Copernicus for Sustainable Fisheries Management

The objective of this action is to implement the use of Copernicus products in Nigerian Public Administration to develop a sustainable fisheries management system.

Fisheries play a very significant role in the Nigerian economy in terms of food security, employment generation and poverty alleviation especially among coastal communities. Fish has traditionally been the main source of animal protein in the diet of many parts of Nigeria especially for low and middle level income groups. Presently, the exploitation of the fisheries resources is in the inshore area under 50m iso-baths of the Nigeria’s continental shelf. There has been an increase in pressure on the fisheries’ resources over the years as is evidenced by the decline in production both in species size and quantity.

Essential Fish Habitat and Fishing Ground Mapping can be one of the vital strategies that would guarantee continued sustainable exploitation of fishery resources as it would delineate various habitats from spawning ground through nursery ground to the fishing ground. Such delineation will provide useful information for the manager of the fishery. The delineation of essential fish habitats is necessary to identify, design and prioritize areas that require protection in order to have viable fishery along with renewal of other marine living resources, thereby maintaining the delivery of ecosystem services that the population need. AD AIR Centre will cooperate with the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR) to define the key priorities for maintaining a sustainable fishing economy in Nigeria’s exclusive maritime area. The objective is to develop new skills in the marine specialized Nigerian stakeholders in order to use Copernicus services and tools and to establish routines and processes for the daily usage of such products. One of the key features will be to demonstrate the importance of applying Copernicus products in the development of specific solutions to Nigerian marine problems. Two training sessions will be provided to Nigerian stakeholders focusing on the usage and application of CMEMS (Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service) to capacitate such entities with robust and prompt responses to the most relevant marine problems in Nigeria.

These events will be organized once per year in Nigeria with the duration of 1 day each, aiming to bring together local stakeholders with specialists from AD AIR Centre and the Copernicus Support Office in the training sessions. The first event will have a broader view and approach to facilitate the acceptance and understanding of the local stakeholders; the second event is expected to be more case-specific considering the feedback of the first event. All communication support and other physical material will be issued in English, Portuguese and French in order to be eventually reused afterwards and shared with the All-Atlantic network. All materials will be made accessible on the FPCUP homepage. The language used by attendees during the events is English. Impact assessment surveys will be used to evaluate this action outcomes. Impact will be measured not only in terms of recruitment of new Copernicus data users and how data is being used to meet their needs (e.g. which new tools were developed for sustainable fisheries management and/or for any other sector or research), but also, if and when applicable, why the training and/or Copernicus data and services did not offer solutions for their needs. Team site survey templates will be used and survey results will be made accessible on the FPCUP homepage.