PART I
DYNAMICS OF EXPORTS OF TRADITIONAL FISH PRODUCTS IN CÔTE D’IVOIRE AND GHANA

by

Yvette Diei-Ouadi
Fishery Industry Officer
Fish Utilization and Marketing Service
FAO Fisheries Department

1. INTRODUCTION

Artisanal fisheries contribute significantly to socio-economic conditions in fishing communities and to food security in Africa. In West Africa in particular, fish processing and marketing is a dynamic activity that involves cross border trade within the sub-region and export to "ethnic" markets overseas. These markets consist mainly in Africans abroad wishing to eat traditional African foods including fish.

The regional workshop^[1] on problems and prospects for developing artisanal fish trade in West Africa held in Dakar, Senegal in June 2001 highlighted the importance of trade within the region, analysed the constraints and proposed solutions to address them for sustainable development of the sub-sector.

Furthermore the seventh FAO Expert Consultation on Fish Technology in Africa held in Saly-Mbour, Senegal, in December 2001 recognized the contribution to employment, to the provision of hard currency, and to fish utilization of export-oriented traditionally processed fish. It recommended in particular that fish export be promoted and sustained.

This study aimed at reviewing the socio-economics of this type of fisheries and analysing key factors/conditions for their sustainable development. It was conducted in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana and concentrated on small-scale traditionally processed fish production units that export to the "ethnic" markets.

2. FRAMEWORK OF THE SURVEY

The choice of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire was based on the experience of approved^[2] traditional fish processing and marketing plants, the status of the units (artisanal/small scale rather than industrial) and the type of end products targeted (typical African products).

The three-week study was conducted in the premises of the units and in other places to collect relevant data and to appraise the performance and the impediments to the expansion of export-oriented traditional fisheries. It consisted in:

- reviewing relevant primary data on the production and marketing schemes;

- interviewing the operators and when possible, the suppliers of raw material;

- interviewing officers from the competent authority, the export promotion councils, and the fisheries departments;

- discussing with other stakeholders involved in the quality control of fishery products, in administrative arrangements prior to export, packaging, etc.

In Ghana, there are two plants registered with the Ghana Standard Board (GSB, the national competent authority). They were covered by the study as well as some non-registered processors targeting US and Canada markets. Accra and Tema were the main places where the study took place.

In Côte d’Ivoire there are 5 plants that were approved in 2001 by the Direction of Food and Quality (DFQ, the competent authority). However, the airport-based municipal veterinary service in Abidjan issued monthly sanitary export certificates to about a dozen of exporters. The study team did not succeed in interviewing some of the non-approved exporters but community fish processing centres were visited that supply products to these persons and also to regular export units. Abidjan and Adiake were the places where the study took place.

3. OVERVIEW OF THE FISHERIES SECTOR

3.1 Côte D’Ivoire

Fish landings in Côte d’Ivoire in 2000, were 81 500^[3] tonnes, 56 percent of which were from the artisanal sector, the remaining are from industrial origin (42 percent) and aquaculture (2 percent). In the same year the country imported 238 000 tonnes of frozen tuna and small pelagics and some demersal fish for local consumption and as raw material for processing plants. The exports amounted 65 000 tonnes consisting of canned tuna, fresh and frozen fish and frozen tuna loins.

Table 1: Per capita supply of meat, eggs, fish and seafood in Côte d’Ivoire (2000).

Source: FAO Food balance sheets, 2000.

Despite the small national production, fisheries play an important role in the national economy, and in the social and nutritional conditions. In effect they contributed 3 percent to GDP of the primary sector and 0.8 percent of the total GDP. Thanks to exports of value-added products (especially canned and other tuna products), the national commercial balance for fisheries products presented a surplus of about 6 billion CFA francs (CFAF) in 2000. Fish as food is a major source of animal protein. FAO fisheries statistics reported an apparent annual per capita supply of fish and seafood of 15.4 kg (Table 1), which is among the average in sub-Saharan Africa.

In addition fisheries contribute substantially to the creation of employment of people involved in fishing and in upstream and downstream activities, the most labour intensive of which are post-harvest operations.

3.2 Ghana

Ghana is one of the main fishing nations in the Gulf of Guinea with fish landings in 2000 of 370 441 (FAOSTAT Database 2000). About 70 percent was from the artisanal sector and more than 80 percent from marine origin. In 1999, the country imported 28 000 tonnes and exported 52 000 tonnes. The imports consisted mainly of frozen small pelagics while exports were mainly frozen seafood, canned tuna and frozen tuna loins.

Table 2: Per capita supply of meat, eggs, fish and seafood in Ghana (2000).

Source: FAO Food balance sheets, 2000.

Per capita fish supplies in 2000. This is higher than the African average of 7.9 kg/year and also higher than the world’s average of 15.9 kg/year. Table 2 gives the breakdown of the annual per capita of meats, eggs, fish and seafood for that period.

4. PRODUCTION AND EXPORT OF TRADITIONAL PRODUCTS

4.1 Côte D’Ivoire

Table 3: Production figures of 5 export units in 2001 (based on interviews).

Table 3 presents the 2000-2001 operational data of the five small-scale plants as reported by the operators and by some raw material suppliers.

The main species used were Guinea barracuda (Sphyraena afra), African threadfin (Galeoides decadactylus), catfish (Arius sp.), ray (Raja sp.), swordfish (Xiphias gladius), sardinella (Sardinella maderensis, S. aurita), mackerel (Scomber scombrus).

A typical consignment or production cycle consists generally of 5 percent small pelagics and 95 percent other species. The European Union market absorbs 80-90 percent of these products while the remaining is meant for the United States of America and Canada. France (70-80 percent of the European Union [EU] consignment), Italy, Belgium, Germany and United Kingdom are the common destinations of the Ivorian traditional products. The previous 4 years data showed no significant increase in volumes of export from the plants, but the operators recognized a slight improvement in value terms since the decline of the regional airline AIR AFRIQUE. The end of the airline’s activities has not substantially decreased the number of such traders; however it had a positive effect on the actual price of the traditional products at destination. It was said that these effects were even more important than during the implementation of the EU third country’s imports sanitary measures which led to a drop in traditional processed fish exporters to EU from 20 units before 1996 to barely 3 to 4 the following years.

The study revealed that a number of individuals were granted special tickets fare who were involved in fish exports to "ethnic" markets (most likely the United States and Canada). Their products lowered market prices and threatened the competitiveness of the approved units.

These data are closer to the projections of DFQ, which took over the certification process in March 2002 when exports from the four approved plants were recorded as 34 tonnes of traditional products to the EU. This gives an annual volume of at least 400 tonnes.

The official data published in the annual bulletin of the Fisheries Department placed the 2000 exports of all traditional fishery products between 500 and 550 tonnes, for an approximate value of CFAF250 millions. These data concerned all types of traditional products, including fish oil and dried shark fins. The destinations are as varied as the means of transport. These were mainly EU, United States, Canada, Asia (for shark fins), Africa region (essentially ECOWAS countries), and the Middle East. Export was either by road, sea, or air (the major transport means used by the approved plants). According to the 2001 records from the airport-based municipal certification service, out of the 244 tonnes of products recorded, 65 percent went to the EU and 30 percent to the United States and Canada; the remaining 5 percent went to Asian and African countries. The number of exporters to North America was 14.

The official data underestimate the magnitude of exports from traditional processing units. This was confirmed during the study where some marketing channels described by fishing communities were found beyond control of the statistical services in the field because of lack of personnel and/or logistics. An important exchange of products was found for instance between the southeastern part of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, especially fish consignments passing through Tiapoum and Mbratie and conveyed by canoes towards Ghana and vice versa. These quantities were not recorded by any official authority (customs, regional fisheries unit).

In the past years, the National Laboratory for Support to Agriculture Development (LANADA) centralized the certification of production and marketing operations of fishery products. It was also one of the institutions providing data on export volumes to the Fisheries Department. However, it lacked figures on products meant for USA and Canada. The EU records were also not very accurate, as some of the certificates bearing export quantities were not returned by exporters to LANADA at the end of the administrative procedures prior to sending the fishery products off to their destinations.

Taking into consideration all these gaps, it can be assumed that the minimum annual volume of traditional products from Côte d’Ivoire to all destinations, be it by air, road, sea, or river, amounts to at least 700 tonnes. This data represents 12.5 percent of the total national export of fishery products, excluding high value canned tuna and tuna by-products (see Table 4).

Table 4. Export volumes of fish products from Côte d’Ivoire (tonnes).

From a value point of view, no comparison can be made between the figures published by the Fisheries Department and the actual situation. As per the official data in Table 3 the overall value of traditional fish exported (CFAF250 million) is six times less than the value of the smoked/dried fish recorded in the five plants upon interview. The shrimps, live crabs, and the 74 tonnes of products recorded at the airport in 2001 for USA and Canada are not recorded in these figures. The latter had a local value in Côte d’Ivoire of CFAF100 million. Individuals unknown to neither LANADA nor DFQ carry out these exports. In compliance with regulations of the US Food and Drugs Administration their customers or importers might have inspected their plants. It was said that some of them purchased their products from the approved plants, the community processing centres or in domestic markets. In any case, the failure to find some reliable contacts of these exporters did not allow a discussion with them and visit their facilities.

4.2 Ghana

Table 5: Production figures of 3 export units in Ghana (2001).

Among the four operators met including in the two approved plants three had some records. The operational data of the three plants are given in Table 5 as per the interviews and reviews of available records.

The main species were freshwater perches (Lates niloticus), naked catfish (Bagrus sp.), bagrid catfish (Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus), tilapia (Tilapia zilli), barracuda (Sphyraena sp.), sea catfish (Arius sp.), round and flat Sardinella (Sardinella aurita, S. maderensis). Freshwater fish species, especially fish from the Lake composed the major share of the end-products from Ghana. These were collected all along the Volta Lake, including fishing sites such as Yeji, Kpando, Dzemeni, and Abotoase, etc. Lates is the major species and also the most valuable, followed by catfish and other species. Sardinella, which represent about 5 percent of a consignment, is from marine and frozen origin.

Contrary to exports from Côte d’Ivoire, which are mainly sent to Europe, Ghanaian traditional products are mainly absorbed by the United States and Canada. Two of the three plants were exporting exclusively to these markets, while the third exported mainly to the EU. The owner of one of the first two plants is now making contacts to start exporting to the EU in addition to United States and Canada markets. One of the operators sold small quantities of products in the local market; they are not included in these data.

The United Kingdom, the Netherlands (supplying Belgium), Germany and Austria were the main European destinations. Official data from the competent authority (CA) indicated that there has been a steady increase of exports to these markets in the past 3 years, after the drop phase that followed the visit in 1998 of the European fish inspectors. People interviewed confirmed this statement. As an illustration, there has been an increase of 20 percent from 1999 to 2000 and 106 percent from 2000 to 2001 in the exports of smoked products to these markets.

The increase was also noted for the United States and Canada where the two operators in these markets indicated an increase of 12 percent over the same period.

Two key findings were drawn from the data provided by the CA and the Export Promotion Council (GEPC).

- The exports of other fish and fishery products, encompassing frozen fish, live lobsters, fresh and frozen shrimps decreased, from 23 000 tonnes in 1999 to 15 000 tonnes in 2000-2001.

- The number of exporters of traditional products dropped drastically, from about 170 (more than 80 percent exported to EU markets) in 1997 to barely 16 in 2001, among which only 2 plants were registered for EU exports.

The GEPC’s data at the exit points indicate that USA and Canada were formerly the first destinations of smoked fish and shrimps from Ghana, with 66.3 percent of the exports share. They were followed by Togo and Côte d’Ivoire (23%) between 1994 and 1996. But the trend has shifted since 1999.

Table 6. Exports of smoked and dried fishery products from Ghana.

The exports of smoked and dried fishery products from Ghana to all destinations doubled from 2 651 tonnes in 1997 to 5 807 tonnes in 2001 (see Table 6). A comparison of these figures from the CA with the records from the interviews showed that exports of some of the four operators were not registered and the others have only two thirds or half of their products reported. This led to an underestimation of the traditional products as noted in Côte d’Ivoire.

In value terms, the consignments to EU and North America, which respectively represented 18 percent (514 tonnes) in 1999 and 16 percent (930 tonnes) in 2001 of all traditional products were worth US$266 000 and US$437 750.

4.3 Facilities and operational figures

Whether in Ghana or Côte d’Ivoire, the processing units visited have more than 5 years experience in the field of export to "ethnic" markets. Most of them were established before the visits of the European fish inspectors were conducted in 1996 and 1998 respectively in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. One of the most significant differences between the two countries is that for Côte d’Ivoire, the actual managers of the plants are based in EU (France in general) while some relatives take care of production and expedition with the help of the employees. These managers arrange for the distribution of the products to other EU countries or USA and Canada and sell in their own shops (1 to 2 shops per plant in the Paris region). So far the Ghana-based plants only have their buyers in North America and EU to whom they send the consignments directly, but the operators have been making arrangements to establish their own shops abroad, mainly in New York and London.

The main product is slightly salted smoked-dried predominantly smoked on Chorkor or modified Chorkor ovens or on drum ovens. These ovens have a raw material capacity of 50 to 300 kg. The unique case of the use of a mechanical oven with up to 1 tonne capacity was reported in one plant in Ghana, most likely for re-smoking. A little part of the consignments is made up of dried product and live crabs and snails in Côte d’Ivoire.

In both countries it was difficult to obtain data on the initial capital requirement to set up a plant handling and exporting a certain volume, and compliant with sanitary regulations.

The reasons were that most of the financial data were processed/detained by the managers based at the "headquarters" (case in Côte d’Ivoire), or the investment was made long time ago and the upgrading was a progressive process (there was no systematic record keeping of such data). One plant manager, who was present in Côte d’Ivoire during the study, estimated that at least CFAF3 million (US$4 300) is required to set up compliant premises with a production capacity of 1 tonne per week. A plant owner in Ghana who exported 3 tonnes of smoked and dried products per month said that he had spent 40 million cedis (US$5 000) since 1998 to improve the production conditions in his plant in order to succeed in the registration process (this included also the overall increase in human resources).

The calculations on the daily running of the business revealed that 50 percent of the gross income covers the purchase of raw material, and about 30 percent cater for the other production inputs (utility costs, labour, shipment arrangements, etc.).

Declaring an income is commonly a sensitive issue in artisanal fisheries and especially in small-scale export sub-sector. However, upon sensitization of the respondents on the objective of the study and raising the potential disadvantages of the sub-sector in producing false data, there has been a relatively good understanding of the relevance of accurate information. The figures varied according to a set of factors.

- The destination: EU markets are said to have higher purchasing power in most instances.

- Whether the consignment is sold to a wholesaler or at a retail price in the shops owned. The price can double in that case.

- The period of the year.

The net profit is roughly 20 to 25 percent of the value of the product. This was estimated as US$0.8-1.5/kg in Côte d’Ivoire (at wholesale prices) to US$1-5/kg in Ghana (US$2-3/kg for USA and Canada and US$3-5/kg for EU markets). It was noted that all products from Ghana are sold FOB (Free On Board); hence the importer incurs the transport fees.

The income earned is used in household purposes, in projects (upgrading, expanding, relocating the premises, real estate business), other fisheries activities (purchase own canoes, truck to transport products, and supplying fishing inputs to fishermen).

5. SOCIO-ECONOMIC FIGURES

TABLE 7: ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS OF THE PLANTS VISITED.

The survey confirmed the contribution of traditional fish processing and export operations to the socio-economic indicators, as presented in Table 7. This importance is particularly in terms of:

- Increased incomes of small-scale fish processors and exporters: substantial net returns are gained from the "ethnic" markets. Besides, the use of income for other income generating activities, expanding processing operations and improving fish supplies by sustaining fishing activities play a considerable role in improving the livelihoods of these operators.

- Source of income for small scale fishers: while in Côte d’Ivoire the main supply source of raw material are the cold stores, in Ghana, essentially the Lake fish from artisanal fishing units form 70 to 75 percent of the processed fish. The live crabs and snails are also purchased from small-scale fishing units. This is a substantial source of livelihood for these communities, most of which are in isolated places. One woman exporter to USA based at Adabraka^[15] market in Accra, stated that she spends per consignment about 7 million cedis (almost US$900) in raw material from artisanal fishermen. The higher purchase prices, the trust among buyers and sellers in terms of cash payment or supply with fishing inputs, and in some cases the fact that the exporters withstand bad road conditions to access inland fishing centres are key advantages encouraging the fishing communities to deal with fish exporters. This is the case for instance in Ghana for fishing villages along Lake Volta, and in Côte d’Ivoire for Assomlan, an Aby Lagoon fishing village known for its important catches of crabs. The services of experienced artisanal fish processors were used in some fish processing plants.

- Employment. In most instances, the employees are low-qualification people (fish handlers, processors, messengers, etc.). They generally earn more than the respective national minimum wages in both countries. Once in the ethnic markets, 90 percent of the traditional products are sold and distributed by the African Diaspora abroad. This is also a non negligible source of income for these immigrant communities.

- Contribution to sustain the activities of all companies involved in the administrative arrangements prior to export: certification service, forwarders, middlemen, etc.

- National income tax (customs and other taxes payable after export). This is the case in Ghana where the private operator is liable to corporate taxes (8 percent of the profit) to be paid to the Government.

- Foreign exchange revenues of the whole country. The equivalent in local currency of the trade value of these products have been shown on Table 7, supports the statement that traditional fish takes an important part in the commercial balance of the fisheries products in these countries.

6. CONTRIBUTION TO FISH UTILIZATION

Processing of traditional products is an important fish utilization method.

- It adds value to low-value fish, mainly frozen small pelagics. As an illustration, about 235 000 tonnes of frozen fish are imported annually in Côte d’Ivoire to meet local demand. The value of the raw material of the 5 export-oriented traditional plants is 0.4 to 1 percent the value of these imports, but the value of their end-products represented 1.5 to 5 percent of the value of exported fishery products from Côte d’Ivoire.

- It contributes to reducing post-harvest losses, especially in inland fishing areas, which in most cases are difficult to access. The case of live crabs fishing villages and Lake Volta fisheries are revealing examples. Loss reduction is more perceivable during glut fishing seasons due to the limited processing capacity of the artisanal fishing communities. Some purchasers go to these areas to buy raw material for the processing sites.

An additional contribution of "ethnic" fish export is to resource conservation, as chunks of big specimen of fish are more demanded, especially in Ghana case study.

These data show the importance of traditional products meant for "ethnic" markets. Their support is great and the trends in the demands indicate that there is a potential for this support to grow and sustain. This can be possible only if the operations overcome certain constraints faced in both countries and that are real threats to further development of the activities.

7. PROBLEMS AND CONSTRAINTS

7.1 Operational constraints

- The inadequate design of the smoking ovens, which is not perceived by the processors themselves, is a threat to the sustainability of the operations. In 80 per cent of the cases, the ovens were not fuel effective. Facilities harbouring improved ovens with an adequate fish/fuel wood consumption rate were scarce in the premises visited. The rate generally known for a Chorkor oven is 0.2 to 0.3 kg wood per kg of fish, and for other types of ovens (Altona, Côte d’Ivoire, round drum) it is 0.4 to 0.9 if adequately designed. But the study revealed that many processors were using 3 to 4 kg wood per kilo of fish, because of the inadequacy of the ovens, being round or square-shaped ovens made from oil drums with large openings and leakage of smoke and heat. There is a need to provide appropriate information and training to these small-scale processors in the construction of technically effective equipment to reduce the operation costs (cost for fuel wood) and prevent the environmental degradation by fish smoking operations.

- The production capacity in some plants is not enough to meet the increasing export demands. This has forced some owners to discretely seek for assistance from experienced community fish processing centres. These centres, as already explained, have not been inspected and certified by the competent authorities, and therefore the processing conditions might not guarantee the safety of the end-products obtained. It was said that the level of investment required to expand or upgrade the plants is the main reason leading to this practice.

- Lack of appropriate banking arrangements to facilitate access to credit at bearable interest rates. In this situation, unless some friends or relatives accept to assist financially, it is practically difficult for a small-scale exporter to have the relevant amount of cash to meet the requirements in design and layout of the facilities.

7.2 Constraints linked to national institutions

Some of them were addressed during the debriefing of the authorities. They may need a follow-up to check the level of implementation.

Three points were common to both countries:

i. Lack of control of the entire export process or chain, especially the United States, Canada and other destinations than the EU. The sanitary certificates for these destinations are issued at the airports. The competent authority in Côte d’Ivoire restricted the export to these countries by the registered processing units. Consequently, the requests are made at the points of expedition.

ii. Lack of coordination of the certification between the competent authority and the airport-based services leading to exports by persons who bypass the regular registration process. They might not have any processing facility and thus might be unfair competitors to authentic operators.

iii. The difficulty in appraising the actual importance of small scale fish export units to "ethnic" markets and within the Africa region. The current context of weak data collection does not permit the delivery of accurate figures. Yet, they are essential to identify priority areas and interventions in any assistance programme to the benefit of the sub-sector.

In most instances in Côte d’Ivoire, several other problems linked to the national authorities have been reported that impede the development of the export oriented traditional fish processing activities. They included:

- Inappropriate certification system which is resource and time consuming. The service in place since March 2002 employed directly only one veterinary, for all the exported fishery products from Côte d’Ivoire. This lack of staff led to some measures which were very much penalizing the exporters. The export of live crabs and fresh fish, mostly purchased hinterland, where there is no regional representation of the competent authority is one of the cases concerned by those measures. The system needs to be reviewed to take into account the perishable nature of the products, especially when a "quarantine" of 1 or 2 days is imposed prior to export from Abidjan.

- Insufficient staff and technical expertise/knowledge of the competent authority to effectively conduct the inspection and quality assurance tasks.

- Police harassments. Though these were not specifically directed against traditional fish processors, they were identified as significant causes of economic losses and waste of time. These practices prevailed during the transport of raw material from hinterland to Abidjan but also the transport of end-products from the processing premises to the airport.

7.3 Constraints linked to the operators

- Inappropriate knowledge and lack of training. Most of the time, fish processing and marketing is a family business, people involved do not have any qualification and are trained on-the-job. The direct implication was the difficulty in understanding the standards for the design and layout of premises. This situation discouraged many operators to establish or upgrade their processing facilities, because they found these standards complicated or even excessive. The discussion brought up the lack of a simplified grassroots guide on regulatory requirements to the attention of these operators and to anyone willing to get involved into that business. They suggested that it should be simple, with illustrations and examples referring to locally available materials. One woman who was setting up her facilities in Ghana drew the study team’s attention. She stated that she had to travel to neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire to realize that "it was not a castle" that was required but just a partitioned house with basic equipment.

- Lack of organization within the sub-sector. Collective concerns such as relations with the competent authorities, the certification of live crabs, the lack of food labelling information would have found a better framework of discussion and be effectively addressed if the processors were organized into socio-professional groups.

- Lack of transparency in the management of registration numbers. This was mainly noted at the airport. A statement from the CA was that this was in complicity with few plant managers who "rent" their registration numbers. The exporters rejected this accusation and said that these practices were done without their consent. In any case this could be a dramatic matter when a sanitary problem will emerge, as the conditions of production of the products have not been assessed. Besides, the practices create an unfair competition to the plants, which operate honestly. Though a slight decrease in the number of these practices have been reported since the beginning of the year thanks to the decline of the late continental airline AIR AFRIQUE, effective actions need to be taken to track the perpetrators.

8. ACTIONS TO BE CONSIDERED

8.1 On the part of the national institutions

Two measures were announced during the discussion with national authorities and small-scale fish exporters. These were:

- Review of the certification process in Côte d’Ivoire, to take into account the complaints about its cumbersomeness and irrelevance with regard to particular products (example of live crabs) which cannot be inspected inland for insufficiency of staff. This measure is necessary in the process of complying with the worldwide new quality assurance concept, which is preventive rather than repressive, and resource consuming. The issuance of certificates based solely on the laboratory analyses as currently done by the DFQ should not be the approach. The fishery plants should be ranked according to their sanitary status and performance, which will determine the frequency of inspections. Certificates should be issued taken into account this classification and the effectiveness of the quality assurance programme in each plant, while analyses should be made randomly and not on every consignment.

- Deployment of the competent authority’s staff for better control at the exit points. The representative of the DFQ announced the setting up of a desk at Abidjan airport in replacement of the veterinary service. In Ghana, GSB has informed the surveyor that contacts have been established with AFKO (airport authority) for an office within the premises of the airport currently under rehabilitation.

Some further actions to be considered are:

- An in-depth study on the whole small scale export sub-sector (all destinations). This FAO study, which is the first in assessing the importance of export-oriented small scale fisheries in specific production countries, should be strengthened by a complete appraisal by the national authorities for a better understanding of the dynamics of these fisheries. The results will be useful in the justification of any assistance programme for their development.

- Marketing of safe and good quality fish should be both a national and an export concern. There is a need to address the problem of compliance by community processing centres and also of "unreported" exports. Bilateral or multilateral assistance should be sought to assist in upgrading these centres and train the processors. Cleaning up the export channel will put more pressure on the registered plants, which already have limited capacity to meet the demands from "ethnic" markets. These centres once upgraded could serve for both domestic markets and legal suppliers to these plants or can export their products directly. This measure would improve their incomes on a sustainable basis.

- Putting in place mechanisms to facilitate access to credit by the operators.

8.2 On the part of the private operators

In both countries, the operators agreed to form traditional fish exporters associations. This will include the officially approved operators as well as the exporters to other destinations than the EU (mainly the United States and Canada). They would thus effectively address their common concerns to relevant institutions, sensitise their members on correct marketing practices, share experiences, and set up a focal point to provide relevant market information including trade fairs, prices, products, standards, regulations, etc.

8.3 On the part of FAO

FAO can contribute to the expansion of export oriented small-scale fisheries with an assistance programme consisting of:

- Publishing a field guide to be used by the artisanal operators and fisheries extension officers. This one should be a simple formulation of the technical and sanitary requirements in the design and layout of premises and the equipment of smoked, dried and fermented fish, and shrimp or fish flour processing units.

- Assisting the relevant institutions in the development of standards for traditional fishery products, not only for the product itself, but also for the raw material and other ingredients, processing facilities, equipment, process parameters, packaging, storage, transport and marketing. These standards can be effectively developed in the pilot centres, which have been initially upgraded.

- Training in quality assurance of the competent authority as well as private operators, who in addition need training in simple bookkeeping.

- Assisting member countries in formulating a project document on the upgrading of major community fish processing centres, to be addressed to bilateral or multilateral counterparts. FAO could also be a catalyst in the process of interaction between stakeholders, for example through a regional Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP).