Role of children in communal acadja fishing method in badagry lagoon

This paper examines the role of Children in Communal Acadja fishing method in Badagry Lagoon, Ogun State. The study covered 60 respondents (children) involved in community based acadja fishing. Data were obtained with the use of structured interview schedule and analyzed with the use of descriptive statistics such as means, percentages and inferential statistics such as Chi-square was used to determine the relationships between the demographic characteristics of the children and tasks assigned to them. The result of the study shows that the majorities (55%) of the children interviewed were male, 38.3% were within the age group of 14 -16 years, 43.3% had no formal education and about 76.6% of the children had more than 5 years in communal acadja fishing. Most of the respondents (63.3%) showed willingness to become professional fishers in future. Further result showed that the tasks assigned to children vary according to ages and sex. The boys were fully involved in construction, harvesting of acadja while girls were involved in post harvest operations. All the respondents claimed that they did not gain financially from the communities run fishery even though the work is carried out in abusive conditions. Chi-square analysis results showed that no significant relationship between children Involvement in communal fishing and demographic characteristics. The study concluded that children play considerable role in communal fishing and government should recognize the role of the children in fishing communities.