Publications

	Table of Contents
p. 14 of 20 BACK | NEXT I. Introduction II. The Context: Fisheries in the Asian and Pacific Region III. The Bank's Experience in the Fisheries Sector IV. The Issues: Challenges and Opportunities A. Economic Issues B. Environmental Issues C. Policy and Institutional Issues D. The Outlook V. The Recommended Strategy for the Bank

Policy on Fisheries : IV. The Issues: Challenges and Opportunities

---

C. Policy and Institutional Issues

The DMC governments require a policy framework for dealing with the problems of fisheries and aquaculture enumerated in the preceding sections. Policy issues pertaining to fishery development are essentially those dictated by the need to manage resources for sustainable development. An FAO Ministerial Conference on Fisheries (see page 36), held in Rome in March 1995 and attended by most of the Bank's DMCs, determined that regulatory measures are essential, inter alia, to (i) eliminate overfishing, (ii) rebuild and enhance fish stocks, (iii) minimize wasteful fisheries practices, (iv) promote sustainable aquaculture, (v) rehabilitate fish habitats, and (vi) develop fisheries for alternate species based on principles of scientific sustainability and responsible management.24 The range of policy issues that has to be tackled is enormous, and the DMCs have disparate capacities to deal with them.

Changes in the legal regime of the seas have placed considerable fisheries resources within the national jurisdictions of many DMCs. Twenty-four DMCs have declared 200 nautical mile EEZs or fishery zones; this widening of the territorial sea has also placed additional demands on the policy and institutional framework for fisheries. The mobility of many fish stocks makes it important that coastal states lying within the migration path of individual stocks collaborate to ensure rational use of the stocks. Reliable data and information on fisheries resources are essential for planning and managing fisheries development. Proper stock assessment is needed on a regular and systematic basis, and resource management programs should be coordinated on a regional and subregional basis. The vast amount of fisheries data already accumulated could be used better to estimate the potential carrying capacity against the present catches.

There are three ancillary issues on which decisions are to be made by the DMCs, based on their specific context. First, governments need to reconcile the objectives of generating employment and income by utilizing their fisheries and aquatic resources with the imperatives of conservation and rehabilitation of fish stocks for long-term sustainability. Second, an appropriate balance has to be found between artisanal or small-scale fisheries and the promotion of modern industrial fishing. The third need is to delineate an appropriate role for the private sector. All these issues are interlinked and involve questions of equity, efficiency, and sustainability.

To ensure the long-term sustainability of fisheries resources, all stakeholders need to be brought into the management process. However, community-based management of common property resources evolves slowly as the rules controlling access and utilization are developed over generations. Participation of communities in successful fisheries management (as opposed to exploitation) can be observed in only a few countries in the region. Examples of community-based management schemes in fisheries can be found in Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand and in some smaller Pacific Island countries. Some NGO projects in Thailand have also demonstrated that communities can sustainably manage and conserve fish stocks. These regimes show that communities of fishers whose livelihood depends on the integrity and health of the fishery resource can be effective stewards of that resource. In the industry sector, where the scale of operations is larger and is driven by profit, private sector participation is necessary for effecting a consultative management process. Participatory fisheries management should also encompass policy formulation through consultations among stakeholders.

Specific deficiencies in most fisheries institutions in the Region pertain to the limited capability for effective fisheries management and the exclusion of the private sector from the management process. These deficiencies limit the capability of most governments to shift the fisheries sector from a development to a management stance, ensuring the sustainability of fish production. In many cases, the DMCs lack the infrastructure, expertise, appropriate institutional framework, or administrative machinery for optimum utilization of

their fisheries resources, and for adequate monitoring, enforcement, control, and general supervision of the sector. The fisheries administration in most DMCs harbors conflicting interests with respect to proper management, e.g., licensing, enforcement, and stock-assessment units are often under the same department. There are important roles to be played by multilateral financing institutions, bilateral funding sources, international fishery organizations, private industry, and regional development programs in providing policy advice and addressing institutional weaknesses through capacity building, research, and training.

Back B. Environmental Issues	Next D. The Outlook