Pre-existing Inland Fisheries Management in Thailand: The Case of the Lower Songkhram River Basin

Abstract

The livelihoods and food security of many Thai rural communities depend on inland capture fisheries, which are characterized by multiple species, diverse habitats and complex ecosystems. Current fisheries management in Thailand can neither control levels of exploitation and illegal fishing, nor can it achieve an equitable sharing of resources, which have become degraded and the focus of serious conflict. The capture fisheries of the Lower Songkhram River Basin (LSRB) exemplify those of a large, species-rich, tropical river basin, characterized by various ecological assemblages to which fishers have adapted with a range of gear and fishing techniques. There fisheries resources are managed jointly by national and local institutions under a complex multiple property rights regime. Fisheries property rights and their role in local fisheries management in the LSRB are examined, and conflicts explained. Changes in property rights are illustrated with particular reference to the illegal but tolerated large-scale barrage fishery. Local fishers’ perceptions of fisheries management issues and collective responsibility for management are examined.