Limbe Institute: Population hails creation as dream-come-true

The creation of the Limbe Nautical Arts and Fisheries Institute following a Presidential Decree signed on August 12, 2015, has been hail by the people of Fako Division and the South West Region in general, as a fulfillment of one of their most cherished dreams. At the site of the main campus in Wowea in the outskirts of Limbe, stands the impressive structure that has cost over CFA 9 billion thanks to the partnership between Cameroon and Spain.

There are no questions concerning the fall-outs and the significance of the Institute situated in the South West. It is one of Cameroon’s 10 administrative Regions sitting in the Gulf of Guinea and harbouring a privileged fishing potential.

The Region enjoys over 70 percent of the 400 kilometers of Cameroon’s coastal length far above the Littoral and South Regions also opened to the Atlantic. Two of the six administrative Divisions of the South West are largely and directly opened to the sea namely Fako and Ndian. Meme Division has only its Mbonge Port and Manyu reaches to the sea only through its few rivers.

With all these natural potentials and though fishing is estimated by experts to be the richest endowment for Cameroon after minerals, one observes a generalised lack of fishing interest among the indigenous people.

For instance, concerning artisanal fishing, the sector is dominated by Nigerians, Ghanaians, Beninois and Togolese. This also explains why over 80 percent of the fish caught in Cameroon is sold abroad to mostly Nigeria with its fluid accessibility and powerful, osmotic financial market.

Statistics from the Regional Delegation of the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries (French acronym MINEPIA) speaks of 4.563 tons of fish caught in the Regional waters in 2014. The same source tells of only four of the 60 fishing vessels authorized in Cameroon being based in the South West namely Fini Maritime, Camsprain, ETS Manga Paul and Minja Fishing companies.

The species of fish detected by experts of MINEPIA in the South West waters include Capitaine, Bar, Sardine, Dorade, Sole, Tilapia, Strong Kanda, Bonga, among others. To win the interest of South West indigenes in fishing, the Government has made laudable efforts including trans-migrating fishermen from other regions of the country to Fako and Ndian Divisions. A case in point is the Mosgums from the northern part of Cameroon who were encouraged to settle in Bamusso.

The creation of the Barombi Kang fingerlings centre, the organisation of fish festivals in Bekumu and Akwa (in Bakassi) , the provision of ice stores and the training of Cameroonian fishermen to master fishing in Bakassi; are efforts worth applauding.

And with the creation of the Limbe Nautical Arts and Fisheries Institute by the Head of State, no one can deny the fact that there are better days ahead from artisanal to professional commercial fishing.