Enhancing governance in fisheries management in southeast Asia towards 2020: issues and perspectives

This is a keynote address at the ASEAN-SEAFDEC conference on Sustainable Fisheries for Food Security Towards 2020, Fish for the People 2020: Adaptation to a Changing Environment. It addresses theme one of the conference which is Enhancing Governance in Fisheries Management. With the deteriorating state of the fishery resources and the emerging fisheries-related issues during the past decade, there is an urgent need to address concerns on weak governance as the main underlying cause of overfishing. Many social scientists believe that improved governance with strong elements of self-governance, co-management, and community-based management are required for effective management of fisheries resources.Fisheries Management, Governance, Co-management, Southeast Asia.

Noncompliance a major threat in fisheries management-Experiences from the artisanal coastal fisheries of Bangladesh

Non-compliance with regulation is a major problem that undermines the effectiveness of the coastal fisheries management in Bangladesh. The result of non-compliance with regulation is over fishing, resource depletion, habitat degradation and resource use conflicts. From a management perspective, it is important to examine the level and causes of non-compliance and explore policies for encouraging or securing compliance. An attempt has been made in this study to investigate these issues in the case of the marine fisheries of Bangladesh. The specific area of interest is the mesh size regulation. Result showed an absolute violation of the mesh size regulation. The study found that the opportunity of getting higher catches and economic returns, weak enforcement, influence of the social environment, ignorance about the law and limited livelihood opportunities are the main causes behind the noncompliance of the fishers with respect to mesh size regulation.Noncompliance, Estuarine Set Bag Net, Marine Set Bag Net, Small Mesh Drift Net, Coastal fisheries, Policies for compliance management, Co-management, Bangladesh.

Legal Issues Pertaining to Community Based Fisheries Management

National and intergovernmental regulation of fisheries has not prevented many failures of fisheries management around the world. New approaches to improving the environmental sustainability of fisheries have included the certification of fisheries harvested by sustainable means, and the ecolabelling of fish and seafood products from certified fisheries. The intention is to use the power of markets as an incentive to induce more sustainable fisheries. To date, only a relatively small number of fisheries have been certified, and these have been predominantly in developed countries. Critiques from developing countries of ecolabelling, as currently formulated, focus on five general areas: a) legitimacy and credibility; b) a mismatch between certification requirements and the reality of tropical small-scale fisheries; c) potential distortions to existing practices and livelihoods; d) equity and feasibility; and e) perceived barriers to trade.This paper reviews these developing country concerns on the basis of already certified fisheries, and on experiences from forestry, aquaculture and the aquarium industry, and also examines precedents and trends in international environmental and trade issues. It suggests that ecolabelling as currently practiced is unlikely to be widely adopted in Asian countries. Certification may have sporadic success in some eco-conscious, or niche, markets but it is unlikely to stimulate global improvement of fisheries management.The paper argues that to avoid the controversy that accompanies ecolabelling, the focus should be on revision of national fisheries management and not on an ad hoc approach to individual fisheries. Improvements in fisheries management, the equitable treatment of fishing sub-sectors and stakeholders within management schemes, and the prospect of reaping increased value-added from fisheries all require government acceptance of needs and actions. Governments should be encouraged to enter into broad coalitions to improve aspects of fisheries management, and to enhance efforts to develop locally relevant indicator systems for fisheries and for the ecosystem approach. Governments of developing countries must also first address the difficult questions of access to and tenure arrangements for their fisheries, as these are essential prerequisites for successful certification and product labeling. They will also need to legislate on the form and conduct of the postharvest chain and product control, as, in export markets, these are outside the control ofthe fishing communities. International agreement and clarity on trade, environmental (and health) standards affecting fisheries will augment national efforts. Advocacy coalitions that include governments, rather than extraterritorial imposition of labelling schemes, are required

Collective action and property rights in fisheries management

"Fisheries are complex and interdependent ecological and social systems that require integrated management approaches. The actions of one person or group of users affect the availability of the resource for others. Managing such common pool resources requires conscious efforts by a broad range of stakeholders to organize and craft rules enabling equitable and sustainable use of the resources for everyone's benefit. Collective action is often a prerequisite for the development of community-based institutions and the devolution of authority... in the 1990s the WorldFish Center conducted an issuebased, multisectoral, and multidisciplinary analysis (including ecological, economic, social, political, and administrative perspectives) that led to the production of a coastal environmental profile, a technical report detailing the status of fisheries, and an integrated fisheries management plan.... San Miguel's experience highlights (1) the critical role of an appropriate human perception of the situation; (2) the importance of collective action and stakeholder participation at key stages of research, planning, and implementation; (3) the usefulness of structured decision methods for research, planning, and associated debates; and (4) the efficacy of research combined with planning efforts to ensure its utilization and relevance on the one hand and to provide a scientific basis for management planning on the other." - from Text.Public goods ,Poverty alleviation ,Collective action ,

TRANSACTION COSTS AND FISHERIES CO-MANAGEMENT

Fisheries co-management as an alternative to centralized command and control fisheries management is often suggested as a solution to the problems of fisheries resource use conflicts and overexploitation. This paper highlights some elements of the transaction costs under a fisheries co-management system. The transaction costs can be categorized into three major cost items: (i) information costs, (ii) collective fisheries decision-making costs, and (iii) collective operational costs. An approach to measuring transaction costs of fisheries co-management systems both in static and dynamic processes is also proposed. There is a need to empirically evaluate the nature of the transaction costs involved in fisheries co-management institutions as a basis for evaluating the efficiency or net benefits of co-managed fisheries compared to centrally managed fisheries.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Subsidies in the Fisheries Sector of Malaysia: Impact on Resource Sustainability

Subsidies are a form of support provided to consumers and producers by government to enhance the welfare.  Fishers in Malaysia receive various type of subsidies. Fisheries subsidies however are a challenge because it can work against fishers’ welfare if the fisheries subsidies lead to over fishing and resource depletion.  In this paper, we explore the impacts of fisheries subsidies on small-scale fishers in Malaysia and suggest ways to improve the subsidies scheme so that the twin roles of improving fishers’ welfare and fisheries sustainability are achieved. Data on fisheries subsidies and fisheries production in Peninsular Malaysia is used in this study

Income and Price Elasticities of Demand for Domestic Water: A Case Study of Alor Setar, Kedah

Satu analisa rentasan untuk isi-isi rumah di Alar Setar', Kedah, menunjukkan yang keluarga berpendapatan tinggi mempunyai keanjalan: pendapatan permintaan air lima kali ganda lebih dari keluarga - keluarga berpendapatan rendah. KeanJalan harga dalam Jangka pendek dengan menggunakan analisa siri-masa juga menunjukkan perbezaan yang sama antara gulungan berpendapatan tinggi dan rendah. Keputusan kajian menunjukkan yang harga air boleh digunakan sebagai satu cara yang berkesan dalam pengagihan dan perancangan pembekalan air

Assessing compensation values from resettlement projects: The need to incorporate elements of freedom and justice

The compensation for communities who are relocated to make way for development projects is often underestimated. As a consequence, the displaced communities often find their welfare to be worse off after resettlement and hence, the compensations do not provide justice to them.This paper reviews the issue of compensation and the approach for making compensation.In particular, it reviews the classical compensation theory by Kaldor-Hicks and also the modern theories of compensation. This paper argues that the Kaldor-Hicks compensation criteria are limited to explain the changes in the welfare of the displaced communities after resettlement.Thus, there is a need to consider the elements in Amartya Sen’s conception of freedom, capability and liberty as well as Rawlsian theory of justice in modern compensation theories in order to capture the real changes in the welfare.A broader conceptual framework for the economics of compensation employing the role of freedom is constructed to provide a comprehensive understanding on the role of freedom and rights in compensation valuation for future development projects

A Linear Programming Analysis of Integrated Agriculture-Aquaculture Mixed Fanning

Aquaculture has the potential for contributing significantly towards enhancing farm income and hence towards solving the poverty problem among farm smallholders. This study attempts to evaluate the economics of mixed farming among sampled farmers in Central Perak and to assess the contribution of aquaculture to the overall farm income. Income from aquaculture was found to be substantial and has the potential for further increase if farm resources are allocated optimally or integrated agriculture with freshwater fish poly culture and broiler meat production can be implemented

The Critical Review of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC)

The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) stated a nonlinear relationship between income and pollution .According to this hypothesis, economic growth is the cause as well as remedy to the environment problems. Therefore, developing countries should care about the economic growth, and economic growth would automatically care the environment at the later stage of economic development. In this research study, we examined the theoretical and empirical basis of the EKC. We found that given the controversy over the theoretical and empirical basis of the EKC, it cannot be based for the development and environment policies of the world