Fisheries biology
Species identification and taxonomy; age and growth; length–weight relationships; reproductive biology, maturity and spawning seasonality; feeding ecology; distribution and migration.
Research
Research is the function around which the Institute is organised.
Every project proceeds on a written proposal. Ethical clearance is required where research involves human participants, sensitive ecosystems or protected species. An assessment that is not translated into usable advice has not discharged the mandate.
Fisheries research and stock assessment
The quantitative basis for management decisions.
Fisheries research addresses the biology, population dynamics, exploitation and economics of the species on which Somalia’s fishing sector depends. Stock assessment is the function that most directly discharges the Institute’s mandate to inform fisheries policy.
It rests on landing-site catch sampling, biological sampling, effort data and total catch estimation, and produces biological reference points, fisheries indicators and management advice. Every assessment is accompanied by a management advice note stating what the assessment implies for decisions, what confidence attaches to that implication, and what would change the conclusion.
At-sea sampling and examination of catch — the field basis of the assessment programme.
Population dynamics
Growth, mortality and recruitment; population structure; stock identification; yield per recruit and spawning stock biomass per recruit relationships.
Fishery monitoring
Catch composition, catch rates, fishing effort, gear use, vessel activity, seasonality and spatial distribution of fishing, through landing-site sampling and logbook or interview systems.
Socioeconomics and communities
Household dependence on fishing; income, costs and returns; value chains; employment; livelihood structure, vulnerability and community-based management along the Puntland coast.
Further programmes
Oceanography, biodiversity, aquaculture and fisheries technology.
Marine science and oceanography
Fisheries in the north-western Indian Ocean are strongly seasonal, and that seasonality is oceanographically driven. The programme covers coastal and shelf observation; water quality; temperature, salinity, currents and upwelling; and monsoon-driven productivity.
Marine biology, ecology and biodiversity
Survey and monitoring of species richness and community composition, taxonomy, ecological relationships, and a national marine species database.
Aquaculture
Species suitability for Somali conditions, hatchery technique, feed and nutrition, and production systems that supplement capture fisheries rather than competing for the same stocks.
Fisheries technology and post-harvest science
Gear selectivity, boat and engine technology, handling, preservation, cold chain and processing — including reduction of post-harvest loss.