5. Conclusions
Having attempted to highlight what we believe is
wrong with current approaches to fisheries management
and development, we conclude by offering some alternative
suggestions, or points for discussion, that emerge
from a livelihoods perspective on small-scale fisheries
management and development:
* Livelihood diversification is a feature of many fishing
communities. Policy and management that encourages
or enables part-time fishing is preferable
to approaches that seek to ‘professionalise’ smallscale
fishers and ban part-timers.
* Development in rural areas where fishing is important
may not be best served by intervention to
increase fishing incomes, but rather to support
complementary household activities. This does not
mean encouraging people to leave the fishery
altogether, as substituting one insecure incomesource
for another is no solution. Encouraging
alternative livelihood sources raises the opportunity
income of fishing, with potential conservation and
economic benefits.
* Geographical mobility is necessary to sustain catches
on mobile or fluctuating fish stocks.Mobility can also
be beneficial to stock conservation in that it enables
fishers to move away from locally depleted resources.