Artisanal Fishing and Environmental Change in a Nigerian Floodplain Wetland

Abstract

Floodplain wetlands are of major importance in semi-arid Africa, providing agricultural, livestock, forestry, and fisheries, products as well as many other goods and services. Through a case-study of a floodplain wetland in northern Nigeria, it is demonstrated that the factors determining the characteristics of floodplain fishermen, defined in terms of how they fish, where they fish, and when they fish, are spatially and temporally very complex and may best be analysed within a simple systems framework. Despite the important values and functions that floodplains provide, many have been degraded owing to the construction of dams within their catchments. Studies of the social and economic impact of these developments tend to have adopted an ‘ecosystem’ approach to analysis that conceals the socio-economic complexity of the floodplain. However, if proposals to manage the water resources of river basins effectively are to be successfully implemented, it will be essential to understand the complexity of socioeconomic relations of floodplain users and their interaction with the environment. In conclusion, there is a need for much more detailed socio-economic studies that explore the ways in which floodplain inhabitants use the system in space and time.