Assessment of potential mare stocking impacts on resource access rights and livelihoods in Komio village, Niger River Delta, Mali

The Community-based Fish Culture in Seasonal Floodplains and Irrigation Systems (CBFC) project is a five year research project supported by the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF), with the aim of increasing productivity of seasonally occurring water bodies through aquaculture. The project has been implemented in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Mali and Vietnam, where technical and institutional options for community based aquaculture have been tested. The project began in 2005 and was completed in March 2010. In the context of the CP-35 project, this visit follows up on a preliminary assessment of livelihoods and institutions in Komio village, Mali conducted by consultants Joffre and Lajaunie. The objective of the visit was to determine how stocking mares around Komio village may impact livelihoods and access rights to aquatic resources. Additional insights were gained from the governance experiences and livelihood impacts of village irrigation schemes (PIVs).Fishing rights, River fisheries, Livelihoods

Diagnostic study of the Volta Basin fisheries: Part 2 Livelihoods and poverty analysis, current trends and projections

The Basin Focal Project for the Volta (BFP-Volta) is a research project funded by the Challenge Programme on Water and Food (CPWF). Its aim is to provide an in-depth analysis of issues related to water in the Volta Basin through three main thematic issues: water-poverty, water availability/use and water productivity. The overall objective of the BFP-Volta is to contribute to the main goal of the CPWF, that is, to alleviate poverty through better management of water in order to enhance agricultural productivity and environment conservation. In this context, the WorldFish Center has been commissioned by the BFP-Volta to produce a report focusing more specifically on the fisheries resources and the link that may exist between poverty and those fisheries in the Volta basin. The present document is the second part of this report. Its main objective is to conduct a socioeconomic and poverty analysis of the fishing communities living in the Volta Basin, based on an assessment of the current situation and potential future changes.Fishery resources, Inland fisheries, Dams, Ghana, Voltaian Basin, Ghana, Volta L., Africa,

Recommendation domains for pond aquaculture: country case study: development and status of freshwater aquaculture in Malawi

This monograph is a result of a 3-year project to produce a decision-support toolkit with supporting databases and case studies to help researchers, planners and extension agents working on freshwater pond aquaculture. The purpose of the work was to provide tools and information to help practitioners identify places and conditions where pond aquaculture can benefit the poor, both as producers and as consumers of fish. This monograph is the case study for Malawi. Written in three parts, it describes the historical background, practices, stakeholder profiles, production levels, economic and institutional environment, policy issues, and prospects for aquaculture in the country. First, it documents the history and current status of the aquaculture in the country. Second, it assesses the technologies and approaches that either succeeded or failed to foster aquaculture development and discusses why. Third, it identifies the key reasons for aquaculture adoption.Pond culture, Freshwater aquaculture, Policies, Economic analysis, Marketing, Trade, Malawi,

Institutional histories, seasonal floodplains (mares), and livelihood impacts of fish stocking in the Inner Niger River Delta of Mali

The Community-based Fish Culture in Seasonal Floodplains and Irrigation Systems (CBFC) project is a five year research project supported by the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF), with the aim of increasing productivity of seasonally occurring water bodies through aquaculture. The project has been implemented in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Mali and Vietnam, where technical and institutional options for community based aquaculture have been tested. The project began in 2005 and was completed in March 2010. The seasonally flooded depressions in the Inner Niger Delta (known as mares) represent a critical fishery resource for the inhabitants of the village of Komio, and at present, access is open to all residents. A proposal to build stocked fish enclosures in the main village mare presents potential benefits and risks. On one hand, overall productivity in the mare could be significantly increased, providing important sources of protein and cash during the annual drought period, when few livelihood activities can be performed and when village livelihoods are at their most vulnerable. Enhanced productivity in mares may also decrease local household pressures for seasonal labor migration. On the other hand, a resulting increase in the value of these mares may encourage elite capture of project benefits or rentseeking by certain village leaders of the landowning Marka ethnic group. Using qualitative interviews and focus group discussions, the study provides evidence of how local institutional and leadership capacity for equitable common property resource management have evolved since the introduction of irrigated farming systems (known as PΘrimΦtres IrriguΘs Villageois or PIVs) in the 1990s.Fishing rights, River fisheries, Livelihoods

WorldFish Center report on the opportunities and constraints to improved fisheries exploitation and management in the Maringa – Lopori – Wamba landscape

The WorldFish Center was contracted by Africa Wildlife Foundation to conduct a preliminary survey of the role of fisheries in livelihoods, and opportunities and constraints to improved fisheries exploitation and management, in the Maringa-Lopori-Wamba Landscape. In May 2007, a three person WorldFish Center team, supported by AWF staff, visited the landscape to explore how the fishery operates to meet local needs and identify scope for interventions that might improve fisheries livelihood opportunities without undermining its sustainability. It is clear that although fishing is important for both income and subsistence in the areas visited, profits are nonetheless modest and somewhat unpredictable. Moreover, fisherfolk should not be considered a homogeneous group: there are different sub-groups, using different gears and skills, involving women and men in both fishing and post-harvest activities, groups who are more or less dependent on farming, and who fish, on balance, more either for cash or subsistence needs. Thus the findings here need to be set within this context of different sub-groups, fishing for generally very modest remuneration, with the latter subject to considerable variability and uncertainty