Community Based Fisheries Management and Fisher Livelihoods: Bangladesh Case Studies

Poor fishers in Bangladesh have been disadvantaged by policies that favored powerful people leasing fishing rights. Community-based management was expected to improve fisher access, livelihoods, and the sustainability of fisheries. The impacts of community management in three floodplain waterbodies differed according to the environment and property rights. Where a set of fishers jointly held exclusive rights to a small enclosed lake they increased production by stocking fish and shared the returns. This strategy is productive but attracts competition for profits and fish consumption was unchanged. Access to capture fisheries in floodplain waterbodies enables the poor to catch diverse small fish for their consumption. Yet sustainability requires limits on fishing. Fish sanctuaries were respected, yet catches per day fell when more people from several villages increased fishing effort in a large wetland, while a tightly knit community restored the fishery in a smaller floodplain. Community organizations will need recognition of their long-term use rights to overcome future threats.

Seasonality and historic trends in the reef fisheries of Pulau Banggi, Sabah, Malaysia

The reef fisheries of Pulau (meaning “island” in Malay) Banggi, Sabah are not managed, and lack baseline fisheries data despite forming part of a proposed marine park. Thus, a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches was applied to obtain a baseline picture about the past and present state of the fisheries. Fish landings were monitored, and fisher interviews conducted to investigate seasonal effects and historical changes in Banggi’s reef fisheries. Monsoon winds were a major driver of seasonal differences in catch quantities for the hook and line, but not the gillnet fishery. Spatial distribution of fishing effort and target species also differed by season. Fishers consistently indicated that Banggi’s fisheries were declining, with a suggested three to four times decrease in catch rates over the last 20 years. Interestingly, it appeared that substantial decreases began in the year 2000. The responses of fishers to seasonal changes, and the resultant implications for management are discussed. Importantly, the need for immediate management policies to prevent further declines and to maintain sustainable reef fisheries is stressed. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Enhancement and Entitlement—the Impact of Stocking on Rural Households’ Command over Living Aquatic Resources: A Case Study from the Lao PDR

Enhancement of inland fisheries through stocking can potentially increase fisheries production in developing countries and improve rural livelihoods. However, results of stocking are often unexpected in terms of benefit distribution. Taking an environmental entitlements approach, this paper details the nature and extent of institutional change that accompanied stocking in Savannakhet Province, Lao PDR, and quantifies its impact on households from different socioeconomic groups. Stocking was a catalyst significantly affecting people’s command over living aquatic resources. New rules changed who could go fishing for what and when, and how the fish could be utilized. Customary rights were transformed and decision-making power concentrated. Despite this, household surveys demonstrated that no socioeconomic group was benefiting disproportionately and this was due to the specific social, political and institutional context into which enhancement was placed. However, in different contexts, increased benefits for resource users, even in cases of increased fisheries production, cannot be assumed.

From Orders to Borders: Toward a Sustainable Co-managed Lobster Fishery in Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland

Over the last two decades, demands by fish harvesters for greater input into policy-making, combined with government cutbacks to fisheries management agencies, have resulted in a proliferation of community-based fisheries comanagement projects in many countries. One such example is found on Newfoundland’s Eastport Peninsula, where a group of lobster harvesters have formed a unique partnership with federal government bureaucrats and university researchers in an effort to protect local lobster stocks from increasing fishing pressure. This paper draws upon interviews with lobster harvesters and others with close ties to the Eastport project in exploring the reasons for the development of this initiative and identifying existing and potential obstacles to its long-term success.

Characterization and management of the commercial sector of the Pohnpei coral reef fishery,Micronesia

Commercial coral reef fisheries in Pohnpei (Micronesia) extract approximately 1,521 kg of reef fish daily (∼500 MT year⁻¹) from 152 km² of surrounding reef. More than 153 species were represented during surveys, with 25 species very common or common within combined-gear catch. Acanthurids contributed the greatest to catch volume, with bluespine unicornfish, Naso unicornis, and orangespine unicornfish, Naso lituratus, among the most frequently observed herbivores. Nighttime spearfishing was the dominant fishing method and inner lagoon areas were primarily targeted. A seasonal sales ban (March–April), intended to reduce pressure on reproductively active serranids, significantly increased the capture volume of other families. Catch was significantly greater during periods of low lunar illumination, suggesting higher fishing success or greater effort, or both. The marketed catch was dominated by juveniles and small adults, based on fishes of known size at sexual maturity. Artificially depressed market prices appear to be catalyzing (potential or realized) overfishing by increasing the volume of fish needed to offset rising fuel prices. These results support the need for comprehensive fisheries management that produces sustainable fishing and marketing practices and promotes shared management and enforced responsibilities between communities and the state. To be effective, management should prohibit nighttime spearfishing. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Market-resource Links and Fish Vendor Livelihoods in the Upper Zambezi River Floodplains

This paper examines small-scale fish vending in a southern African floodplain from two perspectives: as a link between natural resource use and consumption, and as a livelihood in itself. We used a combination of observation, surveys and semistructured interviews in a market in Katima Mulilo, Namibia, to determine sources of fish, preferences and constraints to vending, average investment and profit, as well different routes into fish vending and perceptions regarding vending. Most vendors come from fishing households, but their stock is often an accumulation of purchases from other fishers. There is little evidence of formal arrangements between fishers and vendors, yet most adapt to the highly variable natural and social environments of the region. Although all vendors ranked selling fish as their most important livelihood activity, a wide range of investment and profit exists among individuals. Our findings indicate that fisheries management proposed for the area must be developed with a careful understanding of how changes in access and use will affect vending livelihoods.

Lessons Learned from Reconstructing Interactions Between Local Ecological Knowledge, Fisheries Science, and Fisheries Management in the Commercial Fisheries of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Questions centered on the development of local and traditional ecological knowledge and the relationship of that knowledge to the development of conservation and management practices have recently attracted critical attention. We examine these questions with respect to the dynamic commercial fisheries of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The knowledge of fish harvesters coevolves with fishing practices and is embedded in a dynamic socioecological network that extends into and beyond the fisher, fishery households, and communities to include management, technologies, markets, and marine ecological conditions. Changes in these networks have moved knowledge and practices related to fishing in directions defined by policy, science, economic rationality, and new ecological realities. We characterize this movement as a shift along a continuum from local ecological knowledge (LEK) towards globalized harvesting knowledge (GHK) as harvesters become increasingly disconnected from socioecological relationships associated with traditional species and stocks. We conclude with a discussion of how LEK/GHK have interacted over time and space with other knowledge systems (particularly science) to influence management, and suggest that contingent, empirical evaluations of these interactions will provide a fruitful avenue for future interdisciplinary research.

Mapping Cod: Fisheries Science,Fish Harvesters’ Ecological Knowledge and Cod Migrations in the Northern Gulf of St. Lawrence

Some recent scholarship has focused on integrating local and/or traditional knowledge with conventional scientific information in fisheries management to improve the factual foundation of and strengthen support for management decisions. This article compares a sequence of historical and contemporary scientific texts and maps about the migrations and stock structure of cod in the Northern Gulf of St. Lawrence with texts and maps generated by the authors through the collection, aggregation and interpretation of commercial fish harvesters’ ecological knowledge. We find that the relationship between fisheries science and harvesters’ ecological knowledge is dynamic and has changed over time, and that both are ‘situated’ socially and ecologically. Overall, each paints an incomplete picture of cod movements and stock structure but the knowledge of harvesters provides a valuable complement to scientific information, particularly at the local scale, and has the potential to contribute to the identification of local cod stocks that are new to science and management. We end by considering how this case study informs the larger discussion about the challenges and potential benefits of the so-called integration project to bring together science and the ecological knowledge of fish harvesters.

“We are Zambians—Don’t Tell Us How to Fish!” Institutional Change,Power Relations and Conflicts in the Kafue Flats Fisheries in Zambia

Many scholars claim that open access due to the effective absence of state control is the major reason for the overuse of common-pool resources such as fisheries. Based on data from the Kafue Flats fisheries in Zambia, we argue that the main problem in open-access situations is the paradox of a state that is simultaneously absent and present: present in actions that dismantle local fishery institutions but absent when it comes to the ability to enforce the laws that might protect the resources. Thus, the state is present in the voice of immigrants from other parts of the country who use their Zambian citizenship to legitimize free access to the fisheries. But it is absent when the Department of Fisheries is not able to enforce its own formal rules or control these immigrants’ activities. Local groups are unable to act collectively to reinstall new institutions due to the absence of formal law enforcement. This paper analyses this historic process of institutional change within the theoretical framework of New Institutionalism. We test the hypothesis that the main reason for the lack of local collective action in the Kafue Flats is ideology (the notion of citizenship) strengthening the bargaining power of external actors, who profit most from open access constellations.

The work of wetland credit markets: two cases in entrepreneurial wetland banking

Wetland banking has been discussed in the policy literature mainly at a high level of abstraction, using economic models or generic examples to illustrate the concepts and tensions within wetland banking. This article illustrates two cases of wetland bank creation in-depth using the methodology of the extended case study, following the process from the initiation of interest in forming a bank through to the approval of credits for sale. The close attention to actual cases serves to move discussion beyond the goodness of models or the supposed rationality of economic actors, towards a consideration of actual market participants in complex situations. Successful wetland credit producers must negotiate a number of different economic, political, interpersonal, and ecological forces which impact their project from a number of different scales. While no optimal solution to this complexity is likely to be reached that is generalizable, the use of entrepreneurial wetland banking as a market-based policy may expand where skillful bankers and regulators together arrive at adequate solutions that are matched to the specificity of their contexts.

Sustained by Snakes? Seasonal Livelihood Strategies and Resource Conservation by Tonle Sap Fishers in Cambodia

This paper situates concerns for conservation of aquatic snakes and livelihood sustainability in Cambodia within a social–ecological systems context and thereby presents a challenge to conventional species-based conservation programmes. Fishing for low-value water snakes has become a widespread activity within the floating communities of Tonle Sap Lake in the last 20 years in response to new market opportunities, provided primarily by a crocodile farming industry. The scale and intensity of this new form of exploitation and reports of declines in catch per fisher have highlighted this activity as a conservation concern, yet its role within local livelihood strategies was previously unknown. We show that it is of increasing importance to the less well-off, and is linked to higher incomes within this group, where it potentially reduces their vulnerability to fluctuations and declines in fish catches. It is particularly important as a means to smooth seasonality of incomes in this flood pulse-driven social–ecological system. We argue that shifts between snake-hunting and fishing, as a market-driven adaptive livelihood strategy by the poor, may be more compatible with wider ecosystem conservation and development goals than alternatives such as increased fishing effort or converting floodplain habitats for seasonal agriculture.

Home Garden Production and Energetic Sustainability in Calakmul,Campeche, Mexico

Energy flows were studied for the 2002–2003 agricultural cycle in four households for which agriculture is part of a diversified survival strategy and four that practice agriculture as a business. Home garden inputs and outputs were measured monthly. Quantified inputs were: household labour, household agro-system production, and purchased external renewable and non-renewable energy. Outputs measured were: sales, family and animal foods. While both strategies had similar indicators in biomass and energy production, vegetable richness, and soil quality, household garden function and sustainability differed between subsistence and commercial householders. Subsistence gardens complemented family diet and contributed to household system resiliency. They relied heavily on renewable energy sources from within their agro-system. Gardens in commercial households reduced fruit tree area and increased animal husbandry for the market. They depended more on purchased non-renewable energy sources and were less sustainable and much less energy efficient than traditional gardens.

The Social Aspects of Fishing Effort

While economic literature inspired by the “tragedy of the commons” has emphasised people’s tendency to increase fishing effort beyond desirable levels, sociologists and anthropologists who have studied the social aspects of fishing have often emphasised the capacity of these factors to restrict fishing effort. The article addresses the influence of social norms and communication on fishing effort in an empirical study of the Atlantic blue whiting fishery. The data were generated at a time when this fishery had yet to see efficient quota regulations, and had been subject to a rapid growth in fishing effort, making it the largest fishery in the Atlantic. The article argues that social norms and communication patterns in the fishing fleet create a synergic effect of co-operation and competition on fishing effort. The article questions the view that social norms and communication necessarily represent a solution to the tragedy of the commons.

Leitlinien zur molekulargenetischen Diagnostik: Fragiles-X und Fragiles-X assoziiertes Tremor/Ataxie Syndrom

Ohne Zusammenfassung

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Does Investment in the Sexes Differ When Fathers Are Absent?

This study examines child survival and growth in a patrilineal Ethiopian community as a function of father absence and sex. In line with evolutionary predictions for sex-biased parental investment, the absence of a father and associated constraints on household resources is more detrimental for sons’ than daughters’ survival in infancy. Father absence doubles a son’s risk of dying in infancy but has a positive influence on the well-being of female members of the household, improving daughter survival, growth, and maternal nutritional status. Lack of paternal investment may be compensated for by other matrilateral kin through increased reciprocity between mother, daughter, and sister.

Why Folkbiology Matters: Resource Conflict Despite Shared Goals and Knowledge

There is a continuing controversy over Native American fishing and hunting rights. We show that Native American (Menominee) and European American fish experts have a common knowledge base and share values and attitudes associated with fishing practices (though organized around different ethical principles). Nonetheless, perceived group differences are dramatic (especially European American perceptions of Native Americans). Cultural differences in models of nature and associated inference processes appear to mediate these stereotypes and may hold the key to reducing intergroup conflict over resources.

Limnological variability and pelagic fish abundance (Stolothrissa tanganicae and Lates stappersii) in Lake Tanganyika

The abundance of two main pelagic fish species in Lake Tanganyika (Stolothrissa tanganicae and Lates stappersii) has always been observed to fluctuate considerably at different time scales. The inverse correlation between the abundance of these species has often been interpreted as the consequence of predator−prey relations (avoidance behaviour by the prey). However, currently the two species often appear spatially segregated in the lake, S. tanganicae dominating in the north while L. stappersii is generally abundant in the south where it feeds mostly on shrimps. A fluctuating abundance of the species is nevertheless observed. As these fish species have a major importance for the fisheries, we investigated the limnological variability in relation to the short-term variability of fish catches. The abundance of S. tanganicae was positively correlated to plankton biomass (r = 0.65), while water transparency (r = 0.56), depth of mixed layer (r = −0.70) and oxygenated water appeared important drivers for the abundance of L. stappersii. Alternating “mixing” and “stable” states of the epilimnion related to seasonal and internal waves variability are probably determinant for the short-term variability in abundance of S. tanganicae and L. stappersii. In the framework of this study, remote sensing has shown a potentially interesting application for fisheries research at Lake Tanganyika. We observed a close correspondence between phytoplankton blooms at the time of trade winds changes and increased catches of S. tanganicae in the south. The anti-correlated abundance of S. tanganicae and L. stappersii probably mainly reflects the underlying fluctuating limnological environment. Fisheries studies need to integrate limnological and planktonic monitoring to better understand large and complex ecosystems such as Lake Tanganyika.

Developing a wetland-type classification system in the Republic of Korea

Though there are wetlands listed by the IUCN and wetland protection areas designated by the government, it is presumed that there would be more wetlands in Korea when they are surveyed and classified according to international wetland criteria, but a considerable amount of area is yet to be identified. Therefore, in order to conduct a systematic status survey on the wetlands of Korea, a wetland classification system needs to be developed first. The objectives of this paper include reviewing international wetland classifications and mapping systems of the USA, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan and North Korea and developing a wetland classification and mapping system appropriate to Korea based on an understanding of the major case examples of wetland types. Then, the developed system was applied to the Phanmun field watershed located at the western DMZ in Korea to conduct a case study. The overall process of a wetland classification and mapping system developed in this study is undertaken as the following from step 1 to step 5. First, wetlands are identified based on three parameters: hydrology, hydrophytes and hydric soil. Second, wetland delineation distinguished wetland areas and non-wetland areas by identifying wetlands through a field survey. Third, an ecological survey is conducted in order to classify wetland characteristics and types for the target area. Ecological survey items include the topography, landscape, biota, pollutant sources and land use status. Fourth, a wetland classification is developed through a hybrid approach based on HGM (the hydrogeomorphic method). Level 1 is classified into inland, estuarine and costal areas. Level 2, the target area, is classified as an eco-region at a watershed level, and level 3 is classified into depression, riverine, slope, flat and fringe areas based on a HGM approach. Level 4 is classified into detailed wetland types based on specific characteristics of wetlands. Level 5 is classified into marsh and swamp based on grasslands and shrubs and forest trees. Level 6 indicates the dominant vegetation communities.

Individual variability of behavioural responses by Wandering Albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) to human disturbance

Sub-Antarctic Marion Island has had a permanent research station for 50 years and the islands Wandering Albatrosses have been intensively studied for 20 years. The reactions of breeding birds to approaches by a human on foot were recorded. Three response variables were calculated: intensity of vocal reaction (IVR), intensity of non-vocal reaction (INR) and overall response index (ORI). At 5 m from the nest, twice as many birds stood and/or vocalised as at 15 m. Nearest neighbour distance, age and gender did not explain individual variability of responses. Study colony birds had higher IVR scores than non-study colony birds; birds at colonies closest to the station had the highest ORI scores. A better breeding record was associated with lower IVR and ORI scores, but a causative relationship remains to be demonstrated. A minimum viewing distance of 25 m is recommended for breeding Wandering Albatrosses.

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