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Nigeria's fish import has witnessed a steady increase over the past 10 years and the projected figures continue to show an increase. Presently, small-scale fishing is considered a frontier in meeting the fish demands of Nigerians and causing a significant reduction in fish importation. In Delta State though practiced at a subsistence level, it has been recognized to have the potential to boost fish output and availability to bridge the shortfalls. However, several challenges faced in small-scale fishing have been identified as hindrances to its productivity and sustainability, and numerous approaches have been suggested and employed in tackling them before now. But, the challenges still linger due to some level of incoherencies of these approaches caused by many factors. Therefore, adequate involvement of the fishing communities, fisherfolks, government and other external agents in the planning, adoption and implementation processes will help to better understand the importance of these suggested sustainable oriented approaches. In turn ensure maximum compliance to achieve the anticipated increased production and sustainability of small scale fishing. • The depleting stock within the aquatic ecosystem can be restored by restocking the wild, hence the need for regulation of fishing activities. • A policy on the immediate sort and return of harvested fingerlings and juveniles of fish species into the aquatic ecosystem will help to avoid species extinction • Mapping out fishing areas can be adopted to avoid poor hatchability due to the disturbance of fish eggs and fries. • With proper licensing and documentation as a control measure, meeting certain criteria becomes the determinant to be permitted to fish in a particular water body. • The role of extension services in ensuring environmentally friendly techniques are available to these fisherfolks is crucial, especially through effective means of communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fish fauna of River Taraba, Taraba State, Nigeria was studied from November 2017 to April 2019. The catch composition assessment was conducted at the landing sites once a month and fish species were identified. Descriptive statistical tools and Shannon -Weiner index were used to analyze the data collected. A total of 60,574 fishes belonging to 20 families and 50 species were identified in the local fishers catch. The family Cichlidae dominated the catch in number with 22.96%, followed by Clariidae (14.26%), Distichodontidae (12.61%), Morchochidae (10.55%), Characidae (9.57%), Schilbeidae (7.29%), Bagridae (6.11%), Mormyridae (5.79%), Alestidae (2.52%), Claroteidae (2.43%), Cyprinidae (1.33%), Protopteridae (1.23%), Osteoglossidae (1.20%) while the families Polypteridae, Citharinidae, Centropomidae, Hepsitidae Gymnarchidae, Channidae, and Malapteruridae each contributed less than 1% to the total fishes caught. Mormyridae was the most diversified family and was represented by 7 species; Mormyrus rume (3.88%), Petrocephalus bane (0.52%), Hyperopisus bebe (0.42%), Marcusenius abadii (0.30%) Mormyrus anguilloides (0.25%), Mormyrus macrothalmus (0.23%), Hippopotamyrus psittacus (0.19%). The study showed that the most abundant species was Tilapia galilaeus (10.13%) while the least are Labeo coubie and Malapterurus electricus which contributed (0.12%) each to the total catch. The Diversity parameters of Shannon-Weiner Index showed that Tella landing site was more diverse and evenly distributed H'3.3973; E 0.3659 while the least was Wurbo with H'3.1128; E 0.3177. Wurbo landing site stood out in terms of species richness with 17,964 while the least was Gayam landing site with 9,993. It is recommended that fishers should adopt approved mesh size that will allow fingerlings of threatened fish species such as Lates niloticus for future catch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last decade, hatchery infrastructure and table fish production systems have been exclusively targeted towards catfish production in Nigeria. These efforts have not translated to sufficient domestic fish production. The shortfall in demand for fish fry and fingerlings by growing population of fish farms in Lagos State confirms the fish seed production deficiency. This study investigated the level of awareness of improved hatchery management practices among fish farmers in Lagos State. Using simple random sampling method, 150 fish farmers from 12 local government areas of Lagos State were selected and interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The majority of the respondents were male (68 %) and married (76.6 %), with dominant age range of 41 - 50 years (55.3 %) and a farming experience of 5 - 10 years (68 %). Personal saving (46.7 %) and cooperative societies (31.3 %) were the respondents' main sources of fund and fortnight visits by extension agent was of commonest frequency (86 %). Extension agents and research institutes ranked first and second, respectively, among the sources of information, and accounted for the main sources of information to the farmers. The farmers either strongly agreed or agreed on almost all the hatchery management practices, while they expressed their need for advisory and input support services from government and non-governmental organizations. The significant relationship which exists between age and marital status, and farmers' awareness shows that greater communication of improved hatchery management practices will lead to adoption, thereby increasing the output of the farmers. Improved hatchery output will lead to greater availability of fish seeds for table size production as well as greater income to the fish farmers. In addition to more intensive extension efforts, other channels of information notably mass media should be revitalized in delivering improved management practices to the fish farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]