Spatial conflict and priority for small-scale fisheries in near-shore seascapes of the Central Coast Vietnam

Abstract

In near-shores of Vietnam, there are increasing spatial conflicts among different fishing gear operators as a result of declining and overfishing of small-scale fisheries recently. A challenge facing both small fishers and local governments is identifying more appropriate marine resource governance and public policies to deal with conflicts in the interests of short-term economic feasibility as well as long-term sustainability. This study presents perceived spatial conflicts and priorities in the near-shore seascape of Hoai Nhon district (Binh Dinh, Vietnam). Participatory GIS and questionnaires for local fishers were used to collect data on fishery resources, spatial seascape, spatial conflicts and priorities. Likert scale's weighted mean (wMean), and consensus measure (CnS) were applied to rank spatial conflicts and priorities. The results show that, conflicts among fishing gear operators were ranked at the high level, and no conflict was really serious. The highest conflicts were between trawl operator and others, particularly with baby lobster trap in rocky-reefs. Trawl operations were ranked the lowest priority because of its serious negative impact on fishery resources and other fishing gears. Sustainable fishery management for study area requires the comparative analyses about spatial conflicts before making implementation. A marine spatial planning (MSP) or an integrated spatial planning (ISP) at local scale is considered essential for the study area by focusing on the result of ranking priority of fishing gear operators over each small spatial marine area.