Low-income fishermen's willingness-to-pay for fisheries and watershed management: An application of choice experiment to Lake Tana, Ethiopia

Abstract

In this paper, choice experiment was applied for valuation of Lake Tana's fishery and watershed. Two attributes — fishing control and lake side plantation — were identified as relevant attributes for the choice experiment. A monetary attribute — payment for fishing permit was also included. Multinomial and random parameter logit models were used for estimation. All the attributes included were significant factors in affecting the probability of choosing an alternative scenario. The results suggest that fishermen were more concerned about fishing control as reflected by the higher value they give to fishing control than lake side plantation. Household income, years of education, and family size were found to be significant. The economic welfare measures we calculated for two scenarios show that fishermen were willing to pay 57 birr (US$5.3)) per month for a moderate improvement scenario and 93 birr (US$8.6) per month for an aggressive scenario for the two attributes.

Introduction

Overfishing and wetland degradation are important environmental problems especially in developing countries. These problems are reflected in Africa among other things through collapse of African cyprinid fisheries and complete disappearance of lakes (de Graaf, 2003, EPA (Environmental Protection Authority of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia), 2008). Lake Tana of Ethiopia is an area where problems of overfishing of some species and wetland degradation are observed. With a surface area of 3150 to 3500 km² Lake Tana is the largest lake in Ethiopia found in North West highlands of the Amhara Region (Berhanu et al., 2001; Fig. 1). It accounts for about 50% of the total inland fresh water in Ethiopia and is a major source of the Blue Nile River.

Lake Tana and its surrounding wetlands provide a lot of benefits for the dwellers around it. It is home of various fauna and flora (including being habitat of endemic fish species), provides transportation for tourists, and increases quality of life for the residents. Moreover, it is an important source of livelihood for the fishermen. The wetland around the lake supports the livelihood of inhabitants. It provides water, is the basis for agricultural activities (farming, and cattle raring), offers fuelwood and other socioeconomic services.

The lake has a potential fish yield estimate of 15,000 metric tons per year on average. But the average annual catch is only about 1500 metric tons of fish (Lake Tana Fishery Resource Development Project, 1997). Socioeconomic factors contribute to this poor performance of the fishery industry in the lake. There is selection of fish species for consumption purposes. Some species (like Barbus and Tilapea) are more preferred to others (like catfish) for cultural and religious reasons. Moreover, a large number of the fishermen are poor and use traditional equipments for fishing which limit their catch levels. Despite this low level of exploitation, there is a threat in the decline of abundance and even extinction of some endemic species. The endemic large Barbus species is one that faces such a problem reflected, for example, by a sharp decline of the species due to unregulated over fishing at the spawning grounds (de Graaf, 2003). Moreover, de Graaf emphasized that the future of Lake Tana's Barbus species and its fisheries might follow the same path of collapse of other African cyprinid fisheries unless protective measures are taken soon.

Furthermore, loss of the surrounding wetland and plant coverage due to agricultural expansion, greater silt inflow into the lake, experiences in using inappropriate equipments (small mesh size gill nets) and methods (using poisonous substances like ‘Birbira’) are major causes that could lead to decline and even extinction of endemic fish species as well as collapse of biodiversity. Expanded commercial gill net fisheries at the river mouths along with watershed degradation will cause severe fishery and biodiversity loss of the lake unless the resource is managed and regulated effectively. Because of such fear of biodiversity losses and sustainability of the lake, researchers have given great emphasis to fishery regulation and watershed management in the lake (Ayalew et al., 2007, de Graaf, 2003). The property right structure reflects the problem of the commons discussed in the literature (Baland and Platteau, 1996, Gordon, 1954, Hardin, 1968, Ostrom, 1990, Stavins, 2011) and unless Lake Tana's fishery is regulated properly as a common pool resource, mismanagement could lead to overexploitation and “the tragedy of the commons” (Baland and Platteau, 1996).

The biological behavior of fish in the lake in particular and the lake ecosystem in general have been studied by biologists. Such studies note that watershed degradation and hence siltation and sedimentation problems along with pressure of fishing in spawning grounds at the river mouths are the major threats for the sustainable utilization of the lake and the fishery resource (Ayalew et al., 2007, de Graaf, 2003, Eshete, 2003, Nagelkerke, 1997, Sibbing et al., 1998, Wudneh, 1998).

For implementation of fishery regulations and investments on sustainable utilization of the lake's resources, the preferences of the society (especially of the fishermen) must be taken into consideration. No valuation of fisheries and watershed management of Lake Tana has been conducted previously to the best of the authors' knowledge. The general objective of the study is to understand the preferences of fishermen for the different attributes of Lake Tana using choice experiment method. The specific objectives are to estimate the marginal willingness to pay of an individual fisherman and the welfare implications of improvements in some attributes of the lake and its surroundings and to identify socioeconomic factors that affect the utility of individuals for improvements of the lake's attributes. We find that even low-income-fishermen are willing to pay to protect fisheries and the surrounding wetland of the lake. Given that application of choice experiment for environmental valuation in developing countries is limited (Bennett and Birol, 2010a, Bennett and Birol, 2010b), we believe that this study also contributes to this limited but growing literature.