emigrate to the Ivory Coast, Gabon or the Congo whilst others take to driving motorbikes, taxis or 'zemidjan'.

An organisation for the development of the village of ITONNIN was created in 1998 and its objective is to help local populations to find solutions to these problems, especially by researching income-generating activities. In this way, the organisation: Union Communautaire de Développement is responsible for digging fish holes, for fish breeding and for the regeneration of the mangroves . As yet they have had little success. Nevertheless, the organisation remains absolutely determined to help perpetuate small scale fishing in Dohi.

CONTACT:

Association ITONNIN – BP 05 – Sous-Préfecture de Comé Mono - BENIN