Livelihood Functions of Capture Fisheries in Sub-Saharan Africa: Food Security, Nutritional, and Economic Implications

The objective of this review was to investigate the livelihood functions of capture fisheries (food security, nutritional, and economic implications) in Sub-Saharan Africa. Published and unpublished sources were used to obtain appropriate data. Capture fishery is the most important livelihood activity in the region. The contribution of capture fishery is however not visible in food security, nutritional security, and economy of the poor society. This is because over half of the production is from small-scale artisanal fisheries. Marginalization and exclusion, inadequate public service provision, low level of education, poor political organization, open-access nature of the resources, overexploitation, and unequal access to land or resources are also widely affecting the fishing communities. Poor quality of fish products due to poor handling, processing, and transportation, climate change, poor organizational structures in fishery governance, gender inequality, and lack of access to health services are also affecting the sector. These problems led to misrepresentation and undermine the role of capture fisheries in the livelihood of poor societies of the region. Therefore, effective management and follow up is very important in order to improve the benefit from the capture fishery sector, in addition to encouraging the development of aquaculture.