Diversity of small-scale fisheries and fishery agreements from the participatory management perspective in Colombia (original) (raw)

Small-scale fisheries in Colombia occur in diverse areas including river basins, estuaries, and coastlines, for both consumption-based and ornamental fisheries, and carried out by mestizo, indigenous and afro-descendant communities. These fisheries are overexploited or approach maximum sustainable yield. Meanwhile, government capacity and policies for fisheries management are weak and many fishing communities have reached a state of poverty. These conditions have generated an increased interest in the implementation of participatory fisheries management by artisanal fishermen, government and other stakeholders. We analyze 36 fisheries agreements established during the last two decades using similarity analysis, nonparametric multidimensional scaling and similarity percentages to distinguish fisheries agreements according to different management measures proposed by fishermen. Fishermen recognized similar problems despite differences in ethnicity. However, fishermen gave different priority to fisheries measures and activities to carry out their specific fisheries agreements, depending on target species. Differences in fisheries agreements were found between consumption-based and ornamental fishing (P<0.05), between river basin and marine fisheries (P<0.05), and among fisheries in lakes, lagoons, and reservoirs (P<0.05). Small-scale fisheries in Colombia share several fisheries conditions, but these all show differences according to the social perspective of each community to solve its specific fisheries problems. Currently, small-scale fisheries in Colombia face important challenges associated with their diversity/heterogeneity, the poor government capacity for fisheries management, the enforcement of participatory management by different stakeholders (mainly NGOs) with different approaches that respond to their own goals. Fishing buyer Good fishing practices Fair trade Government controls Good fishing practices Catch controls Catch limits Law compliance Number of fishery economic units Employment alternatives Non-fishing programs Number of fishery gear units Women participation Research Conservation research Community strengthening Strengthening of local organizations Fishery research Implementation of local roles