Back to traditional fisheries

Submerged by a continual flow of information and preoccupied with the political, commercial and management problems of the world’s northern fisheries, we tend to forget that about half the world’s fish is caught by traditional and small-scale fishermen and fish farmers. Further, most of it is for direct human consumption. It is worth reading about this enormous sector and we can do no better than start by going back to Africa.

Sub-Saharan Africa, (at least one third of its population suffers) from malnutrition, does not boast an adequate food supply and is particularly short on animal protein. The average per capita consumption of fish deteriorated in the 20th century from about 10kg per year to around 6kg per year, mainly because production lagged behind population growth. Still, the region’s fisheries supply one fifth of total animal protein for consumption and are a major source of direct food, employment and trade for millions of fisherfolk.

Consultants for Fishery, Aquaculture and Rural Development (COFAD), a European consultancy group based in Tutzing, Germany (www.cofad.de), was commissioned by Germany’s technical cooperation aid arm, Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), Germany’s aid body to produce “Back to Basics: Traditional Inland Fisheries; Management and Enhancement Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa and their Potential for Development”.

It explains how large-scale fleets operating mainly off South Africa and Namibia land a substantial share of Africa’s total fish yields of about 4.5 million tonnes per year. Traditional, small-scale inland fishermen land 40 per cent of this total and, because it goes straight to consumers, COFAD says this is important for regional food security. This book looks at ways to develop Africa’s inland fisheries and in particular aquaculture. The latter supplies less that one per cent of the region’s fish. The COFAD publication has a very useful 21-page bibliography.

Bay of Bengal

During some 30 years of its existence, the FAO’s veteran Bay of Bengal Programme (BoBP at www.fao.org/fi/bobp) has produced some 700 publications touching on the development and management of fisheries and naturally focused on India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka. (Email bobpysy@md2.vsnl.net.in for a list of information materials)

In “Traditional Fishing Crafts of the Bay of Bengal”, Dr Y. S.Yadava of the BoBP, who appeared in WF’s pages when he was India’s Fisheries Development Commissioner, gives a fascinating overview of artisanal vessels. These include the kattumaram (ancient Tamil root of the modern word Catamaran) log boats of India and the Maldivian dhoni. He says they “Evolved over centuries [and] these artisanal, low-cost, environment-friendly fishing crafts are next to perfect”.

Also from BoBP is R.N. Roy’s “Coming Together to Manage Fisheries — a Field Guide to Stakeholder Analysis”. This is a popular manual for extension workers, fishery officers and social and environmental activists working to organise fisherfolk and their communities for better exploitation of their fishery resources. It contains many hints on how to identify stakeholders, analyse their problems and understand their needs and perceptions.

The author of this manual does not seem to expect any serious government intervention in the process. But, while the gist of the book’s message is participation, it also warns that: “One must not be too optimistic about bringing people together. The balance between the reasons to come together and to stay apart is easily tipped and there are situations that just cannot be resolved…”

One interesting suggestion, which may also fit non-traditional fisheries, is that (government) fishery agencies may need to identify and hire neutral third party facilitators, until their own staff earn the respect of stakeholders as honest brokers once they have acquired the necessary skills.

The books language is simple and it is illustrated with cartoon-style drawings and flow charts. It encapsulates years of experience gained by BoBP staff.

Mekong picture

Last, but not least, is a truly beautiful book “Fishing Gears of the Cambodian Mekong”. Compiled by D.Loeung, P.Degen and N. van Zalinge. It was published in 2003 by the Inland Fisheries Research and Development Institute of Cambodia (IFReDI), Phnom Penh and laid out and illustrated by A.Jansonius to whom I say chapeau.

It is a gear catalogue which describes more than a hundred types of fishing gear and contains excellent photographs, technical design drawings, graphs and hand-drawn pictures showing gear operation. Some of the gear types and fishing methods should be of interest to fishing technologists and extension workers, since they may offer ideas to improve existing methods and perhaps introduce new approaches.

Further it makes an important contribution to anthropological and fishing technology studies of fishing people’s cultures and their traditional technologies and specific technical solutions. This annotated, 270-page album, is printed on large size, high-quality paper — almost a coffee-table book and a pleasure to look at.

For more information: worldfish-cambodia@cgiar.org or email degen_peter@yahoo.com or ajansonius@hotmail.com