Elsevier

Fisheries Research

Volume 87, Issue 1, October 2007, Pages 5-16
Fisheries Research

Challenges in the assessment and management of small-scale fisheries in Latin America and the Caribbean

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2007.06.015Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of the key characteristics of small-scale coastal marine fisheries in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as an examination of some of the weaknesses, gaps, and challenges faced in fisheries assessment and management within the region. The information here is based largely on discussions involving a range of scientists, managers and fishers at the first CoastFish conference (“Coastal fisheries in Latin America and the Caribbean”) held in Merida, Mexico in 2004 and literature review. Small-scale fisheries in this region, as elsewhere, share similar characteristics including multi-gear and multispecies, low capital and labour intensive, remote landing sites, large number of migrant and seasonal workers, and weak market and bargaining power among fishers. Common issues facing these fisheries are resource overexploitation, complex and dynamic fleet interactions, competition and conflicts between fleets (small-scale, industrial and recreational), and post-harvest problems, such as lack of infrastructure. Research in the region focuses mainly on biological–ecological aspects, with limited attention paid to socio-economic issues. Collection of catch data is common in most countries, at least for the main target species, but its reliability has been questioned in many cases, especially when a multi-species fishery is in place. Management tools frequently used are ‘input control’, e.g., size limit, gear restriction, closed season, closed area, and fishing permits. Finally, legal frameworks typically exist to regulate fisheries in most countries, but lack of success in management could be attributed to a lack of surveillance, weak institutions, unclear legal management instruments, and limited involvement of fishers in the management process. Based on the above, we discuss ways to address gaps and challenges in the assessment and management of small-scale fisheries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Introduction

Problems with fisheries are recognized worldwide (Pauly et al., 1998, Hutchings and Reynolds, 2004, Muraski, 2000, Caddy and Seijo, 2005). The challenge of balancing the use and conservation of marine resources is especially difficult in coastal areas where population density is increasingly high with an on-going coastal migration and sprawl. This situation is adding pressure on the coastal resources, and consequently increasing competition among the numerous users of these limited resources, affecting the livelihoods of people in coastal communities (Charles, 1992, Jentoft, 2000, Allison and Ellis, 2001, FAO, 2005).

Many coastal fishers are facing the dilemma of fisheries collapse, the search for income, and the difficulty in sustaining fishing livelihoods. There is also a challenge in defining management schemes that fit the various contexts of small-scale fisheries (Berkes et al., 2001, Ehrhardt, 2005, Castilla and Defeo, 2005, Chuenpagdee et al., 2005). Furthermore, these fisheries may often face the set of factors identified by Gréboval (2002) as contributing to the unsustainability of fisheries, including poverty, lack of alternative employment, inappropriate incentives, and weak governance. Amid all the searching for concrete and practical solutions to address fisheries problems, it has become more and more evident that knowledge about small-scale fisheries (SSF) is particularly limited.

Quantitative information on SSF is relatively little covered in the literature. For instance, while information about fisheries landings has regularly been gathered at a national level and aggregated to regional and global levels by international organizations like FAO, there is often no distinction made between landings from SSF and from larger-scale commercial ventures. More information is available on the latter fleets, owing to the large volumes they produce (which makes it generally easier to collect information from such fisheries than SSF) and their high contributions to the national GDP (FAO, 2004, Hutchings and Reynolds, 2004, Fujita et al., 2004). While contributions from SSF may seem modest, they are an important source of food, employment and livelihoods income for more than 2 million people in Latin America alone (FAO, 2000).

Concerns related to food security, employment and poverty in SSF have been widely and globally discussed, for example, at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, and at several FAO consultation and workshops. Most recently, FAO published technical guidelines for responsible fisheries aiming specifically to address poverty in small-scale fisheries, as part of the Code of Conduct (FAO, 2005). With an exception of the latest initiative to estimate global catches from SSF (Chuenpagdee et al., 2006), considerably fewer efforts have been coordinated to address the lack of systematic data collection and integrated information on SSF. Even less so is the examination of how SSF are assessed and managed, as well as an identification of gaps and challenges faced in the assessment and management of SSF. We argue that unless these challenges are addressed, enhancing the contribution of this sector to poverty and food security will be difficult to achieve.

To contribute to a better understanding of SSF in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), the first CoastFish Conference1 was organized in Mérida, Mexico in October 2004 to bring together scientists, managers and fishers to share information and experiences in managing marine SSF, and to identify challenges in data collection, assessment and management of these fisheries within the region. This paper draws on the discussion and outputs of about 143 conference participants, plus an extensive literature review, to address the following questions: (a) What are the most common forms of data gathered for fisheries assessment?; (b) What are the most common fishery management tools employed in the region?; (c) What are the strengths and weaknesses of these tools?; and (d) What is needed in order to overcome weaknesses in currently employed assessment and management tools for SSF of LAC?

In the paper, we first draw on a literature review to present an overview of key characteristics of marine SSF in LAC, with emphasis on the major issues and problems faced in fishery assessment and in management approaches. Next, we compile a listing of tools used in LAC countries to assess and manage three main types of fisheries—pelagic, demersal and benthic/invertebrate. This division is drawn to recognize that not all assessment and management tools fit all types of fisheries. We address the above four questions, summarizing the strengths, weaknesses, gaps and challenges in applying the fishery assessment and management tools. We conclude with some suggestions on ways to address these challenges in order to improve the state of SSF and the livelihood of people depending on them.

The diversity and complexity of fisheries in the LAC region is clear, given its large number of countries and their diverse geo-physical, bio-ecological and socio-economic characteristics. Accordingly, it should be noted that the results presented here reflect only a sampling of countries in the region, and are certainly not exhaustive. Despite this limitation, the paper brings to the foreground the need to address issues related to the assessment and management of SSF in LAC, as well as provide useful directions for future fishery research and management.

Section snippets

Characteristics of small-scale fisheries and key issues

There have been a variety of attempts to define SSF (e.g., Panayotou, 1982, Russel and Poopetech, 1990, Agüero, 1992, FAO, 2000, Castilla and Defeo, 2001, Staples et al., 2004, Chuenpagdee et al., 2006). These efforts have generally taken into account several characteristics of SSF, such as size of the boats, mobility of the fleet, method of production, levels of organizations, and distribution of the products. While differences in SSF around the globe are acknowledged, some common

Fisheries in Latin America and the Caribbean

This section draws on a literature review and statistical compilation to examine the state of fisheries in the LAC region, with reference to aggregations of all fisheries, but with emphasis on the specific contribution that SSF make to landings, and their social and economic importance.

Tools used in fishery assessment

To identify relevant fishery assessment tools, participants in the CoastFish conference addressed two key questions: What have been the most common approaches in stock assessment? What kind of information have been gathered and analysis performed for fisheries assessment? For practical purposes the assessment tools were divided into four categories: data collection, bio-ecological assessment, socio-cultural assessment and economic assessment.

CoastFish participants filled out templates providing

Tools used in fishery management

The analysis of fishery management tools proceeded in a manner similar to that for assessment tools. In the case of management tools, all management instruments and access conditions in place were considered (e.g., open access, government control, co-management). Templates were completed by participants providing information on the tools commonly used for the different fisheries in their country, and the tools were evaluated for each of the three classes of resources, namely demersal, benthic,

Discussion and conclusions

While fishing pressure has imposed significant problems on fisheries and their managers across most of Latin America and the Caribbean, the analysis undertaken here indicates varying degrees of response, in terms of fishery assessment, across the region. For example, major assessment efforts are apparent in parts of South America while typically the capacity to implement such measures is less in Central America. In the latter region, the continuing use of traditional assessment tools provides

Acknowledgments

We want to thank the institutions that co-hosted the COASTFISH 2004 conference: CINVESTAV, Universidad Marista de Mérida, Saint Mary's University, St. Francis Xavier University, Universidad Autónoma de Campeche-Epomex and Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán. Other sponsors include: Gobierno del Estado de Yucatán, Ayuntamiento de Mérida, FAO, and UADY Cultural Centre. We also thank the conference participants, fisheries report contributors and representatives of the following fisher organizations:

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