Effects of Aberrant Weather Conditions on Fish Farming Production in Earthen Ponds in Bo District, Southern Sierra Leone

Francis Amara Makieu, Moses Fayiah* and Isaac Menwoe Gono ll

Fish farming in earthen ponds plays a vital role in ensuring food security and income generation for communities in Bo District, Southern Sierra Leone. The study assesses the effects of aberrant weather conditions on fish farmers in selected parts of Bo District, Sierra Leone. The study employed the descriptive research design. Both primary and secondary sources of data were used in the study. Kobo Collect was used to collect data for the study. The collected data were exported into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22 for analysis. A sample size of one hundred (100) fish farmers was randomly selected from a target population of one thousand (1000) fish farmers in the study area. About 61% of the respondents were men, while 39% were female. About 40% of the respondents strongly attest that effective water quality management should be done on a weekly basis to increase fish productivity in earthen ponds. The study further discovered that irregular rainfall, intense heat, flooding, and prolonged dry spells are increasingly affecting fishing production in the aquaculture sector. The results also indicate that fish farmers in the study area had adopted multiple adaptation strategies to combat the effects of one thousand aberrant weather conditions. These strategies include improving pond management, quality feed formation, enhancing early harvesting, species diversification, and integrated fish farming, etc. The findings provide insight into how aberrant weather variability disrupts pond ecosystems, alters water quality, and threatens the livelihoods of one thousand rural farmers. The study confirmed that fish farmers will perform better if the above productivity indicators are tackled and improved on by the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources of Sierra Leone. For improved fishpond productivity outcomes, it is recommended that fish farmers endeavor to provide a conducive fish species ecosystem that will enhance quality water management and increase fish productivity in the future.

Keywords:

Published on: Apr 11, 2026 Pages: 10-16

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/2455-8400.000103
CrossMark Publons Harvard Library HOLLIS Search IT Semantic Scholar Get Citation Base Search Scilit OAI-PMH ResearchGate Academic Microsoft GrowKudos Universite de Paris UW Libraries SJSU King Library SJSU King Library NUS Library McGill DET KGL BIBLiOTEK JCU Discovery Universidad De Lima WorldCat VU on WorldCat