Thesis (doctoral)--Göteborgs universitet, 2005.

The thesis tested the notion of collective ownership in the small-scale fisheries sector, as advocated by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the South African government department responsible for fisheries administration. More specifically, it examined the conditions under which collective ownership would yield economic benefits to small-scale fishers. This was done according to three constructs, i.e. collective entrepreneurship, agency theory and value chain development. In testing the study’s presuppositions, a sequential qualitative-quantitative mixed methods research methodology was used. Data were gathered through focus group discussions, individual interviews and surveys with fishers from South Africa’s Western Cape and Northern Cape provinces. Qualitative data were analysed through the constant comparative approach preliminary outcomes thereof were used to devise the quantitative instruments, which were analysed with the SPSS statistical package. The outcomes of the quantitative data analysis were then discussed with key participants to validate the findings and to ensure overall congruency. In the current value chain dispensation, small-scale fishers realise approximately 38% of overall revenue accrual, whereas the remaining 62% is realised by fish-processing establishments and exporters. The value chain requires reconfiguration to progressively enable small-scale fishers to own and control all upstream and downstream catch, processing and marketing processes. In addition, greater value can be realised when all regulatory, catch, processing and marketing processes are efficiently aligned with local and export market requirements. The findings note that small-scale fishers require developmental support to exploit opportunities. The study suggests that the required support should be facilitated through a dedicated multi- and interdisciplinary fisheries institute located at a higher education institution. This institute needs to focus on training, advisory services and research, as well as on defined support for the fisheries co-operatives. Moreover, the impact of the envisaged institute provides for the establishment of localised fishing community information centres, located near coastal fishing communities, harbours and slipways. Such centres ought to improve communications, trust-building relations and shared expertise among all actors, namely small-scale fishers, their co-operatives, the various government departments, industrial associations, non-governmental organisations, agencies and all others implicated, to maximise benefit and effectively secure government’s infrastructural investment programme within the small-scale fisheries sector.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of British Columbia, 2000. / Adviser: Tony Pitcher. Includes bibliographical references.

Understanding how institutions affect or shape fisheries performance is an important part of providing practical insights for the development of management strategies that promote sustainable fishing. In the Gulf of California there is widespread evidence of declines in fish stocks upon which small-scale fisheries depend and these declines are largely attributed to policy failures. Using methods commonly used in social sciences, I investigated the formal and informal rules regulating resource use by smallscale fishers from two fishing communities in the Northern Gulf of California (NGC), Bahía de Kino and Bahía de los Ángeles, Mexico, and their effects on fisheries sustainability. Some of the main results are summarized below: a) The percentage of fishers holding fishing rights and actually using them to report and commercialize catch was quite small in both communities (fishing rights are usually in the hands of absentee operators). b) Current policies and policy changes do not reach the fishers in a direct and formalized way in any of these communities, and these policies are shaped with no participation of local fishers. c) Current policy tools show poor performance in practice and have been ineffective (at the moment) in promoting sustainable fishing practices by fishery stakeholders. Neither community has been able to manage their resources sustainably. Results also suggest some potentials that could lead to more sustainable fishing practices in both communities: d) The presence of informal rights (fishers' sense of ownership) over the fishing grounds in the surroundings of their home communities. Generally, local fishers do not conform to or enforce the individual boundaries of the fishing rights they hold (or work under), but they do care about and defend an area that they perceive as belonging to their community as a whole, particularly when there are "outsiders" coming in. e) The presence of strong support from the fishers for implementing improved regulatory measures for local fisheries. Specific recommendations for each case study are provided with the aim of enhancing rules legitimacy and improving management outcomes.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hawaiʻi, 2000. / Chairperson: Brian Murton. Includes bibliographical references.

Change has become a ubiquitous force in a highly globalized and interconnected world. Coastal systems are being restructured by overfishing, globalization, climate change and other factors. Further, social and ecological changes in coastal systems interact across spatial and temporal scales creating challenges that are complex, nonlinear and often difficult to predict. These new challenges have the potential to push social-ecological systems past their experienced range of variability and thus have immense consequences for the both the health of marine ecosystems and the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people who depend on marine resources for their survival. Addressing these challenges will require collaborative efforts informed by site-specific research on the dynamics of social-ecological systems. Ultimately, this dissertation aims to contribute to efforts towards social-ecological system sustainability. Specifically, the purpose of the research is to improve our understanding of how small-scale fishers in Mozambique have adapted over time to cope with a particular set of challenges and how likely fishers are to cope effectively with future changes in their complex social-ecological systems. The dissertation is organized around four research chapters, each of which addresses a specific research objective. Detailed knowledge of historical social-ecological conditions is a critical entry point for understanding small-scale fisheries systems. While fisheries landings data are often the primary source for historical reconstructions of fisheries, reliance on data of a single type and/or from a single-scale can lead to incomplete or misleading conclusions. Moreover, in the case of many small-scale fisheries landings statistics are often incomplete and/or inaccurate. Therefore, Chapter 2 combines data from multiple sources and scales to reconstruct historical social-ecological system dynamics along the Mozambican coast. At the national scale, my analysis points towards trends of fishing intensification and decline in targeted species, and highlights the significant impact of small-scale fisheries on marine stocks. At the local scale, fishers are experiencing changes in fish abundance and distribution, as well as in their physical, social and cultural environments and have responded by increasing their fishing effort. In the context of multiple drivers of change, it has become increasingly important to identify how communities are responding to livelihood stressors. In Chapter 3, I examine how fishers are adapting to social-ecological change, and identify factors that facilitate adaptation and factors that inhibit adaptation. Primarily, fishers are adapting through intensifying their fishing efforts or by diversifying their livelihoods. Adaptation is facilitated by fishers’ groups, occupational pride and family networks. It is inhibited by limited assets, adaptive actions with negative social and ecological impacts, competition over declining resources and pervasive poverty. My data suggest that it is not the poorest fishers who are least able to adapt to change, but fishers who are locked into a declining fishery. I argue that adaptations are spatially and social differentiated and place-specific. Therefore, future adaptation initiatives aimed at strengthening the capacity of threatened communities to respond to livelihood stressors need to explicitly consider this complexity. Millions of people around the world depend on shrimp aquaculture for their income and livelihood. Yet, the phenomenal growth of shrimp aquaculture during the last two decades has given rise to considerable environmental damage and social disruption at the local level. In Chapter 4, I analyze the impacts of employment at an export-oriented shrimp farm in central Mozambique on livelihood vulnerability of farm and non-farm employees. My data indicate that shrimp farm employees are less vulnerable to chronic stressors, such a pervasive poverty, than non-farm employees, but more vulnerable to acute shocks, such as the White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV), associated with shrimp production than non-farm employees. I argue that future vulnerability research will need to account for this duality as aquaculture development spreads along the Western Indian Ocean. In response to the speed and magnitude of contemporary change, understanding how much disturbance communities will absorb, where social thresholds lie and what coastal community systems might look like after a threshold is crossed are critical research questions. Chapter 5 evaluates the resilience of two fishing communities in central Mozambique and forecasts the outcome of moving past socially defined thresholds. My results indicate that coastal communities are continuously absorbing multiple sources of disturbance without shifting into different states. However, a 90% decline in catch rates would represent a threshold for both communities. At Zalala Beach, fishers would respond by permanently moving to another location whereas in Inhangome, fishers would respond by changing their professions. These results contribute to our understanding of social resilience. Deliberate progress towards the goal of long-term sustainability depends on understanding the dynamics of social-ecological systems. Therefore, this dissertation aims to contribute to a growing body of theory and empirical evidence on how fishers negotiate livelihoods under conditions of rapid change and increasing vulnerability. The dissertation concludes by summarizing seven key research findings and by discussion some of the theoretical, methodological and policy contributions of my research to the literature. / Graduate / 0366

Some of the key elements to assess the status of any wildlife population in a given geographical area are the levels of recruitment, survival and mortality. Whilst most of the information on marine turtles has been obtained from nesting sites, turtles spend most of their lives at sea. The conservation status of marine turtles in the southeast Pacific is poorly documented. This is particularly true for countries like Peru, where nesting events are very rare, although five species of turtles from populations from all over the Pacific basin, use these waters as foraging grounds. Little information exists on the threats to turtle populations in foraging areas or the magnitude of these impacts. Small-scale fisheries are a globally important economic activity serving as a source of food and employment for ca. 1 billion people; however we show that they also have serious impacts on marine turtle populations from all over the Pacific basin in the form of incidentally captured marine turtles. The five chapters that constitute this thesis are intended to increase our understanding of small-scale fisheries impacts on this taxon during their aquatic life stages. This work focuses on describing these fisheries, their impacts on marine turtles and proposes methodologies to monitor and assess the level of bycatch from small-scale fisheries. We also discuss alternative ways to prevent fisheries interactions and promote the involvement of artisanal fishermen in the southeast Pacific in implementing conservation solutions.

No description available.

No description available.

Recurrent crises due to overexploitation of fishery resources have been among the biggest natural resource management failures of the 20th century. This problem has both biological and socio-political elements and understanding of human dimensions represents a key step toward the formulation of sound management guidelines for natural resources. One of the strategies proposed to understand human dimensions is through the use of local knowledge. Integrating local peoples' knowledge with scientific research and data analysis, could aid in the design of fisheries management strategies in a cost-effective and participatory way.I introduce an approach to incorporating fishers' local knowledge at a large, regional scale. I focused on the spatial and temporal distribution of fishing activities from 17 communities in the Northern Gulf of California, Mexico. Participatory mapping (maps produced by local fishers) through a rapid appraisal (survey methodology) were used to identify the spatial and temporal dimensions of fishing activities. A geographic information system was used to generate 764 map layers used for a preliminary analysis of rapid-appraisal spatial data. Post-survey workshops with fishers were organized to facilitate an internal validation of spatial information using geographic information system software. We characterized the information based on fishing communities, fishing methods, target species and spawning sites. We also applied spatial analysis techniques to understand the relative importance and use of fishing grounds, fishing seasons and the influence that fishing communities have over the region. This dissertation addressed the problem of integrating the human dimensions of small-scale fisheries using geospatial tools and local knowledge (LK) - data collection, integration, internal validation, analysis and access - into a multidisciplinary research to support decision making in natural resource planning for small-scale fisheries management and conservation in the Northern Gulf of California, Mexico.