Is Co-Management Still Feasible to Advance the Sustainability of Small-Scale African Inland Fisheries? Assessing Stakeholders’ Perspectives in Zambia

Sydney Kapembwa, Jόn G. Pétursson and Alan J. Gardiner
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Sydney Kapembwa: School of Natural Resources, Copperbelt University, Kitwe 10101, Zambia
Jόn G. Pétursson: Environment and Natural Resources, Faculties of Life and Environmental Sciences and Sociology, Anthropology and Folkloristics, University of Iceland, 102 Reykjavik, Iceland
Alan J. Gardiner: Applied Learning Unit, Southern African Wildlife College, Hoedspruit 1380, South Africa

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 24, 1-18

Abstract: Co-management has been promoted as an alternative approach to the governance of small-scale inland fisheries resources and has been implemented in many African countries. It has, however, not proven to be a simple solution to improve their governance; hence, most African inland fisheries are still experiencing unsustainable overexploitation of their resources. As such, there is a need for reassessing the application of governance strategies for co-management that should strive to strengthen the participation of stakeholders, primarily the local fishers, as they are fundamental in the governance of fisheries resources. Therefore, this study set out to explore the prospects of a co-management governance approach at a Lake Itezhi-Tezhi small-scale fishery in Zambia. Focus group discussions with fishers and semi-structured interviews with other stakeholders were used to collect data. This study revealed that the stakeholders perceive co-management as a feasible approach to governance of the Lake Itezhi-Tezhi fishery. However, the feasibility of the co-management arrangement would be dependent mostly on the stakeholders’ ability to address most of the ‘key conditions’ criteria highlighted in the study. This study also identified the need to establish a fisheries policy to provide guidelines for the co-management, coming with decentralisation of power and authority to the local fishers.

Keywords: co-management; fisheries governance; key conditions criteria; small-scale inland fisheries; stakeholders’ perceptions; Zambia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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