An improved system for commercial fish smoking could reduce destruction of mangrove forests and generate human health benefits, report researchers writing in Tropical Conservation Science, an open-access journal published by mongabay.com.
Njisuh Z. Feka of Central European University in Budapest and colleagues find that replacing traditional fish smoking systems with improved systems, which use 60 percent less fuel wood, saves money and improves working conditions for women and children. The new system also provides significant ecological gain, with each household that adopts the system conserving up to 0.60% ha of mangrove forest per year.
Logging to provide fuel wood for commercial fish-smoking is the “most pervasive” threat to the sustainability of mangrove ecosystems in much of West Africa, according to the authors.
CITATION: Njisuh Z. Feka, George B. Chuyong, Gordon N. Ajonina 2009. Sustainable utilization of mangroves using improved fish-smoking systems: a management perspective from the Douala-Edea wildlife reserve, Cameroon Full Text PDF. Tropical Conservation Science Vol.2(4):450-468.