Voodoo versus Fishing Committees: The Role of Traditional and Contemporary Institutions in Fisheries Management

Elena Briones Alonso, Romain Houssa and Marijke Verpoorten

No 5243, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: We study the co-existence of two community-based institutions for fisheries management in Benin: a traditional institution embedded in the Voodoo religion and a recent secular institution in the form of fishing committees. Using household survey data on fishing activities, we find that rules of both institutions have a statistically significant but small impact on the use of unsustainable fishing gear. We further find that Voodoo fishers who break the traditional Voodoo-based rule follow the fishing committee rule to the same extent as other fishers. This finding is consistent with a possible transition from the traditional Voodoo-based institution to the secular fishing committee institution. More research is needed to fully assess the effectiveness of, and interactions between, the two institutions.

Keywords: community-based natural resource management; institutions; religion; Voodoo; fisheries; Benin (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Related works:
Journal Article: Voodoo versus fishing committees: The role of traditional and contemporary institutions in fisheries management (2016)
Working Paper: Voodoo versus fishing committees: the role of traditional and contemporary institutions in fisheries management (2015)
Working Paper: Voodoo versus fishing committees: the role of traditional and contemporary institutions in fisheries management (2015)
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