Baseline study on Socio-economic benefits of artisanal tuna and tuna- like fishery in the United Republic of Tanzania

Tuna and tuna-like species are important fisheries resources for food and have valuable contribution to the country’s economic. In most of the developing countries the fishery is mainly artisanal and dominated by men. The overall objective of this study was to access the socioeconomic benefit of artisanal tuna and tuna-like fishery along the Tanzania coastline. Finding from this study indicated the main fishing gears for tuna and tuna-like species in the order of preference is gill net, hand-line/long-line, and ring-net, operated by either sail or motorized boat. Fishing is carried out between 5 and 20 kilometers away from the shoreline. The most targeted species are Wahoo (Nguru-maskati), Kawakawa (Sehewa), Tuna (Jodari) and Skipjack tuna (Zunuba). The preference for these species is determined by their availability and high economic returns. The fishery generates a significant amount of income to fishers, middle men and hotels along the market chain. Nationally the fishery generates between 4 and 8 million TZS annually from the royalties charged on exports. The fishery is however challenged by inadequate documentation by different stakeholders; as a result information on the values and contributions of the fishery are difficult to obtain and measure. It is therefore recommended that proper data collection and storage system be instituted at all levels of fishing to ease generation of information. On the other hand landing for tuna and tuna like species has doubled from 2000 tons to 4000 tons in 1994 to 2010 respectively, with the highest peak in year 2009. The fishery has a potential to generate high income for fishers and to the national economy if proper management plan will be put in place along with improvement on catch data and revenue collection.