Women's traditional fishery and alternative aquatic resource livelihood strategies in the Southern Cameroonian Rainforest

Abstract To inform the development of alternative livelihoods, the women’s traditional alok fishery in the Campo‐Ma’an National Park and buffer zone of southern Cameroon were studied over 15 months. Participatory rural appraisal was used to characterise livelihood strategies among 45 households. Thirty‐three cultured crops, nine farmed animal species and 65 non‐timber forest products, including 31 bushmeat species are cultivated in, or harvested from, the forest. Transport is a major impediment to commercial trade of all local products. In 16 alok fishing events, average weight of fish harvested was 5.14 kg per 280 m of stream distributed among an average of 23 fishers for a return of 220 g person −1 or 40 g fish h −1 over 5 h of work. Fish and crustacean standing stock was 25 g per linear metre or 167 t when extrapolated to the zone. Implications for rainforest livelihoods in light of the Millennium Development Goals are discussed.