Estimating the numbers of fishing vessels with aerial photos-West African Artisanal Fleets

Estimating the numbers of fishing vessels with aerial photos - West African artisanal fleets

Aneese Williams1, and David J Die2

1Department of Environmental & Marine Science, Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia, 23668, USA

2Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, Florida 33149, USA

Throughout the history, fishermen along the rural west coast of Africa have used fishing as a major source of food in this area. When areas are over fished, the cycle of organisms in the ocean tend to change; organisms need other organisms to survive. By counting the fishing vessels we can determine if an area is being over fished, or possibly help start the documentation of that country. Several countries have records of the vessel numbers, while other countries do not have records of vessel numbers. Artisanal Fisheries are very important to the economy of West African Countries. These fisheries are conducted from hundreds of thousands of wooden, beautifully painted canoes that are launched from beaches, rivers and ports along the coast. Yet, for many countries the number of canoes used and the locations from where they are launched are not precisely known. With the help of aerial photos from Google Earth, the number and locations of these vessels was determined for Ghana, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. While observing the different countries, you notice the difference of the number of canoes you saw. Although not all images available were useful to detect vessels, many of them can be easily distinguished on the photos of beaches and the ocean. Often the vessel length can also be accurately measured. Comparisons were made between vessel counts from aerial photos with the censuses reported from the literature. Although in-situ censuses of boats may be preferable, aerial photos can provide minimum estimates of vessel numbers for those areas where censuses are lacking.

ADDRESS, E-MAIL AND TELEPHONE NUMBER OF CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:

Aneese Williams

Hampton University

Department of Environmental & Marine Science

E. Queen St

Hampton, VA 23668

954-817-6220

aneese.williams@pipeline.hamptonu.edu

PRESENTATION TYPE: Poster

TECHNICAL AREA: Coastal Areas, Wetlands and Oceans

AFFILIATION: STUDENT (Undergraduate)

CENTER AFFILIATION: LMRCSC

ARE YOU APPLYING FOR A STUDENT TRAVEL AWARD: NO