Natural‐resource institutions and property rights in inland African fisheries

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.Abstract Although there exists a rich literature on fisheries traditional management systems in North and South America, Caribbean, Asia and Pacific islands, much less information is available on inland African fisheries. Presents the first regional-scale survey of traditional management systems operated within the Lake Chad Basin. The survey focused on the status and organization of the local (de facto) management systems and their interactions with the modern (de jure) regulations. The results show that fishing activities within the whole Basin are still largely under the control of the traditional local authorities. The few open-access fishing grounds are areas that traditional authorities have never controlled or water-bodies that they have had to "give up" in recent times due to the presence of armed groups. These areas are also areas where illegal taxation systems operated by non-legitimated governement agents have developed, essentially as a consequence of the remoteness and political instability of the whole Basin.

Recent changes in Lake Chad: Observations, simulations and management options (1973–2011)

“…However, since 1973 the resource has been unevenly distributed in a Small Chad state, with strong inter annual variations and high vulnerability in the northern pool though it remained fairly stable in the southern pool of the lake. Up to now, local access to the resources has been governed mostly through traditional rules and hierarchy that have been efficient in preventing conflicts (Sarch, 1996(Sarch, , 2001Béné et al, 2003).…”

Rivers as resources, rivers as borders: community and transboundary management of fisheries in the Upper Zambezi River floodplains

“…Our study adds to a growing body of research concerning appropriate scale in floodplain fisheries management (e.g., Hoggarth et al . 1999; Béné et al . 2003; Castro and McGrath 2003; Thompson et al .…”

Seasonal Migration and Settlement around Lake Chad: Strategies for Control of Resources in an Increasingly Drying Lake

“…Béné [20] recognized three resource management systems in the Lake Chad catchment area. Local government/community institutions are responsible for resource management in the majority of farming and fishing communities [21]. In remote locations where state and traditional powers could not access, non-legitimated agents, purporting to act on behalf of governments were illegally controlling resource access and exploitation through illegal taxation [21].…”

“…Local government/community institutions are responsible for resource management in the majority of farming and fishing communities [21]. In remote locations where state and traditional powers could not access, non-legitimated agents, purporting to act on behalf of governments were illegally controlling resource access and exploitation through illegal taxation [21]. With the growth of armed groups around the lake basin, there have increasingly been areas that have been taken over by such groups, and where such groups exercise their form of rule and control over resources.…”