ABSTRACT
The ecosystem approach to fisheries management explicitly considers the
integrity of biophysical systems in identifying the management unit. The
scope of such integrated systems encompasses “ecoregions”,
which span countries and raise transboundary issues. The two major
ecoregions in Southeast Asia are the Mekong River Basin and the
Sulu-Sulawesi Seas. Both experience threats from rapid economic development,
habitat loss, and overfishing. Cooperative management is essential to
approach a theoretical optimum in resource exploitation. Regional
cooperation arrangements are in place for the Mekong River Basin and in the
Sulu-Sulawesi seas; these are better established in the former, but even
here there are policy-related constraints. Strengthening these regional
arrangements is essential for maintaining the long-term benefit flows, of
critical importance to the poor, from these unique ecosystems.
INTRODUCTION
Environment and natural resources management, to be effective, should carefully
consider the integrity of biophysical systems. This feature is explicit in the
ecosystem approach to resource management, which is named after the most basic
functional unit in ecology. Just above it in the biophysical system hierarchy is
the ecoregion, defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as a “large unit
of land or water containing a geographically distinct assemblage of species,
natural communities, and environmental conditions”. The world's
ecoregions for terrestrial and marine environments have been identified and
compiled by Olsen et al (2001) and Spalding et al (2007), under the auspices of
the WWF. In Southeast Asia, the major ecoregions are the Mekong River Ecoregion
(MRE) and the Sulu-Sulawesi Ecoregion (SSE).
The Mekong River Basin covers the area around the river and its tributaries,
spanning six countries (China, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia, and Viet
Nam). The Basin is nearly the size of France and Germany together (about 0.8
million km2). From its headwaters thousands of meters high on the
Tibetan Plateau, the Mekong River flows for 4,800 km, the 12th
longest in the world and the 6th largest in terms of total annual water
discharge.