The fishing sector
(artisanal and industrial) considered as a renewable resource is a sector with
a strong potential to create employment and new resources necessary for the population. It is also an important source of foreign
exchange due to the export of sea products and represent a potential for the
development of entrepreneurship.
Indeed, Benin, a West
African country with a population of about twelve million inhabitants, has a
125 km long coastline. Benin's fisheries sector contributes only 3%
of the GDP, forms a very small part of exports, while Beninese fisheries
products are in increasing demand in Europe.
However, the
widespread use of non-regulatory fishing methods and gear, the uncontrolled
increase in fishing effort, the degradation of ecosystems, and the
pollution of water bodies by household and industrial waste mean that national
production of fishery is stagnating at an average of
39,500 tons per year.
The increase in
commercial fisheries production is therefore becoming an imperative in order to
continue to guarantee the fishing industry and to safeguard
its sustainability and to increase its contributions to the
GDP. Simulation models can be used to help making durable decisions.
In the proposed model, we assumed that the largest population of fishermen harvesting the most
important species of fish in the large sea of Benin, the shrimp.
The complete the fishery
system consists of the coupled dynamic systems of the Fish population
and the one hand and the Fishing boat (fishing industry) on the other, that
have been represented by the Stocks.
Earnings of the fishermen
are used to maintain, buy new fishing boats or to replace old boats that go out
of commission, but also, to take care of families.
