Nigeria Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR), says there are a lot of investment opportunities in fish industry in the country. The potential for off-shore tuna catches along the Nigerian coast is estimated at about 10,000 M/T. According to the institute, the country is blessed with a rich diversity of both inland and industrial fisheries, particularly fin-fish and shell-fish numbering more than 120 species in the inland waters, lakes, rivers and reservoirs.
Key areas for investments, NIOMR said, include exploitation of Tuna and pelagic fisheries resources estimated to have a Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) of about 15,000 M/T, exploitation of Arioma, and other demersal fish resources estimated to have an MSY of 120,000 M/T.
Entrepreneurs, can also invest in establishment of canneries for crabs, lobsters tuna, sardines and bonga fish, manufacture of fishing gears, Turtle excluder Devices (TED), By-catch reduction Devices (BRD), and Construction of proposed Lagos Fishery Harbor for vessels up to 3000 GRT. Shedding more light on the Nigeria Fisheries Resources, NIOMR noted that it can be categorized into two, namely, marine and inland.
The marine fisheries can be sub-divided into the followings:
Fin-fish (Demersal Inshore Industrial). The potential of fin-fish inshore trawl fishery of Nigeria which prevails at depths ranging from 10 to 50 meters, was estimated at 15, 000 metric tons per annum, using the global model. Experts estimated that the total fin fish potential of the 5-l00m inshore trawl fishery is 27,500 tons using 76mm cod-end mesh to produce a potential of 20,000 tons plus additional 7,500 tons as bycatch of shrimping operations. In general terms, it can be said that the demersal fish in the area between depths of zero to fifty meters vary from 27,000 to 38,000 tons, while the biomas of ground fish within the fifty to two hundred meter depth zone has been estimated at around 105,000 tons.
Fin-fish (Demersal Offshore Industrial). Waters deeper than 100 meters are regarded as offshore, since inshore vessels hardly trawl below 50 meters depth. NIOMR comprehensive exploratory deep waters surveys 100-600 meters confirmed commercial stocks of drift fishes, at 70-250 meters averaging 112-160kg per hour.
NIOMR established that the tuna fish stocks off Nigerian coast consist principally of skipjack, and yellowfin, while tuna-like species include frigate tuna, among others.
“Survey catches averaged 76 tons per trip and 6.3 tons per day. The potential for all pelagic species, except tuna, which is offshore, has been estimated to be around 120,000 metric tons. The tuna and tuna like species in the offshore and deep-sea areas, (and not currently exploited), are estimated to be in the region of 9,000-10,000 metric tons. Tunas, which command a global market, can be frozen whole or canned for local and export markets or smoked for local markets only. Export markets include USA, Japan and Europe,†said NIOMR.
The most important pelagic resources in the in-shore areas are West African Sardines and Bonga which are present throughout the year; but mostly during November to June.
Findings also estimated that the annual potential of the resources in the estuaries and littoral zone of Nigeria is 28,000 tons. It was also estimated that the yield of the fishery in the coastal and brackish waters to be 70,000- 90,000.