7.1 Labour issues for specific stakeholder groups
7.3 Changes in employment opportunities
7.4 Labour demands for development and management
Fisheries involves very specific patterns of labour which are quite different from other sectors. At the same time fisheries is often part of a rural system and the demands of the sector on people's labour have to be resolved with the demands of other key activities. Particularly in rural societies in less developed countries, their labour is often the only resource readily available to the poor and how it is deployed is of key importance. Sociological analysis therefore has to assist in understanding the patterns of labour in the area targeted for intervention so that conflicting demands on labour can be taken into account.
7.1.1 Gender issues
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BOX 11 The depletion of fisheries resources is a matter of concern
along several parts of the shorelines of Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika in Southern
and Eastern Africa. Declining catches are affecting local fishing communities
and causing concern to biologists anxious to preserve some of the most diverse
freshwater aquatic environments in the world. In some areas, the deforestation
of hillsides along the lake shore, and the subsequent increase in discharges of
silt into the lake, is apparently an important cause of changes in the ecology
of the lake. Deforestation has several causes: increasing population leading to
the opening of agricultural land on progressively steeper, and more marginal,
slopes; the collection of fuelwood by lakeside fishing communities for fish
smoking; collection of household fuel. But any attempts to control the cutting
of trees along the shores of these lakes are liable to have a disproportionate
affect on women in local communities. Controlled access to shoreline woodlands
may mean longer trips to collect household fuelwood. The introduction of
fish-smoking apparatus which is more fuel-efficient, but also more expensive,
may require important changes in the labour patterns of the women who are
frequently involved in fish processing. |
7.1.2 Age issues
Like women, older people and children often perform important, non-economic labour roles which need to be properly evaluated before introducing changes which might affect them.
7.1.3 The community
Assumptions regarding the community's ability to mobilise labour in order to undertake "development" activities have to be carefully investigated by looking at patterns of communal labour. This may include periodic work carried out by the community to assist individuals in carrying out specific tasks such as land clearing or house building. Some forms of fishing activity may fall into this category, for example the operation of large seine-nets or fish drives in lagoons. These activities may require considerable levels of co-operation within the community, and even between communities. Co-operative activities of this sort often have a distinct seasonal dimension and may only take place very occasionally throughout the year.
Fisheries managers hoping to carry out work which will require the mobilisation of the community to work as a whole, need to understand how the community is organised to perform communal tasks, who leads such activities and how they are managed. Such mechanisms may offer potential for being harnessed for management purposes. In particular it is important to see what resources and spheres of activity are regarded as requiring co-operation between community members; then the feasibility of community action for fisheries development or management can be assessed.
7.1.4 The household
Labour often represents practically the only asset available to poor rural households and its allocation will indicate where people's priorities lie and how household labour patterns are liable to be affected by changes in fisheries access or exploitation. A detailed understanding of household labour, and particularly seasonal changes in labour patterns, is crucial to understanding the fisheries system and how it interacts with other sources of livelihood.
For many fishing households, migration may play an important part in their livelihood strategies. Box 12 gives an example of changes in fishing that may have affected urban drift in Bangladesh. Not uncommonly, some or all, household members may move seasonally to engage in specific fisheries or follow shifting fish resources, or they may shift out of the sector entirely for certain periods of the year. Earnings from migrant labour may be channelled into fisheries, increasing pressure on the resource. Where fisheries fluctuate on a seasonal basis, as on floodplains, migration may constitute an alternative to fishing. If fisheries are seen to be in permanent decline, or competition for access becomes too fierce, migration may be seen as a means of exit from the sector.
7.1.5 The production unit
The various types of fisheries production units operating in an area will all have their own specific labour requirements. Seasonal variations in fisheries activities can lead to major fluctuations in these requirements and these can have effects on the labour market well beyond the fishing community. The seasonal patterns of labour demand within the fisheries sector have to be seen in the context of patterns in other sectors as well.
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BOX 12 The beel-tracts of south-western Bangladesh are
particularly remote and flood-prone and have historically been regarded as one
of the poorer areas of Bangladesh. Fisheries has always constituted an important
source of food for people living in the area, but fishing as an occupation has
traditionally been regarded as a low-status activity. As a result, until
relatively recently, while many local farmers and farm labourers would fish
occasionally for household consumption, few would be willing to accept the
considerable fall in social standing which would result from taking up fishing
as an occupation. However, a combination of changes has encouraged more and more
local people to turn, at least seasonally, to fishing as a means of livelihood,
particularly during the floods from June through to September or October, when
the alternatives are limited. Among the changes which have influenced this are
the decline in the numbers of the traditional Hindu fishing community, which has
opened up access to fishing grounds, and the increase in population, which has
made competition for other employment opportunities and for resources, more and
more fierce. Seasonal and permanent migration by local people to urban centres
such as Gopalganj, Jessore, Faridpur and Dhaka, has become an increasingly
common option for poor local people and, for many households, survival during
the flood season depends on one or more family members either fishing or working
as rickshaw drivers in the city. Given these limited choices, any decline
in local fisheries, or in access to fisheries resources, could be expected to
lead to an increase in urban migration. |
7.2 HOUSEHOLD SURVIVAL STRATEGIES
Almost any change in fisheries, whether in the form of new technologies, new patterns of resource exploitation or management, will involve changes in labour patterns for those affected. New developments need to be incorporated into household survival strategies which allocate labour to different activities in an effort to ensure a livelihood through the year. In particular, the place that fisheries occupies in people's survival strategies and how it meshes with other demands on the household's time has to be analysed. Certain types of fisheries, notably smaller-scale, low investment fisheries such those described in Box 13, may be popular because they can be easily reconciled with the demands of household labour. Some fisheries may be attractive to people primarily because they fit well into seasonal labour strategies, filling a niche left empty by changes in agricultural cycles or patterns of labour demand in other sectors.
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BOX 13 In artisanal fisheries in many developing nations, fisheries
managers frequently face a basic problem in that much of the damage to fisheries
is caused by cheap, very efficient fishing gears or techniques which are very
difficult to replace. In spite of the dangers to fishers associated with its
use, dynamite makes extraordinarily good sense as a fishing technique to many
poor fishermen the world over. It is cheap, fast and can ensure the maximum
possible catch for minimum effort expended. The damage caused, and its effect on
the sustainability of the resource, may not be immediately apparent or may seem
too localised to be considered a problem. Likewise, poisons, particularly of the
traditional varieties commonly used in the Pacific and Melanesia offer almost
incomparable efficiency for local fishers. The damage they may cause to reefs,
as well as to fish, may seem relatively insignificant compared to the
opportunity to easily feed a whole community with a few hours work by 2 or 3
people on the reef at low tide. The impacts of these fishing techniques on the
marine ecosystem, which seem evident to environmentally-concerned fisheries
managers, may seem a reasonable price to pay for local resource users who have
to ensure short-term survival for their households and communities. |
To be effective, attempts to stop or limit these types of fishery have to be linked to concerted efforts to identify alternative and substitutes. Even then, particular efforts will be required to win consensus and support among those involved in these fisheries.
Changes in employment opportunities in one sector, such as fisheries, is likely to lead to changes in employment patterns in other sectors as well. For example, any increase in unemployment in the fisheries sector as a result of the introduction of management measures could mean a general fall in the wage levels which could have "knock-on" effects on a wide range of service industries, on the demand for food, transport and any number of other enterprises which either serviced the sector or depended on it.
It is easy for outside agencies to develop complex plans for resource management, which involve significant efforts and labour inputs from local people, without taking proper account of existing priorities in labour use.
Development projects, especially those that are more participatory in their approach, will require manpower to carry out work, build infrastructure, make decisions, monitor impacts or police measures which have been introduced and take action against those who contravene new regulations. Where large areas are being covered, as in integrated river basin management, coastal zone management or where parks and reserves are created, the activities initiated by managers may themselves create opportunities for remunerative employment. But in other cases, particularly in fisheries management programmes which aim at achieving long-term benefits through controlled resource-use, local people may simply not be able to afford to spend the time required on "managing" their resources. Earning a living for their families will probably take precedence over ensuring the sustainability of resources for future generations.
Management programmes have to be realistic in their assessment of how much effort stakeholders will be willing to put into proposed management activities. By studying existing patterns of time-use and labour allocation, sociologists can provide important pointers for fisheries managers regarding local people's willingness and ability to divert their labour from current uses to new activities.
