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14 - Thinking big on small-scale fisheries
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- By Ratana Chuenpagdee, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada
- Edited by Villy Christensen, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Jay Maclean
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- Book:
- Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries
- Published online:
- 05 June 2012
- Print publication:
- 03 March 2011, pp 226-240
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
In one of his seminal papers, Daniel Pauly directed our attention to the marginality of small-scale fisheries and related this marginalization to their physical, socioeconomic, political, and cultural remoteness from urban centers (Pauly, 1997). The often remote setting of many small-scale fishing communities around the world puts them at a disadvantage for infrastructure and market support. For example, landing facilities and road systems may not be well developed, restricting direct access to markets and consequently minimizing their bargaining power. Further, when compared with large-scale industrialized fisheries, the small-scale fishing subsector generally receives far less financial support (e.g., subsidies) from government (Jacquet and Pauly, 2008; Sumaila et al., this volume). With their small income on a per caput basis and low economic status, small-scale fishers lack political power to put their concerns on the government agenda.
Is marginalization of small-scale fisheries caused by the lack of appreciation for the importance of this sector? Several studies and reports emphasize the significant contribution of small-scale fisheries to food security, sustainable livelihoods, and poverty alleviation (Kurien, 1998; Berkes et al., 2001; Béné, 2003; FAO, 2004). Small-scale fisheries have comparative advantages over industrial fisheries, including greater economic and fuel efficiency (lower capital costs and fuel consumption), better social justice (e.g., less use of catches for fish reduction), and fewer negative environmental impacts (e.g., fewer discards; FAO, 2005; Pauly, 2006). Based on the above, small-scale fisheries deserve to be at the center of fisheries research and policy discussion.
9 - National Institutions
- Edited by Jan Kooiman, Svein Jentoft, Roger Pullin, Maarten Bavinck
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- Book:
- Fish for Life
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 10 February 2021
- Print publication:
- 30 June 2005, pp 173-196
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Summary
Introduction
In this chapter the focus is on fisheries governance at the national level. Here the state is a key actor and will, accordingly, be an important focus in what follows. Although there is much discussion about the proper role of the state as a societal institution, even the strongest advocates of a ‘minimal’ state would not deny that the state must be the one responsible for a number of essential functions in every society. Therefore the question is not so much ‘if’ but ‘how’ the state should perform its role, in fisheries as well as in other sectors.
We begin this chapter with a discussion of the role of the state in modern society in general and fisheries in particular, and how it interacts with markets and civil society. Using three case studies from France, Thailand and the Philippines, we illustrate that in governing fisheries, trends are towards dealing with the diversity, complexity, and dynamics in new and more appropriate ways than those of the past. Currently in many countries, the state seeks to relieve some of its responsibilities by devolving authority to lower levels of governance by building public/private partnerships involving the market and civil society. This is also a key emphasis in governance theory, which starts with the assumption that given today's diversity, complexity, and dynamics, the state cannot govern alone but needs the active support of the market and civil society. The creation of functioning working relationships between these three institutions is an important governance issue in itself, as it is ridden with problems and dilemmas as well as challenging opportunities and hard choices.
The next section draws on state governance experiences from three countries in the South: Mozambique, Nicaragua, and Senegal. These cases show that state involvement in fisheries is not always a happy story. In many places around the world, the situations have been quite the contrary. State fisheries governance has been riddled with failures, caused by mismanagement, negligence, or sheer incompetence. But we should not for a moment believe that these are characteristics only of state governance in the South. In fact, if we compare the North and the South with regard to successes and failures, it is not clear that the North would serve as a better example. The state has been part of the problem, and yet it has to be part of the solution.
16 - Governance and Governability
- Edited by Jan Kooiman, Svein Jentoft, Roger Pullin, Maarten Bavinck
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- Book:
- Fish for Life
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 10 February 2021
- Print publication:
- 30 June 2005, pp 325-350
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Summary
A Synthesis
This entire book is based on a governance perspective. In the previous chapters, this perspective has been used to structure many ideas and findings on fisheries governance. The present chapter will try to show that experiences with governing fisheries, although still being played out in different parts of the world and in varying social and economic settings, can still be looked at in a coherent manner. This coherence can be implicitly or explicitly demonstrated in activities at the fish chain level, in the institutions supporting or limiting those activities, and in the principles guiding fisheries and its governance. It can also be expressed in the ways in which activities, institutions, and principles are linked. In other words, the governance perspective that has been an analytical tool up to this point in this book can also be used in a synthesised manner. That is the goal of this chapter.
Governance and the Fish Chain
The governance approach applies to fisheries throughout the entire fish chain – from pre-capture (i.e., fish in its natural ecosystem), capture (i.e., capture and culture of fish), to post-harvest (i.e., processing and distributing fish and fish products to consumer). The phrase ‘fish chain’ is used here to emphasise the inter-connection between its parts, acknowledging that the three features operating within and between components would earn them the phrase ‘fish web’. In ecosystems, they represent natural phenomena, in capture and aquaculture their emphasis is on human-nature interfaces, while in post-harvest they stand mostly for human-human interrelations.
Knowledge of fish chains and their interactions varies since some have been studied thoroughly, while others scarcely. For example, we know much about interactions within and among households as pivotal entities in catching or farming fish, and about communities as their contexts. Interactions in other parts of chains are, however, less known, such as interactions in the global market place and the systems they are part of. Governance of fisheries starts with paying systematic attention to the primary and governing interactions at and among all levels. Lack of such attention accounts for poor results of many management practices in fisheries.
15 - Challenges and Concerns Revisited
- Edited by Jan Kooiman, Svein Jentoft, Roger Pullin, Maarten Bavinck
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- Book:
- Fish for Life
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 10 February 2021
- Print publication:
- 30 June 2005, pp 303-324
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Summary
Introduction
In chapter 2, the challenges facing fisheries and aquaculture were briefly described. The crucial issue pointed out is that the drivers for increasing fish production are ubiquitous, multifarious, and strong and that they surpass the capacity of available management systems. The result is a consistent over-demand on natural and social systems and a crisis in fisheries as well as in fisheries governance.
We connected the drivers in fisheries to the globalisation that has been accelerating since 1950.With the sharp rise in the international demand for fish products and the growing connection between local producers and global markets, the pressure to increase production has also grown and new market players have emerged in response. This has resulted in investments and industrialisation in capture fisheries in the North and South alike, and in the growth of aquaculture.
We then identified four concerns that have emerged from the societal debate on fisheries across the globe. Concerns differ from principles in that they do not materialise from systematic top-to-bottom analyses but from political discussions from the bottom up – they constitute fields of attention as well as measuring devices for the results of governance effort. The concerns we presented are 1) ecosystem health, 2) social justice, 3) livelihood and employment, and 4) food security and safety. Each is important to large categories of people now and in the future. Significantly, most of the people affected by the failure to address these concerns live in the South. It is important to note that concerns are related to different population categories in time as well as in space. Ecosystem health is of special importance to future generations, but livelihood and employment and food security are relevant to present ones. Livelihood and employment pertain to people who work in and obtain their income from the fish chain, and food security and safety to the much broader category of the rural and urban poor. Social justice has implications for people at all scale levels, both present and future alike.
We have examined fisheries governance in this volume from many perspectives, dividing the analysis into three parts. The first addresses the constitution and workings of the fish chain, the second the regulatory institutions at various levels from local to international, and the third the principles that actually and those that should underlie fisheries governance.
13 - Meta-Principles
- Edited by Jan Kooiman, Svein Jentoft, Roger Pullin, Maarten Bavinck
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- Book:
- Fish for Life
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 10 February 2021
- Print publication:
- 30 June 2005, pp 265-284
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Summary
Introduction
In this chapter we discuss a number of principles that we think should guide fisheries governance at the meta-, normative, level. To outline their use in a conceptual manner, we apply the governance perspective as our model. We start with principles to be applied normatively to governing elements, followed by principles by which to judge modes of governance. We then discuss principles to evaluate governing orders. In each category, we formulate a general principle derived from governance theory, and three principles for each of the three governance components derived from fisheries. This gives us a list of twelve principles as a solid basis for an overall appraisal of meta-considerations for fisheries governance. Recently, others have formulated comparable lists (Costanza et al. 1998); the main difference between our list and the other lists is that these twelve principles are part and parcel of our governance approach, and form the meta-level thereof.
Before we discuss the principles to be applied to the components of governance, we briefly present what we see as their foundations (elements, modes, and orders – see chap. 1). Most of them are grounded in moral or ethical thought, with long histories behind them. Our normative notions for fisheries governance are not new, but are rooted in philosophical and religious thinking of yesterday and today. To discuss some of these foundations, we make use of what is known as ‘applied ethics’. This is a branch of ethical thinking that, in its approaches, comes closest to what meta-principles for fisheries governance might be about, and it is helpful in demonstrating how the principles can be put into practice. In the boxes in subsequent sections, we give a short overview of where to place the principles in the conceptual governance framework.
Applied Ethics and Meta-Governance
In the second half of the twentieth century, most ethical and philosophical scholarship was largely devoted to analytical or meta-philosophical matters (Almond 1995). In recent decades, however, interest in practical applications of ethics as a separate branch of philosophy has grown. Under the title of applied ethics, studies are now offered on socio-political topics that have strong ethical ramifications, such as ‘life and death’ issues.
12 - Current Principles
- Edited by Jan Kooiman, Svein Jentoft, Roger Pullin, Maarten Bavinck
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- Book:
- Fish for Life
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 10 February 2021
- Print publication:
- 30 June 2005, pp 245-264
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Summary
Introduction
Many current debates on fisheries, food security, and safety centre on issues of policy and management. Having a practical focus, debaters rarely reflect on the norms and principles underlying their positions. It is clear, however, to a thoughtful observer that normative positions, permeate the proposed solutions and approaches, and contribute to both consensus and miscommunication alike.
This chapter presents the principles underlying the international governance of fisheries today. The perspective is analytical rather than prescriptive, the objective being to find out what currently informs governance. In subsequent chapters, where the norms for interactive governance are highlighted, the mood becomes prescriptive. There we aim to pinpoint what governance should be about.
The discussion is structured around the fundamental concerns cited in chapter 2 – ecosystem health, social justice, livelihood and employment, and food security and safety. As many of the normative positions taken with regard to issues of this kind originate from outside fisheries and have a broader application, the chapter highlights a variety of international organisations and documents. In addition, an investigation about how the precepts in these documents have filtered into the fields of fisheries is presented.
One must remember that international organisations and agreements constitute only one expression of current governance. Much of the governance that actually takes place in fisheries has different sources altogether. A comprehensive overview of governance practices, and the principles that underlie them, is, however, outside the scope of this volume.
Ecosystem Health
Ecosystem health has become a major theme of international debate, decision- making, and action. It figured prominently in the discussion on sustainable development at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro (1992) and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg (2002). It is also the subject of numerous agreements, including some on fisheries, and plays a role in adjacent realms such as the regulation of international trade.
All these discussions and the agreements they have resulted in are based on an awareness that environmental deterioration is linked to human activity. The human role in environmental issues is argued to confer moral responsibility, but it also grants opportunities for remedial action.
2 - Challenges and Concerns in Capture Fisheries and Aquaculture
- Edited by Jan Kooiman, Svein Jentoft, Roger Pullin, Maarten Bavinck
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- Book:
- Fish for Life
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 10 February 2021
- Print publication:
- 30 June 2005, pp 25-38
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Summary
Introduction
Fish, taken here to mean all living aquatic products harvested by humans, are a critical source of protein, lipids and micro-nutrients in people's diets in the North and South alike. Fish are often part of the staple diet in developing and less-developed countries, and consumption of fish in developed countries has increased with its heavy promotion as healthy food and upmarket food sources. Global concerns about fish harvests, fish stocks, and the health of aquatic ecosystems are directly related to the increasing demand for fish as food and to the potentially short supply, due largely to overfishing and unsustainable fishing practices. Because fish are such an important part of the human diet, these concerns intertwine with social concerns such as fair allocation, improved livelihood and social well-being, and secure access to a safe food supply.
Fish are not only food for human consumption – they also serve ecosystem functions. From an anthropocentric point of view, fish as food for people is the central concern, reflecting management actions and goals. Recently, the importance of fish in their natural ecosystems has been recognised, resulting in the adoption of a more comprehensive approach to fisheries management. Challenges are thus based on acknowledgement of the interconnectivity of concerns for ecosystem health, social justice, livelihoods and food security and food safety.
The health of ecosystems determines their productivity. In capture fisheries, target species are often overexploited to the point where other parts of the aquatic ecosystem are affected. In the past, this problem was mainly addressed from the perspective of the overexploitation of single fish stocks. However, there is increasing awareness that the productivity of capture fisheries should be seen in the context of the overall health of the ecosystem and that ecosystem-based management of fisheries should be employed. Such a management approach aims also to address the problems of bycatch (including incidental catches and discards), and habitat damage caused by fishing gear.
Social justice is a key issue in fisheries, since the distribution of power and income and the allocation of rights change in relation to access to re- sources.