Management, co-management or no management? Major dilemmas in the sustainable utilisation of SADC freshwater fisheries

The project contains ten case studies and a synthesis. The case studies have been conducted in five medium sized lakes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The synthesis focuses on three features relevant for the management of freshwater fisheries in the South Africa Development Community (SADC) region: - How has fishing effort developed in these lakes over the last 50 years? - What causes the changes in fishing effort? - How do fishing effort and environmental factors compare in their effects on the regeneration of fish stocks?

Fisheries in the SADC freshwaters are found to function as an economic buffer and as a safety valve for thousands of people moving in and out of the fisheries according to the opportunities in the national economies. At the same time the stocks tend to be less threatened than many tend to believe. Classical management theory's emphasis on limiting numbers of fishermen and co-management strategies such as exclusive economic zoning may represent a danger to the stability of this situation, even if management may be required to maintain biodiversity. There may be a need also to monitor and establish measures to control investment-driven growth in effort.

In: FAO Fisheries, Rome 2002 / FAO Technical Paper.

Coordinator: CMI, Chr. Michelsen Institute, Bergen