Social-Economic Status of Shellfish Enterprises in Some Communities in Rivers State

The study was carried out in three different communities (Abonnema, Buguma, and Degema, of Rivers State, Nigeria). The objectives were to examine how the socio-economic characteristics and factors affect shellfish enterprises in the study areas. Purposive and multistage random sampling techniques were used to collect primary data from 150 respondents using a well-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results showed that shellfish marketing is dominated by women (78%) in Abonnema, (98%) in Buguma, and (100%) in Degema, and most marketers were either under 20 or above 50 years old. Many were married and had secondary education as their highest qualification. Most had 1–10 years of marketing experience, and shellfish trading was largely family-based, with large household sizes (10 members or more). Market concentration analysis revealed that Abonnema and Degema had higher concentration ratios, meaning a few traders control prices and market demand, limiting competition and opportunities for smaller traders. It is imperative to create a more organized and competitive market system to reduce dominance and oligopoly and create an orderly shellfish market that will encourage more people to enter the shellfish industry, in order to boost incomes, improve market efficiency, and address emerging market challenges.