SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS AND FISHING METHODS USED BY ARTISANAL FISHERFOLKS IN KATSINA STATE, NORTH-WEST, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT Socio-economic status has a huge impact on fishing methods as it influences participation, fishing practices, gears and methods used. It is necessary to understand the socio-economic status and fishing methods used by the artisanal fisherfolks in order to have an insight and information on the sustainability of the water bodies. This study was therefore carried out to assess the socio-economic status and fishing methods used by artisanal fisherfolks on water bodies in Katsina State. The study used a two-stage sampling procedure to select three water bodies, one each from each of the three agro-ecological zones in the state, and then select 145 fisherfolks from the three water bodies based on the proportion of fisherfolks in the three water bodies. A well-structured questionnaire was administered and descriptive statistics was used to analyse the data. The socio-economic data revealed that 63% of the respondents are below the age of 40 years, primary school education with a percentage of 44% as the dominant educational status. The majority of the respondents has a maximum household size of seven, while 47% have between one and ten years of fishing experience. Fishing is the main occupation of 65.5% of the respondents, with 57.9% of them earning less than a maximum of 100,000 naira annually. Passive fishing method only represents the dominant method with 55.2%, while the factors considered in selecting fishing gears by the fisherfolks are led by the size of the water body, followed by fish size and shape. The study revealed that the socio-economic status of the fisherfolks is low, and this is corroborated by the passive fishing method dominating among them. The study recommends that the fishing communities should further utilize their associations to secure interventions and trainings that could help increase their practices and subsequently their socio-economic status.