Influence of Coastal Challenges on the Operations of Small Scale Fish Business in Akwa Ibom Coastline Communities, Nigeria (Published)
Coastal challenges is one of the obvious problems facing fish business in Akwa Ibom State as none over the years has grown from small to large scale. In this study, effort was made to determine the extent to which coastal challenges could influence the operations of small scale fish business. Three research questions were answered in the study and three null hypotheses were tested at .05 level of significance. Related literature and empirical studies were reviewed. The population of the study comprised 1420 small scale fish business operators from fifty one fishing communities that spread across eight Local Government Areas that situate along the coastal bank. Stratified random sampling technique was used in selecting a sample of 312 small scale fish business operators. The researcher developed 30-items structured questionnaire (which were equally interpreted in local dialects) for data collection. The questionnaire items were face validated by three experts, two from Department of Vocational Education and One from Department of Educational Foundation; all from University of Uyo, Uyo. Cronbach Alpha method was used in calculating the reliability of the instrument and a correlation coefficient index of 0.82 was obtained which showed that the instrument was reliable. Data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation for research questions while the null hypotheses were tested to determine the extent of influence using t-test. The findings of the study indicate that flood, sea piracy, and coastal storms have high influence on the operation of small scale fish business. It was recommended that Akwa Ibom State Government should design an Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System (IBRSS) for fish business operators to enable them contain risk associated with coastal storms and should set up agencies like Local Coast Guard (LCG) and Distress Response Team (DRT) among others. These agencies will help stem the activities of pirates
Keywords: Coastal Challenges, Fish Business and Coastline Communities, Flood