Towards Sustainable Shrimp Fisheries in a West Africa Lagoon: Gear Efficiency in the Nokoué Lagoon With Its Inlet

The continued use of prohibited fishing gear in inland waters around the world poses a direct threat to the sound management of global fish stocks. This is also the case in Benin, where there has been a drastic decline in shrimp production since 2002, particularly in the Nokoué lagoon. This study aimed to compare the capture capacity (in space and time) of two types of fishing gear (traps and nets) that are less destructive on shrimp catches in the Nokoué lagoon and its inlet complex (North, South, Centre, East and West), as part of a sustainable exploitation strategy. In total, two genera of shrimp were sampled: Macrobrachium Spence Bate, 1868 and Penaeus Fabricius, 1798. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) analyses and Tukey's post hoc tests revealed a pronounced seasonal pattern in catches, particularly for Macrobrachium , with a peak in September and a low‐catch period from March to June. Nets showed a prolonged period of low catches, whereas traps revealed four seasonal catch levels. For Penaeus , five seasonal catch levels were identified, corresponding to prolonged peaks in catches between January and June, followed by a gradual decline to the annual minimum in October and November. The spatial distribution of catches reflects significant heterogeneity between stations. For Macrobrachium , traps caught mainly at Western station, characterized by a high density of ‘Acadja’, whereas nets showed a peak at Eastern station. For Penaeus , Western station had the highest catches for both types of gear, whereas the other stations had intermediate or low yields, highlighting the importance of spatial configuration and artificial habitats in the distribution of populations. Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests confirmed that there were no significant differences between the seasonal effectiveness of traps and nets for both genera, indicating comparable overall performance. However, the chi‐square test revealed a moderate but significant difference in the size frequencies of Penaeus , with nets capturing proportionally larger individuals 150–180 mm, whereas traps favoured intermediate sizes 90–120 mm. For Macrobrachium , no significant difference was observed, reflecting a population dominated by juveniles and adults. Chi‐square residual analysis corroborated these observations, showing an overrepresentation of large Penaeus sizes in nets and intermediate sizes in traps. For Macrobrachium , differences in catch according to size class remain limited to individuals measuring 90–120 mm, mainly caught by traps. These results highlight the complex interaction between gear selectivity, seasonal dynamics, and spatial heterogeneity, underscoring the importance of these factors for the sustainable management of shrimp populations in the Nokoué lagoon.