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5.  THE NATURE OF TRADITIONAL FISHERIES AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT IN RECENT DECADES

5.1  Introduction

Because of their incorporation within a market economy, and the introduction of more efficient gear (especially gill and seine nets), most traditional inland fisheries throughout the world have undergone fundamental changes. Since fisheries managers must deal with such fisheries as they are today, it is essential to understand the trends that have occurred, and the implications of those trends for both traditional and governmental management strategies.

Commercialized traditional fisheries are worldwide in their distribution, consisting of small and middle sized communities (less than ten to over 100 households) strategically located along river banks and lake shores and on mounds and islands within lakes and swamps. Partly because of their dispersed nature and of longstanding, outmoded government policies, only rarely have they been effectively managed in the interests not just of the fisheries resources but also of the welfare of the fishing communities.

Though the techniques used by relatively unmodified traditional fisheries are very similar throughout the tropics, the economic organization of the communities that fish varies significantly. Those that fish full-time throughout the year are a minority. They can be broken down into several categories including very isolated tribal communities, fishing castes and guilds, and “professional” fishermen. Whereas the former tend to be relatively self-sufficient, with little exchange of fish across community and ethnic boundaries, the latter two categories of fishing people are incorporated within more complex multiethnic societies in which their social status may vary significantly from area to area. Africa is a case in point. In the Southern Sudan, that minority of Nilotic Nuer and Dinka that fish full-time are looked down upon by the majority who combine seasonal fishing with livestock management and rainfed agriculture. In the Inland Delta of the Niger and along the Niger's banks from the upper catchment basin to Nigeria, on the other hand, the status of such fishing people as the Sorko (a subgroup of the Songhei), the Sarkawa (a Sorko offshoot assimilated by the Kebbawa or Kebbi Hausa) and the Kyedyawa (a subgroup of the Nupe) have a relatively high status and are “renowned for knowledge, skill, and magical control of fish, boats, and water” (Jenness, 1968:51).

Communities in which fishing is a part-time activity concentrate their fishing during certain seasons of the year. Along free flowing rivers, the main fishing season tends to follow the annual flood, although a wide range of techniques also allow fishing at other times. Elsewhere fishing tends to intensify as the dry season progresses, or it occurs during downturns in agricultural and other activities. Often fishing is combined with a range of activities including rainfed and irrigated agriculture, livestock management, gathering and hunting, trading and other small-scale commercial enterprises, and wage labor. At the household level, systems for making a living tend to be diversified. They also tend to be dynamic, with the proportional importance of different activities changing from season to season and year to year in response to changing ecological and other circumstances. Though part-time fishing is most often combined with agriculture, fishermen/herders (who may also do some rainfed agriculture) and fishermen/traders also occur.

5.2  The Dynamics of Traditional Fisheries Development

Though riverine fisheries in the tropics are, generally speaking, still rather unsophisticated by western standards, many of them have undergone significant modernization in recent decades. Their transformation has been not only technical in nature, but has had important economic and social ramifications as well. At the technical level, a whole array of new types of gear (including nylon nets and motorized boats) and new techniques for the preservation of fish (including briming, smoking and icing) have been widely adopted by many once “traditional” fisheries.

Economically, the past few decades have seen a rapid commercialization of many traditional fisheries in response to the growing demand for an inexpensive source of protein both by local residents and burgeoning urban populations in most developing countries. At the same time, the greater market demand for fish from riverine sources has fostered a marked intensification of fisheries exploitation as local fishermen increase their effort and outsiders seeking employment and capital attempt to enter into established fisheries, or seek to commercialize still traditional ones.

Socially, the commercialization of traditional riverine fisheries has had two important consequences. First, in most cases the role of women has gradually changed from one of at least part-time participation in fish capture to almost complete exclusion. Unless women subsequently become involved in other productive activities such as fish marketing (as throughout West Africa) or brewing, their status within the household and the community may decline.

A second social consequence of the development of many inland fisheries has been a widening socioeconomic gap between a majority of relatively small-scale fishermen and a minority of successful entrepreneurial fishermen who have come to control most of the increasingly costly capital equipment now required to compete in the commercial fishing industry (a situation which is exacerbated by the general lack of credit available for inland fisheries development). Such entrepreneurs may come from within or from without the fishing community. In either case, they usually do not fish themselves, commercial fishing being but one of a range of diversified economic activities in which they participate. Rather they hire laborers either on “a share of the catch basis” or at relatively low wages, with the labor force often becoming an increasingly marginalized rural proletariat.

5.3  A Four Stage Framework for Analyzing the Development of Traditional Riverine Fisheries

Building on Goulding's work (1981), and keeping in mind Welcomme's 1979 framework for the analysis of modification of floodplain rivers, we have developed a four stage framework for analyzing the evolution of riverine fisheries from the traditional to the commercial state. Based on a synthesis of over 25 case studies drawn from the literature on inland fisheries, we have found these stages useful tools for improving our understanding of a dynamic and complex process, and of the management issues associated with that process. Such frameworks, however, should be used with caution. At any time some people within a particular fishery may exhibit stage one behavior while their neighbors fish for different purposes in a very different way. Indeed, the same person may exemplify different approaches to fishing at different times of the year, switching back and forth, for example, between subsistence and commercial modes of production. Nonetheless, it would appear that a surprising number of traditional fisheries have recently reached a stage four situation after a fairly rapid passage through stages two and three.

5.3.1  Stage One: Primarily Subsistence Fisheries

Stage one includes small-scale fisheries that are operated by indigenous populations primarily for consumption or local exchange. There is no major export market for fish though fish may be exchanged in significant quantities for other commodities, or even occasionally sold. These subsistence fisheries are typically located in areas with low population densities and are isolated from major population centers by the absence of roads or other reliable transportation links. Though increasingly uncommon, contemporary examples of stage one fisheries can still be found in remote “frontier” areas of the tropics, such as the humid low land tropics of South America and the more isolated areas of Africa (see Behrens, 1981; Bergman, 1974; Gilmore, 1978; Goulding 1981; Stocks, 1983; White, 1956). Fish stocks are underutilized and in some areas, at least, traditional management systems are very weak (see Moran, 1981:52, for the Amazon Basin, for example).

On a much wider scale, stage one fishing characterizes the activities of women and children in countless other societies where men may have commercialized their fishing or are involved in agricultural and other enterprises. The scope of such fishing is extensive since those involved use whatever water resources (including small streams) support fish. Using hook and line especially, small boys can be seen throughout the tropics and subtropics at various times during the year, while the fishing of women with baskets, scoops, and hands is more apt to be seasonal.

(1)  Technology.

Fishing techniques are generally limited to the use of the bow and arrow, spear, handline, traps, baskets, fish poisons, small weirs, and simple nets such as cast and dip nets. Traditionally. these various types of gear were manufactured locally but increasingly nets are made from nylon purchased from outside the community.

(2)  Economics.

Most commonly, fishing is an important seasonal activity that provides an important source of protein but fluctuations in water level result in a prolonged off-season when agriculture, livestock management, gathering and hunting, and/or wage labor become the predominant subsistence activities. In some cases, subsistence fishermen rely to a large extent on exchange with neighboring agricultural and/or pastoral peoples for many of the necessities of life. The Unga of the Bangweulu swamp in Zambia, for example, because they lacked farm land in their marshy environment, were forced to exchange a portion of their fish harvest with nearby agriculturalists in order to obtain cassava and other essential items of their diet (Brelsford, 1946). Exchange is even more important for that minority of communities which contain fulltime fisherfolk. Though we have come across few substantiating studies, we suspect such occupational specialization is correlated with more reliable fishing conditions around the year, as in swamps, on lakes and reservoirs (including relatively small irrigation tanks in South Asia) and along rivers like the middle and lower Niger that are characterized by a modified “reservoir” as opposed to “flood” regime (Welcomme, 1979:1).

Three reports from the Amazon estimate the returns to labor of Amerindian groups using traditional methods in floodplain rivers and lakes at between 0.48 and 2.12 kilograms of fish per man hour over the year, though, of course, there is considerable seasonal variation depending on water level and other environmental factors (Behrens, 1981; Stocks, 1983; Beckerman, 1983). Stocks (1983:262) estimates that fishing in a floodplain lake by the Cocamilla Indians produced on average 17.6 metric tons per square kilometers, or 17 kilograms per man day which is not such lower than the current yields in heavily fished stage four fisheries.

(3)  Social.

Usually men, women, and children (small boys especially) engage in subsistence fishing in stage one fisheries. Typically, however, there is a division of labor by technique. Men generally use bow and arrow, spear, handline, and other techniques that involve fishing from a boat, especially if they require travelling any distance from the community. Women, on the other hand, tend to focus on methods such as basket or trap fishing in shallow waters or helping in group activities such as weir fishing and poisoning. Small boys increasingly use handlines.

There is very little if any socioeconomic differentiation in stage one fishing communities. Because most of the fishery is open to all community members and the simple technology required to harvest the fish can be easily manufactured by all, there is rarely an opportunity for inequality to arise. Though there may be significant differences in the success rate of different fisherfolk, obligations to share with relatives, other redistributive mechanisms and the absence of a cash market tend to dampen any advantage this might give to particular individuals and also inhibit the accumulation of capital.

5.3.2  Stage Two: Incipient Commercialization

As population density increases in an area and contacts with local or regional markets grow, many once purely subsistence fisherfolk begin to exchange a portion of their produce for cash or other commodities. This transition to part-time commercial fishing is often accompanied by an intensification of fishing effort and the introduction of new gear that permits a larger harvest of fish per hour of labor expended. Government involvement in the management of the fishing industry often begins at this stage. A number of historical and contemporary stage two fisheries have been discussed in the literature (e.g. Awachie and Walson, 1978; Goulding, 1981; Lawson, 1972, 1974, 1983); Leynseele, 1979; Smith, 1981; Welcomme, 1971; Whitehead, 1959, 1960; Williams, 1960; Willoughby, 1978).

(1)  Technology.

More modern fishing gear is common in stage two fisheries -- especially the purchase or manufacture of nets made from nylon, which is more durable than traditional materials. New types of net, especially gill and seine nets, are also commonly adopted at this stage by many fishermen because they permit more efficient capture of large quantities of fish. Nonetheless, traditional fishing techniques and gear may remain in use, especially for fish caught for subsistence.

(2)  Economics.

The intensification of fishing effort that accompanies incipient commercialization often results in an initial marked increase in yield per area of the fishery. Though fish may be marketed by the fishermen themselves, or their wives, middleman traders may become established at this stage, especially in cases where markets are located at a distance from the fisheries. Though fishing effort is increased, because of seasonal fluctuations in the productivity of the fishery, agricultural and wage labor continues as an important source of livelihood in many stage two fisheries.

(3)  Social.

Almost without exception, women do not engage in commercial inland fishing. (But see Lawson, 1972, for discussion of women clam divers on the Volta River in Ghana.) Women may, however, continue to engage in fishing for household consumption in many stage two fisheries, generally using traditional techniques (children also continue to catch fish for household consumption). In some cases, women have responsibility for the marketing of fish, especially if it is to be sold beyond the local community. Because of the cost of the more modern gear and differences in the success of individual fishermen, differences in socioeconomic status may begin to appear in stage two fisheries, but these are generally not pronounced.

5.3.3  Stage Three: Primarily Commercial Fisheries

Stage three fisheries often develop along major rivers, in large floodplain areas, or in areas of extensive swamp that are in or adjacent to areas of high population density. They also tend to develop rapidly on manmade lakes behind major dams. In such cases transportation links to cities or other major markets (e.g. the Copperbelt in Zambia) are well-developed and usually reliable. The fisheries are exploited intensively both for the local and regional market and fish may be exported to distant urban areas or outside the country as in the case of formerly traditional fishermen in Kenya (Lake Turkana) and the Sudan (the Sudd) exporting dried fish to Uganda and Zaire. Exploitation of the fishery is often not only by local inhabitants but also by outsiders who move into the fishery in hopes of profiting from the commercial opportunity it presents. Descriptions of primarily commercial fisheries can be found in Goulding, 1981; Hayward, 1981; Smith, 1981; Willoughby, 1978).

(1)  Technology.

In fully commercial fisheries, nylon seine and gill nets are often the most important gear and the traditional fishing techniques described for stage one are rarely used. In many fisheries such nets were first introduced in the 1950s, their number increasing rapidly thereafter. Where environmentally possible, fishing fleets with large motorized vessels are sometimes utilized (e.g. on the Amazon and its major tributaries). Such boats may have facilities for ice containers to preserve fish, especially if the fishing grounds are at a distance from the home base of the fishermen. Where fishermen land their fresh catch directly large numbers of traders are often present, with other traders journeying to more isolated fishing communities and camps to purchase dried fish or fresh fish which they then dry themselves.

(2)  Economics.

Because of the absence of appropriate management, stage three fisheries all too frequently are characterized by two substages, the second of which we have isolated out as a fourth stage for further consideration under 5.3.4. During the first substage, total productivity tends to increase rather spectacularly, with relatively high catches per unit effort. Substantial savings are often accumulated which allow some fishermen to diversify their occupational base and which may play an important developmental role in the area. Such success, however, usually attracts an increasing number of fishermen both from within and without the community, with some even crossing international boundaries to reach the fishery (Malien fishermen, for example, coming to Lac Kossou in the Ivory Coast). As a result catch per unit effort drops, as do net incomes, with large numbers of fishermen reduced to a subsistence mode of production. Larger fish in the older age classes become depleted, as do some of the most heavily exploited species (e.g. Goulding, 1981; Rao and Rajyalakshmi, 1977). In the most heavily fished portions of the Amazon basin, for example, researchers estimate that commercial fisheries currently yield roughly 20 to 30 kilograms of fish per man day, or approximately half earlier yields, which Goulding estimates “is the minimum level at which the commercial fisheries can function economically.” (See Welcomme, 1979:211 ff. for a more general summary of yields in riverine fisheries). Though total landings may also be reduced, in most cases the relative importance of ecological factors (especially variations in the depth and duration of flooding) versus overfishing, river modification and pollution is unknown. Regardless, catches are sufficiently low per fishermen as to jeopardize opportunities for increasing living standards.

The marketing of fish from these commercial fisheries is often dominated by middlemen traders, some of whom are quite wealthy and begin to invest in major fishing equipment such as seine nets and larger motorized boats. Other major spread effects include the development of boat building and repair industries along with ice plants and fish processing or canning facilities (Comte, 1982; Goulding, 1981; Hayward, 1981; Smith, 1981). Government provided services (police and administrative stations, schools, clinics, etc.) may also be provided along with such donor-sponsored facilities as community fishery centers.

(3)  Social.

Continuing the trend established in incipient commercial fisheries, women are rarely involved in the harvesting of fish in stage three fisheries. While they may play a significant role in marketing, our impression -- which needs much more research -- is that women are less involved in trading than is the case with coastal fisheries (at least in West Africa). As with other types of rapid rural development, socioeconomic inequalities become increasingly apparent in fully commercial fisheries.

5.3.4  Stage Four: Increasing Marginalization of Formerly Traditional Fishing Communities

Without appropriate management, the very success of stage three fisheries sets in motion a train of events which almost inevitably leads to the marginalization of most fisherfolk from traditional fishing communities. Indeed, according to Crutchfield, the downturn is an inherent feature of any mature commercial fisheries: “a flush period of rapid development and good profits (is) followed by a subsequent decline in productivity, very low returns to all factors of production, and -- too frequently -- physical depletion and even extinction of the resource itself” (1982:9).

Especially hard hit are formerly traditional communities of both marine and inland fisherfolk. Though less significant for some inland fisheries, a major issue for such people is the overcapitalization problem (Marr, 19). Johannes' statement for Oceania is equally applicable to many inland fisheries: “As equipment becomes more sophisticated, its price ultimately rises beyond the means of the average fisherman.… Employment opportunities diminish as more efficient modern boats drive out native craft. The fisherman become further impoverished, and profits, such as they are, end up largely in the pockets of a few entrepreneurs. This pattern is all too familiar in tropical artisanal fisheries” (1978:356–7). (For a Latin American example see Cordell, 1980a, and for an African one see Hayward, 1981.)

The deterioration of living standards in local fishing communities is not due to inherent inefficiencies or inabilities of their members to compete in a “free market” context. Rather it is due to a complex of historical factors, over which local communities have had little control. Three are of particular relevance. They relate to “Water tenure,” credit policies and management strategies. Whereas colonial regimes acknowledged the legal rights of communities, kinship groups and individuals to at least some of their customary land resources, those same regimes almost universally ignored or actively opposed customary rights to major bodies of water with the result that traditional communities had no legal basis on which to exclude outsiders. As for credit policies, loans for fishermen on a per capita basis appear to be proportionally less available than for farmers, although more research on this topic is necessary. Furthermore because fishermen tend to be poorer, and have no collateral equivalent to land for securing loans, what loans are given often go to “elite fishermen” hence increasing the degree of social stratification. As for management strategies aside from not working, they tend to penalize small operators by curtailing the type of gear which they can still afford and use efficiently (namely gill nets which are often restricted in number and in mesh size).

Because of the differential ability of individuals to invest in the increasingly expensive equipment necessary to compete within over-capitalized fisheries, increasingly we find many men who own no major items of fishing gear working as crew members on boats owned by a minority of better-off fishermen or entrepreneurs. In some cases, the high capital equipment is owned by non-local businessmen who invest in fishing as a business venture, hiring poor local fishermen as deck hands for a wage. In such cases, increased social stratification is associated with pronounced inequalities. Indeed many fishermen may not be able to make an adequate living to support themselves and their families.

While increased marginalization is not a necessary concomitant of commercialization, its avoidance in the case of inland fisheries will require new approaches to management that link together government assistance with strong local participation for the utilization of fisheries to which access is limited.


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