Community Fisheries Management Research Articles

Factors Driving the Effectiveness of Community Fisheries Management Resulted from Fisheries Policy Reforms

Factors Driving the Effectiveness of Community Fisheries Management Resulted from Fisheries Policy Reforms

Nudging statutory law to make space for customary processes and community-based fisheries management in Solomon Islands

Like many Pacific countries, Solomon Islands has more than one legal system operating concurrently: customary law, statutory law and the common law of England. Governance also occurs at national, provincial and local scales. Local people managing coastal and marine resources under customary marine tenure (CMT) have increasing difficulties in enforcement as external threats exceed their scope of governance. Before 2015, CMT breaches were not a fisheries violation as recognised by the western legal system. Drawing on our involvement in developing a new Fisheries Management Bill in 2007–2015 and consultations within the Solomon Islands Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, we examine how, and to what effect, the resultant Act—specifically Section 18 on Community Fisheries Management Plans (CFMPs)—has accommodated or shifted the relationship between customary governance systems and the state’s contemporary fisheries legislation. We examine if, and how, employing Section 18 can contribute to regional and global fisheries governance policy implementation. The Fisheries Management Act 2015 recognises the rights of customary rights holders to institute CFMPs, provides a mechanism to codify and enforce access and use rights through CMT and empowers these efforts as a legitimate management tool under statutory law. We conclude that statutory law has been ‘nudged’ to make space for the dynamic process of customary law. We contend that use of Section 18 has the potential to elevate community voices in discussions of coastal and marine resource management at different scales, if practitioners do not lose sight of the intent behind the statute’s development.

Benefits of community fisheries management to individual households in the floodplains of the Amazon River in Brazil

We study the incentives of households in the floodplain of the Amazon River (várzea) to comply with community fisheries management efforts. The local manifestation of fisheries management in the study region, fishing accords are community-level agreements that emerged starting in the 1980s in response to increased fishing pressure and fisheries stock depletion. We examine empirically the effects of fishing accords enforcement efforts on individual household time savings. The amount of time savings represents an incentive for, and a predictor of, continued participation in enforcing fishing accords. We quantify the time savings associated with the enforcement of accords by estimating a system of simultaneous factor demand equations that account for different periods in the flood regime of the Amazon River. We find that, in the short run, there is a cost to households from enforcing fishing accords. In the long term, however, the enforcement effort employed generates substantial time savings in fishing that frees scarce time to be allocated to other household activities, such as agriculture and cattle grazing.

Marine Protected Areas in Fiji: a critical assessment of ‘Community Fisheries Management and Development Plans’ as a mechanism for formalising customary MPAs, in particular LMMAs

Fiji's National Government has committed to using Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to protect its marine environment. As Fiji is in the process of reforming its marine law, now is an opportune time to develop statutory mechanisms for establishing and regulating MPAs. This article considers the regulation of MPAs in Fiji's coastal waters—where the intersection of statutory and customary law poses particular challenges. ‘Customary MPAs’ already exist in Fiji's coastal environments, taking the form of tabu areas and ‘Locally Managed Marine Areas’ (LMMAs). Both of these are important mechanisms that any new statutory framework should incorporate and strengthen. In 2010, the draft Inshore Fisheries Decree (draft Inshore Decree) was prepared. Although the draft Inshore Decree appears to have stalled, it may yet be progressed to a final bill. Alternatively, some of the measures in it may be incorporated into another law. This article assesses one mechanism in the draft Inshore Decree that could be used to formalize customary MPAs—Community Fisheries Management and Development Plans (CFMDPs). It finds that CFMDPs demonstrate a number of strengths, in particular by supporting legal recognition of existing marine management measures. However, there are also weaknesses. Nevertheless, with refinement CFMDPs may be a useful tool for regulating Fiji's coastal MPAs.

Savings-Group Improvements Contribute to Sustainable Community-Fisheries Management: A Case Study in Cambodia

Small-scale community fishers dominate fisheries in Cambodia. In the central floodplain of Cambodia, 35% of rural dwellers are part-time fishers and 15% full-time fishers. By 2012, the Cambodian government had abolished all commercial fishing lots and put these resources under the management of community fisheries. One challenge in the implementation of community-fisheries management is budget shortages and resultant livelihood stress. To address this problem, savings groups were established. The Sustainable Communities International program provided establishment and facilitation support for savings groups in 10 community fisheries in the Kampong Chhnang Province. The savings groups were recognized as useful support facilities, meeting the needs of community fishers and sustainable community fisheries operations. However, there were concerns about the sustainability of the savings groups and the fisheries. To date, there are no documented case studies of savings groups for community fisheries. This study was conducted in two community fisheries in the Kampong Chhnang Province. We found that the internal rules of the savings group must reflect the opinions and perceptions of the members to ensure sustainable operation. Education and integrated livelihood activities were important considerations in encouraging participation. These insights are also useful for community fisheries elsewhere.

Gender Dynamics and Influence of Patriarchal System in Small-Scale Community Fisheries Management in Nandoni Dam

This paper demonstrates the gender dynamics and the influence of the patriarchal system on the community fisheries management of Nandoni dam, Limpopo Province, South Africa. A purposive sampling te...

Giant trevally spawning aggregation highlights importance of community fisheries management no-take zone

Location and timing of spawning aggregations for large teleost predators either remain elusive or constitute core-fishing sites in developing countries, limiting or confounding management actions for sustainable harvesting. In the Quirimbas Archipelago in northern Mozambique, limited artisanal fisheries catch data are available, and only emerging management plans are in place in scattered isolated locations. Artisanal fisheries, however, are the dominant fisheries sector in the region, employing a large proportion of the local population and contributing the main food source for consumption. Giant trevally (Caranx ignobilis) is a highly valued fish and consumed locally but data on giant trevally spawning locations is limited (Westernhagen 1974). This is a concern, given spawning aggregations are extremely susceptible to over fishing, but their functional role is imperative for maintaining ecosystem resilience. Within a community declared no-take zone on the eastern point of Vamizi island, a large aggregation of giant trevally were observed by scuba divers on December 15, 2013, two days prior to the full moon. The fish entered the shelf edge at ∼15–20 m depth from the adjacent deep-water reef channel during daylight hours (15:00) and two hours after high tide. The aggregation numbered >1,000 fish that were estimated to be approximately 80–100 cm total length and larger (Fig. 1a). Individuals were observed pair chasing and displaying color changes (silver to black; Fig. 1b). The fish remained in aggregation formation on the shelf for 1–2 min surrounding the divers before returning to the deep-water channel. Although the physical release of gametes was not observed, indirect evidence commonly used to infer spawning activity, indicate these fish were in the process of spawning

Impediments to community fisheries management: Some findings in Kompong Pou commune, Krakor District in Cambodia's Tonle Sap

This paper broadly assesses some reasons why co‐management of inland fisheries by resource users and state agencies in Cambodia remains difficult to realize. Our survey of the resources, human capacity and associated de facto mechanisms for achieving community fisheries (CFi) objectives among fishing communities of Krakor District, located along Tonle Sap Lake, found these mobilizations at a crossroads in terms of empowered institutional and legal frameworks. Although the commune is a local administrative authority in the context of Cambodia's evolving decentralization and deconcentration (D&D) reform process, decision making and accountability in natural resource management have yet to be transferred to, or opened to participation from, local and subcommune level stakeholders and agencies. Furthermore, the institutional links between the commune council and CFi are ambiguous. This lack of linkages between central government, state agencies and CFi has left fisherfolk struggling to survive against more powerful competing interests. The preliminary findings presented here suggest that the achievement of sustainable CFi management in the Tonle Sap Lake remains problematic without local level decision making powers, sustained funding of CFi and related local government, and partnership between key shareholders in rural development programmes that recognize and encompass women's roles in natural resource management.

Community fisheries management What structure and why?

Theory has shown and experience has verified that individual fishing rights such as territorial user rights (TURFs) and individual transferable quotas (ITQs) can be effective in overcoming the common property problem and generating economic efficiency in fisheries. Unfortunately, these property rights are not applicable to all fisheries. TURFs only work for species that are sufficiently sedentary to remain largely within individual TURFs. ITQs only work if the individual quota constraint can be sufficiently enforced and it turns out that in many fisheries the cost of this is simply prohibitively high. This applies not the least to the numerous artisanal fisheries around the world. These limitations have drawn attention to the possibility of allocating not individual but collective rights to groups of harvesters. While noting that the type of rights conferred as well as the group receiving them may be quite varied, it is customary to refer to this arrangement as community fishing rights. Community fishing rights, of course, do not constitute a fisheries management regime. They merely endow the community with the formal powers and opportunity to implement an effective fisheries management regime. Obviously, there is no guarantee that this opportunity will be used. This paper is concerned with identifying conditions under which community fishing rights are likely to enhance the economic efficiency of fishing. Such conditions can be seen as design principles that can assist fishing authorities around the world interested in setting up systems of community fishing rights.

자율관리 마을어업의 생태계 기반 자원관리시스템 연구

A self-regulatory community fisheries management program in Korea is designed to enhance fisheriesresources, to protect fishing grounds of self-regulatory communities, and to manage their fisheries resourcesby their own regulations and knowledge. This study explored an applicable ecosystem-based managementplan based on the scientific investigation and analysis. This study suggested objectives, indicators andreference points of the ecosystem-based resource management system which are applicable to self-regulatory community fisheries. The objectives of the management system are to maintain sustainablefisheries production, to maintain optimum fishing intensity, to reduce by-catch, to conserve spawningground and habitat, to maintain optimum habitat environment, to increase/maintain abundance of preyspecies, to increase/maintain stock biomass, and to conduct stock enhancement on the basis of scientificassessment. The improved methods for the assessment and management are introduced by demonstrating aself-regulatory fishery which targets on hen clam in Dong-li fishing village in Busan.Key words : Ecosystem-based management, Self-regulatory community fisheries, Objectives, Indicator,Reference point

Hanging in balance: benefit sharing in community-based fishery resource management in the Lower Mekong Basin

Collective management of resources has enjoyed a remarkable rise to prominence across resource governance, but many questions remain. What benefits are created and who are the recipients? Are these benefits and incentives sufficient to enable communities to collaborate for longer-term management? A clear conceptual framework is needed to better understand these social, economic and environmental impacts. The paper responds to this need and presents a new tool to analyse benefits and benefit-sharing within and between communities in relation to poverty reduction and conservation through two cases of community fisheries management in Lower Mekong Basin.

Social Capital and Fisheries Management: The Case of Chilika Lake in India

This article shows how social capital impacts fisheries management at the local level in Chilika Lake, located in the state of Orissa in India. In Chilika, the different fishing groups established norms and "rules of the game" including, but not limited to, spatial limits that determine who can fish and in what areas, temporal restrictions about when and for how long people may fish, gear constraints about what harvesting gear may be used by each group, and physical controls on size and other characteristics of fish that may be harvested. A survey of the members of fishing groups has shown that the bonding social capital is strong within the Chilika fishing groups. Bonding and bridging social capital keeps the fishers together in times of resource scarcity, checks violations of community rules and sanctions, and strengthens the community fisheries management. In contrast, linking social capital in Chilika appears to be weak, as is evident from the lack of trust in external agencies, seeking the help of formal institutions for legal support, and increasing conflicts. Trust and cooperation among fishers is crucial in helping to build the social capital. A social capital perspective on fisheries governance suggests that there should be a rethinking of priorities and funding mechanisms, from "top-down" fisheries management towards "co-management" with a focus on engendering rights and responsibilities for fishers and their communities.

Rules, Roles and Rights: Gender, Participation and Community Fisheries Management in Cambodia's Tonle Sap Region

In the Tonle Sap Region, Community Fisheries (CFs) have been recently constituted by the Cambodian Government to address the needs for local and sustainable management of fisheries resources. Local women are being urged to participate in these institutions by various state and non-state programmes. However, actual social conditions and practices of people demonstrate that women are not actively involved in de facto fisheries management with its complex mosaic of rules, rights and roles. Inserting women into this programme by only addressing poverty reduction and conservation goals without recognizing actual gender/social inequalities, may inadvertently reproduce existing gender hierarchies instead of actually transforming them.

Indian Fisheries: A Historical Alternative

The paper addresses the situation of fisheries through historical eyes and also aims at creating a new method for analysis of Indian Fisheries. It looks at the Historical evidence of sea-tenural systems and 'private fisheries' in India, while depicting the value of the traditional fishermen to the Indian scenario. It analyzes Acts, Government documents and attempts to create a picture of Indian Fisheries in the pre-independence era. It also looks at international systems of community fisheries management, and applies certain examples into the Indian context. It ultimately delves into the possible models for India, looking into Individual Tradable Quotas and community-based management systems that could be applicable in the Indian context. The final option that the paper provides is a valid dual structured system that could effectively transform Indian fisheries.

Tropical Rhythms and Collective ActionCommunity-based Fisheries Management in the Face of Amazonian Unpredictability1

Summaries This article looks at community fisheries management in the Peruvian varzea , the resource‐rich floodplain of the Amazon river. This dynamic and heterogeneous world gives rise to a wide range of uncertainties and ambiguities that challenge the long‐term viability of community management efforts. The authors focus on the unpredictable nature of the hydrologic regime, which not only governs the annual cycle of fisheries production and availability but also determines the timing and intensity of productive activities such as agriculture, extraction of forest products and hunting. To survive, both the community members and their fisheries management systems have to adapt to the dynamics of the aquatic world in which they live. Flexible institutions are key to the viability of management systems which must bend with the chaotic rhythms of both social life and the surrounding natural world.