Studies on the role of fishermen's organizations in fisheries management

This document contains two papers on the role of fishermen's organizations in fisheries management. The paper by Rgnvaldur Hannesson discusses the pros and cons of giving fishermen's organizations specific roles in fisheries management . It reviews the practical experiences of groups and organizations of fishermen in fisheries management in a number of industrialized countries including Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Canada and the United Kingdom, as documented in the literature. Hannesson stresses that the outcome of giving fishermen's organizations a say in fisheries management depends crucially on the economic framework and philosophy prevailing in each country . On theoretical grounds, he contends that a pseudo-market solution, i.e., the allocation of private property rights accompanied by (i) an appropriate tax system to prevent a concentration of profits and incomes and by (ii) conditionality of transferability to avoid concentration of ownership, may best achieve the twin objectives of efficiency and equity. The paper by John Kurien sets out with a historic-cultural review of small-scale fisheries in the Indo-Pacific region. Traditionally, many communities had adopted well integrated systems of governing fishing practices and rights of access to the sea. Resources conservation was not a deliberate act but was built into the production system through appropriate technology and modes of production. With the onset of planned development, traditional conservationist values and communal control of fishery resources were construed as barriers to development. Capital-intensive growth, spurred by profitable export demand, created a wide disparity in the access capability and appropriation of fishery resources to the disadvantage of artisanal fishing communities. Concomitantly, excessive levels of fishing effort led to overexploitation of fishery resources. The increasing number of the new genre of vocal fishworkers' organizations in the region is a direct consequence of ths process. On the basis of three case studies from India, Indonesia and the Philippines, Kurien illustrates how fishermen's organizations have strongly influenced governments' decisions to initiate steps for fisheries management, though their concrete involvement in the actual process of fisheries management is still small. Kurien concludes that for these organizations to fulfill more formalized roles in fisheries management they would require more recognition and support from governments and national and international organizations.