Development of a Remote Sensing Framework for Monitoring Inland Fisheries Habitat Change in North Central Nigeria

This research developed an original remote sensing framework for monitoring habitat change in inland fisheries ecosystems of North Central Nigeria, spanning the Niger, Benue, Kaduna, and Sokoto river systems. Habitat degradation is the leading long-term threat to inland fisheries productivity in Nigeria's freshwater systems, yet no standardised remote sensing methodology exists for systematic habitat change monitoring across the region's extensive and topographically diverse riverine network. Multi-temporal Landsat, Sentinel-2, and MODIS satellite imagery spanning 30 years from 1994 to 2024 were processed using Google Earth Engine cloud computing to classify and quantify changes in key fisheries habitat categories, including floodplain wetlands, riparian vegetation, open water extent, and sedimentation. A supervised machine learning classification algorithm (random forest) was trained using field-verified ground truth data collected from 42 reference sites. Change detection analysis was conducted at five-year intervals, and habitat change trajectories were correlated with available fish landing records from state fisheries agencies. Results documented a 28 percent reduction in floodplain wetland area across the study region over 30 years, with accelerating loss rates detected in the most recent decade. Riparian vegetation loss exceeded 35 percent in the most impacted sub-basins. Seasonal water extent variability increased significantly, indicating greater hydrological instability linked to upstream dam operations and climate trends. Fish landing data showed a statistically significant correlation between habitat loss indices and declining CPUE in adjacent fisheries. The framework was validated against independent field data achieving 89 percent classification accuracy. The research delivers an operational remote sensing platform for Nigerian inland fisheries habitat monitoring and recommends its adoption by the Federal Department of Fisheries as a national monitoring infrastructure investment. Keywords: remote sensing, inland fisheries habitat, satellite imagery, habitat change monitoring, North Central Nigeria