A bottom-up understanding of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in Lake Victoria

Luomba, Joseph, Chuenpagdee, Ratana, and Song, Andrew M. (2016) A bottom-up understanding of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in Lake Victoria. Sustainability, 8 (10). 1062. pp. 1-14.

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DOI: 10.3390/su8101062

View at Publisher Website: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su8101062

1061

Abstract

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a major concern in fisheries management around the world. Several measures have been taken to address the problem. In Lake Victoria, the alleviation of IUU fishing is implemented through the Regional Plan of Action (RPOA-IUU), which restricts use of certain fishing gear, as well as prohibits fishing in closed areas and during closed seasons. Despite the long-term efforts to monitor and control what goes on in the fisheries, IUU fishing has persisted in Lake Victoria. Inspired by interactive governance theory, this paper argues that the persistence of IUU fishing could be due to different images that stakeholders have about the situation, rather than the lack of management competency. Through structured interviews with 150 fisheries stakeholders on Ijinga Island in the southeastern part of Lake Victoria, Tanzania, using paired comparison questionnaires, the study elicits stakeholders' perspective about the severity of different locally-pertinent fishing-related activities. The results show that while fisheries stakeholder groups agree on their judgments about certain fishing gears, some differences are also apparent. For instance, fisheries managers and scientists do not always agree with fishing people about what activities cause the most damage to fisheries resources and ecosystem. Further, they tend to consider some IUU fishing-related activities less damaging than some non-IUU fishing. Such disparity creates governability challenges, pointing to the need to revisit relevant regulatory measures and to make them consistent with the knowledge and judgments of all stakeholders. Based on these findings, we discuss governing interventions that may contribute to addressing IUU fishing in Lake Victoria and elsewhere.


Item ID:	47082
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	2071-1050
Keywords:	Lake Victoria, IUU fishing, interactive governance, governability, RPOA, image
Additional Information:	This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Funders:	Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
Projects and Grants:	SSHRC Too Big To Ignore (TBTI) project
Date Deposited:	18 Jan 2017 07:48
FoR Codes:	41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410406 Natural resource management @ 40% 30 AGRICULTURAL, VETERINARY AND FOOD SCIENCES > 3005 Fisheries sciences > 300505 Fisheries management @ 50% 44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4406 Human geography > 440699 Human geography not elsewhere classified @ 10%
SEO Codes:	96 ENVIRONMENT > 9607 Environmental Policy, Legislation and Standards > 960799 Environmental Policy, Legislation and Standards not elsewhere classified @ 40% 83 ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND ANIMAL PRIMARY PRODUCTS > 8302 Fisheries - Wild Caught > 830204 Wild Caught Fin Fish (excl. Tuna) @ 40% 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970116 Expanding Knowledge through Studies of Human Society @ 20%
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