Policy Framework for Managing Artisanal Fishing and Fisheries Resources in Lake Chad Basin Communities, Borno State, North East Nigeria

This study analyses the policy framework governing artisanal fishing and fisheries resource management in Lake Chad Basin communities of Borno State, North East Nigeria, with a focus on sustainability, community livelihoods, and inter-state resource governance. The Lake Chad fisheries have historically supported millions of livelihoods but face multiple threats from climate change-induced lake shrinkage, overfishing, insurgency disruption, and inadequate regulatory enforcement. Drawing on common pool resource governance theory and recent fisheries policy literature from 2020 to 2024, the study employs a practitioner research design. Data are gathered from artisanal fishing communities, Borno State Fisheries Department officials, Lake Chad Basin Commission representatives, and non-governmental organisation livelihood programme managers through interviews and community consultations across three fishing communities. Qualitative policy analysis and stakeholder mapping are applied. The study expects to find that national fisheries regulations are inadequately adapted to the specific ecological and social context of the Lake Chad Basin, and that inter-state and transboundary governance mechanisms remain weak, allowing overexploitation. Fisheries co-management models and community-based resource governance approaches drawing from recent African experiences are critically examined. Recommendations target reforming the national fisheries law to accommodate co-management, establishing basin-wide monitoring protocols, and integrating fisheries restoration into the Lake Chad Basin Commission's development mandate. Keywords: artisanal fishing, fisheries management, Lake Chad, Borno State, co-management