Nelvia del Socorro Hernández

Small Scale Fisheries Management: Lessons from Cockle Harvesters in Nicaragua and Tanzania

The role of women in gleaning fisheries tends to be underestimated and poorly documented although they play an important role in coastal food security and income generation. This article describes two initiatives for co-management of women dominated cockle (Anadara spp.) fisheries implemented in Zanzibar Island of Tanzania and in Nicaragua that were based on a Fiji model. In each case, significant progress was made at the pilot scale but required adaptation to the community and national context. The Nicaragua case resulted in increasing densities of cockles inside and outside small scale no-take zones in a small estuary after a two-year period of implementation. In Zanzibar, out of several no-take sites established on reef flats, only one showed similar results. Other sites’ poor performance is likely due to poor site selection, small size, and non-compliance. Varying degrees of poaching affected both locations and continues to be an issue. In Zanzibar, local and national government played highly supporting roles whereas in Nicaragua, local government was supportive but national government continues to exhibit top-down decision-making, while still evaluating the alternative co-management approach. In both cases, university extension initiatives were influential in building community capacity for management and playing an advocacy role with national government. Both locations are poised for scaling up to more geographic sites as well as fostering policy change that can lead to more integrated and ecosystem-scale approaches to sustainable fisheries management.

Aquaculture Research and Development as an Entry-Point and Contributor to Natural Resources and Coastal Management

Recent, fervent international dialogue concerning the existence and magnitude of impacts associated with aquaculture has had both positive and negative outcomes. Aquaculture stakeholders have become sensitized to requirements for improved environmental management of aquaculture. On the other hand, in some cases aquaculture development has been negatively affected by some of the unwarranted and unproved allegations to the detriment of the stakeholders most in need of aquaculture development (i.e., resource users, particularly the poor, who are dependent on natural resources). These resource users are targeted by, and directly influence biodiversity and conservation agendas; hence the need to understand how to gain their active participation. This discussion focuses on examples of how aquaculture research and development can be a useful tool or strategy for resource management initiatives and provide tangible positive including increased stakeholder participation and cooperation, offering alternatives to resource extraction and use in otherwise difficult or intransigent resource management conflicts.