FISHERIES 245 



West Africa 



In spite of the extensive seaboard of the British West African 

 colonies, and the undoubted value of the fishing-grounds, only one 

 small investigation on scientific lines has been attempted. In 1928 

 Sir Joseph Byrne, then Governor of Sierra Leone, made arrange- 

 ments for Mr. James Hornell, formerly Director of Fisheries to the 

 Government of Madras, to report on the Sierra Leone fisheries. 

 The field work lasted two months and the report by Hornell ( 1 928a) 

 concludes that: i. The marine resources are of immense extent 

 and value. 2. Present methods of fishing are inadequate for the 

 needs of the people. 3. With improved and new methods of fishing 

 and curing a large and profitable export trade could be built up. 

 4. A fish-oil and fertilizer industry might be founded on the Bonga 

 fishery. 5. Government assistance and supervision are required in 

 various ways. Two attempts have been made to establish a fishery 

 at Freetown — in 1912 a trawler averaged a catch of three tons a day 

 for some months, but lack of organization for the marketing resulted 

 in failure. In 1 929 a further venture failed, as the trawler employed 

 was not suitable for operating in the deeper waters. It is clear that 

 fishery surveys of the British waters along the Guinea Coast on a 

 larger scale would be valuable. All along this coast there is a 

 native fishery using lines and nets, but there is no doubt that the 

 resources are not used nearly to capacity. An enlargement of the 

 fishery here could probably be made to provide the dense popula- 

 tions of the coastal belt with valuable protein foods of the kind 

 which are otherwise not available from meat, since the region is 

 unsuitable for cattle owing to the prevalence of tsetse flies. 



An inquiry seems desirable not only into the fish resources 

 and better methods of fishing, but especially into facilities for 

 marketing and transport. The fish industry of the Gold Coast and 

 Nigeria presents some curious features. Supplies of marine fish 

 are transported for long distances inland by road; these lines of 

 transport are crossed by freshwater fish captured far to the north 

 in the Niger, Volta, and other rivers, some of which are actually 

 marketed in a dried condition among people living on the coast. 

 Moreover, the greater part of fish consumed in these territories is 

 'stock fish' imported mainly from Norway. Some reorganization 

 of this industry appears to be desirable, particularly through the 



