Abstract

The study considered fishing in oil spillages zone with special reference to Burutu local Government area of Delta State, Nigeria. The study area was particularly chosen for this study because of its prime place in artisanal fishing and oil exploitation activities. Data collection was through well structured questionnaire administered to 120 artisanal fishermen selected through random sampling technique. The method of analysis used were descriptive statistics, costs and return analysis and production function analysis using ordinary least square (OLS) criterion to estimate the parameters of the production function. The software used was SPSS 9.0. Results showed that majority of the fishermen were ageing. The result also showed that we have more male (61%) artisanal fishermen than females (39%) artisanal fishermen in the study area. Again, the results further revealed that there was high level of illiteracy as about 63% of total respondents did not attend primary school, while 28, 8 and 1% had attended primary, secondary and tertiary institution, respectively. The result of the analysis showed that the mean household size was 6 persons and mean annual farm income was about 32,883.33. The results of the regression analysis showed that the independent variables, labor, fishing experience, income level of fishermen, cost of fishing nets/bait were positive and significant at 5% level of probability except age of fishermen that was negative and significance at 5% probability level and all the factors were related to output. Artisanal fishing was not profitable in the study area with gross margin and net returns of 45,550 and 34,350 per annum respectively. The result showed that the surveyed fishermen were producing at a diminishing return to scale.

Key words: Fishing, fish production function, costs and returns analysis, Delta State, Nigeria.