Community-level access and control in the management of Lake Victoria's fisheries.
The fisheries of Lake Victoria have reached a critical stage in their development: catches are declining, and there is increasing evidence of hardship amongst the fishing communities. In an effort to countermand the reduction in the flow of economic benefits the lake's riparian states are collaborating with international agencies to develop a fisheries management strategy that would be based on a partnership between stakeholders. One possible area for such collaboration is via the devolution of certain access controls to fishing communities. This paper describes findings from recent research and argues that notions of access are linked to community perceptions of the resource, control over it and their own individual and collective manoeuvrings designed to retain and improve livelihoods.
Geheb
Kim
K
UNECIA Ltd, The Lake Victoria Fisheries Research Project, P.O. Box 2145, Jinja, Uganda.
Crean
Kevin
K
D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D003256:Community Participation; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004777:Environment; D005398:Fisheries; D005399:Fishes; D006801:Humans; D011050:Policy Making; D011157:Population Dynamics