While better management of industrial fisheries has been the focus from international institutions such as the FAO of late, this cannot be at the expense of dealing with overcapacity in small-scale fleets, a leading academic said at a recent Stockholm seminar.
Moreover, Professor Robert Pomeroy argued that the challenges of managing overcapacity in small-scale fisheries are more complex than those facing industrial fleets.
Pomeroy, Principal Scientist at the WorldFish Center in Penang, Malaysia, and a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Conneticut, USA, talked at a seminar at the Stockholm Resilience Centre entitled “Managing Overcapacity in small-scale Marine Fisheries.”
The solution posited to the overlapping and interconnected problems that affect fisheries management in developing countries were that an integrated approach to management that crossed ministerial departments is required.
In South-East Asia, access to fisheries has historically not been regulated. Exponential population growth throughout the 20th century and beyond has now led to a situation in which access needs to be regulated for catches to generate sustainable yields.
After addressing the wider issues surrounding small-scale fisheries, the presentation used Vietnam as a case study exemplifying the problems management there have faced, while also elucidating on some of the promising solutions that are being innovatively developed at the provincial level.
More detail from the seminar can be found in Professor Pomeroy’s presentation accessible by the link below.