The Gambia is characterized by marine, brackish, and freshwater regimes which correspond with the three Fishery Administrative Areas of the country namely: Atlantic/Marine, Lower River, and Upper River Strata. The estuarine areas have a thick mangrove forest of 59,717 hectares (Global Mangrove Watch 2016) stretching up to 200km inland from the mouth of the River Gambia, which provides breeding and nursery grounds for commercial marine fish species, shrimps, marine mammals, shellfish, and other important aquatic animals (Mendy, 2009).
Among the importance of shellfisheries for women are that they provide affordable and cheap protein intake, self-employment, income generation, food security, and poverty reduction. Several efforts have been made starting from harvesters organizing themselves into formal associations for the purpose of reaching common objectives and approaches to manage shellfish harvesting sustainably and protect the mangrove ecosystem to ensure continuity of their shellfisheries livelihoods that are reliant on healthy mangroves.
The current study assesses the scale and scope of shellfisheries and shellfish-based livelihoods connected with mangrove systems and coastal water bodies in The Gambia through a participatory approach. The main objectives were the identification of key stakeholders and assessment of the scale and scope of existing shellfisheries and shellfish-based livelihoods in mangrove systems or their related water bodies. This study complements a Literature Review covering shellfisheries in each of the 11 coastal West African countries from Senegal to Nigeria.
