5.4. Less inequality among WA-MPA households
The different parameters estimated to assess the distribution ofincomes produce highly consistent results: income distribution ismuch more inegalitarian among REM-MPA households than WA-MPA households (Fig. 3). Note that the income disparity is highon both strata, since a value of 0.6 is at the high of the range ofvariations observed for this index. However, this is in line with thefindings of previous surveys conducted among Asian small-scalefishers (Datta et al., 1989; Cheng, 1996).Given the great extent of homogeneity in the socio-economicorganisation of the fishing communities throughout ChumphonProvince, there is nothing to suggest that these inequalities amongREM-MPA households are due to an organisational difference.One hypothesis for these inequalities is that the resources usedby REM-MPA households expose them more to income fluctua-tions, since their fishing resources are based on a smaller numberof species made up for the vast majority of small pelagics (Fig. 2).Yet small pelagics are short-lived species that are sensitive to the environment and therefore vary greatly in number from one year tothe next (Freon et al., 2005). This could explain the fairly frequentnegative annual net income figures (8% of cases) among REM-MPAhouseholds.