Onemolease, E.A and H.O. Oriakhi
The study addressed three issues: the prospects and constraints of artisanal fishing in selected riverine communities in Delta, and relationship between demographic characteristics of respondents and their economic returns. To achieve this, data were collected from 92 fisher folks and analyzed using frequency distribution, percentage, mean and multiple regression analysis. Result showed that the average earning of the respondents was N24, 456.52 per month. The major impediments to artisanal fishing were high cost of fishing inputs with a mean score of 3.81, insufficient capital (3. 72), storage problems (3. 63), spoilage of fish caught (3. 55) and poor catch (3 .53). Age (b= -0.102), sex (b=0.329) and household size (b= 0.166) of the fisher folks has significant influence on income. The study recommends improving farmers’ access to cheap credit and mobilizing their savings to ameliorate the constraints imposing by inadequate finance as well as providing a joint cold storage facility in the communities.
