Fisheries development in the Third World: The role of international agencies

Fisheries

Development

in the Third World:

The Role of International

Agencies

CONNER BAILEY Allhrirtl Utli\vrsit>,. AlIrrDtrttlu DEAN CYCON Woods Hole Occnt~ogrrrpl~ic Ittstit~~tiot~. Alrr.S.Srtc’ltlr.vl’tt.~ MICHAEL MORRIS” Clettlsotf Utzil’c’rsity, Sollflr Ctirolit~rr

I

INTROI~UCTION

The introduction of new pl-oduction tcchnologie3 ha5 transformed the fax of rural conimunitit’s throughout the world. but nowhere has the impact been so profound a5 in the clcveloping nations of Asia. Latin America. and Africa. The vast majority of rural ducllcrs in the clt2veloping worlcl live at or near the margins of esistence. Well-meaning t‘fforth to improve incomes and stancl;!rtl.s of living among thcsc rural producer5 frquwfly hinge on technological innovations designed incrt‘xc‘ procliicfivity. This to production-oricntcd apprwich to rural clwelopment. symbolized by the “Green Revolution.” often has Icd to increasing int’qu;ditics of income and wealth between farming regions and within farming communities (e.g., Blair. 1‘971: Cohen. 1075: Griffin. 197-l). Although the impacl of the Green Revolution on farming communities ha> attracted considerable interest. far Ic‘ss attention has been paid to parallel and nearly simultaneous changes affecting the fisheries sector in many Third World mitions. Over the past 20 years. a combination of espandinp export markets for high valued fishcr-

its products (most notably shrimp 2nd tuna) and national policies supported by inti‘rn;itional donor agencies rncouragccl the introduction of These ne\v c~lpit;ll-ilitensiv~ fishin, ~7wchnolo~ies. &velopnitxts have had ;I profound
efforts

and

sll~gcst5

nt’ceswrc

changtx in prosr;mi cmphasih to lessen rather than incrc’ax the structural problem> and polic! distortions which characterize the fishcries sector in most Third World countries.

I231

\\OKLD

-. ’ E\IPLO1’\lENT

ASD

DEVELOP\IES’I

NCTKITION

As ;I biologically rt’nt’wablc’ raourcc‘. fisherics I I1 stocks art‘ vulncrablc: to odors\-l’loit~itioii, many parts of the tlcveloping world. fi\hcrit22 rcsourcc\ alwxiv have reached or csced_xl maximum biolog~callq sustainable !iclds (FAO. IWlc). Whcrc fishcries rcsourcc‘5 already art’ fully c\ploitfcl. comp,etition bct\\ccn fishermen ~alllc” \\.IlL‘l-c‘ often rcwmblcs ;I “zero-5iini 3. \‘ALUL’

AND

L3‘f IIC‘S

tecf~nological vidu;il\

Current effort3 to ;iid ~ni;~ll-x~~lc fi\hcriiicn often arc Iaudahlc iii intent. hut frcqucntl~ have ;I wrioiis ncgatike impact upon the livc‘b and welfare of iritli\iclud fidicrmcn and the economic future of rural fihhiiig communitic5. A majoi obstacle tcl dc\~cloping ;I ratiomil. x~ci;~llvconxious fidicries tlcvclopmcnt 5tr;itegy rcstilts from the prcwiw of three major actors involved in these effort\: Iocal fishing commuriitic5. natiumil fishcrio policymakcr5. ~inrl internxtionai assist;ince agcncia. Each ha5 ;I rlihtiiict vduc profile that affect5 its pcrcqtions of the need for and dirc‘ction of change. Paralleling the approach taken during the Green Revolution. intci-n;ition;iI assistance programs in fihherieb tend to cmphasizc prodtictionorient4 technological wlution\. htorc frrquentIy than not. these prodtl~tion-ori~iit~~l wlucs arc 5har4 by policymakers within dcvcloping natiom. \vho obtained their current positions b) receiving dvancd education and training in institutions of more ecorioiiiic;il~y advanced countries. Further. thcsc policynakers are influcnccd by certain axiiomic and political rcalitics uithin their own countric’s. including the nwd to increase export earnings and the political power of wealthy indiduals or groups in ;I position to

;idv;ilit;igcs or

group

ha\c

elijo\ccl ;I direct

h! 1icgatii.c

ccrt;iili effect

ilidon

and inconic of other\. pdrticularly the millions of 5niallkale fkhcrmen (Bdllcy. I’M). In the contest of an open ;ICCCS~ rcwurcc’. the result of this process is ;I d~,];rc.lo rc;illocation of the minority which limits the ;I~CCM favoring ability of the majority to cari1 ;idcqudtc inconic\ from tratlition~il purwit5. effort5 which focus Fihhcrics development exclusively on protluctioii-ori~nt~~l tcchnologia thus raise wrious ethical probkm~ :t5sociatt‘cl 7% r‘ ~al.7ital-intciisi~~ with distributive jwticc. nature of purse scincrs. tram, Iers. and other highly effective modern fishins technologies prcclucks aII but the wtxllthv few from benefiting from this form of dsvetop~~~nt. Throughout the tlevcloping world, the introduction of nt‘vv fishing technologies. sponwrd b> international donor\ and impl~mentd by national agencies within drveloping countria, is ha\ ing ;I direct negatiw of impact on harvests and incomes of millions small-scale fid~ermcn unable to compete on equal terms nith those quippd wih more modern boats and fishing scar (Bailey. 1982. 19S-lb. 19Sh: Seal. I’%?; Smith. 1979): Thomson. 19SO). Bv promoting the ux of highI\ productive technoloiic‘s without simultaneously~ strcngthening institutional capacities to manage and allotlic

catch

FlSltEKIES

DEI’ELOPXIENT

ate finite resources among competing users. aaistance agencies international development are contributing to 3tructuraI problem> and policy distortions which pobe serious threats to the majority of those employed in the fisheries sector.

4. TRADITIONAL RESOURCE

TECI INOLOGIES USE RIGHTS

AND

Gear and boat tvpcs generally are the product of longstanding relationships bet\vren fishing communities and the resources upon which they dtzpend (Alesander. lY75; Berkes. lY77; Cycon. lYS6: Firth. 1966: Panayotou. lY,Sl). Social structures of fishing communities are inextricably bound up with these relationships. and mirror the values of the communities relative to social organization. power and prestige. distribution of wealth and income, and the division of labor. Local technologies have evolved over time to fit the needs of the community for food. yet often are sensitive to the location and relative abundance of fisheries resources. Small-scale fishing communities often have complex. traditional resource use rig.h.ts that rrgulatc temporal and spatial aspects ot hsherics esploitxtion and thereindigenous forms of resource by promote manqement predicated on sustainability of harvests over time rather than on short term economic gain (Christy, IYS?; Cycon. IYS6; Johanncs. 1Y78; Pollnac. 1953). The concept of traditional resource use rights explicitly draws attention to issues of resource allocation and provides an ethical basis.. grounded in historic usage, for establishing policies to guide fisheries management and clcvelopment efforts. technologies are inestriTraditional fishing cablv linked to the values of local fishing commun’ities, and shape predictions and behavior affecting ;I wide range of social and economic relationships. These values often mitigate the harsher aspects of purely economic factors by assuring xcess to locally avail;tble resources (e.g. fish) and by promoting rcdistributive mechanisms based on gencralizrd or other forms of reciprocal relationships supported by tradition and community social sanctions (Collier cl (II., 197’)). Local technologies also tend to be labor rather than capital intensive and provide emptoymcnt not only for fishermen but for those in such supporting services xs boat building. net making. marketing, and fish processing.

IS -I‘FlE TtllRD

WORLD

5. TECIINOLOGIC.\L CHANGISG

1171 INNOVATION V.-\LUES

AND

New technolopies being promoted hh international donors. rather than being value neutral. carry with them a hobt of values and asumptions regarding prefsrred social organization. uealth and the division of labor. The distribution. introduction of new technologies is begInning to impose ;I new set of values with profound implications for individual small-scale fishermen and their communities. Often the mo>t immediate effect is that economic \ulurs begin to take precedence over others \vhen fishermen become dependent upon purchased inputs (fuel. nylon netting) and need additional cash to repay loans for new boats. en$nes. and nets. This process can be i!lustrated in the case of Indonesia, where Collier et (11. (lY7Y) document what happened when the need to increase cash incomes to meet mounting obligations transformed traditional distributive values. Fishermen who had allowed orphans and other poor community members to take a few fish for their own consumption grnduallv disallowed this practice. Where previously fishermen were content to market their catch through local petty traders who served nearby rural communities. the need to maximize earnings led to a shift to big buyers supplying urban markets bvhrrr prices were higher. As ;I result. local residents lost an important source of gainful employment. and in the immediate agricultural communities hinterland found it increasingly difficult to obtain and afforcl the fish which provided their main source of animal protein. Introduction of new fishing gear without consideration of loc:tl socioeconomic conditions can have significant adverse impact. Introduction of nylon nets caused tremendous disruption of the well-developed system of traditional propert> rights and community regulation in Brazil (Cordell. lY7X). Because the new gear was too expensive for the local population. businessmen purchased the nets and hired fishermen on a salaried basis to conduct the fishing. The salaries were not enough to allow fishermen to save towards purchase of their o\vn equipment. and many fishermen lost control of their traditional resource use rights. The literature of Third I!‘orld fisheries contains numerous additional cases where technological innovations have had a negative impact on small-scale producers (e.g.. Bailey, 1982: Emmerson. 1975, 1YSO: Smith. 1979). Technola bad thing. ogical change is not. in itself, Small-scale fishermen themselves constantly are engaged in technological adaptation and innova- .

6. INTERNXTIOS.-iL

AID TO SOUTHEAST .-\SI.AN FISHERIES

Southsat Asi:! ih ;I rapdl) developing region exhibiting man! af the problem\ associatt‘d with fisher& cl~velopm~nt in fhc Third World. Primary among thee are: ( 1) widrspread poveq nmonp the majority of fishermen. who operate small-scale boats and pear with limited productive capacity; and (2) ovrr-esploitatiori of man! coastd fishcrie. trj which thcsc SIIIIC small-scale fishermen are limittxl by their twhnolopy. These problems arc rclattxl and. Japite limitations of individual fishermen. their numbers are sufficientlv great to r\;ploit the rcsourct‘ at. near. or in sonit’ castes. beyxicl biologically sustainabk limits. In g
IVith the a\si\t:tnze of foreign donors, the governments of St>uthcat XGa are becoming increa5inglv successful in exporting fidieria producth. Bet&xn IY70 and IW). for ~sxnple. the tot;il v;tlut of t’sporf\ from Th~iil;~nil. Indonesia. and the PhIlippint iii>lalaysia. Singapore. creased from S7l million in lY70 to SY73 million in IYSO (Floyd. IYSJ). ?.loreover. during this period ail increasingly high proportion of all fidi Ian&d in these cwntries \v;is exported. primaril) the United States. and Western to Japan. the period 197(GiO. export Europe. During v0Ii11iic expressed as ;I percentage of total I-!.?“;> (Floyl. production nearly tripled to IYS-I). The rapid grwvth of export-oricnfed fisheries in Southeast Asia paws immediate probkms for small-scale fishermen, cspwidlv in areas where commercial trawling for shrimp has been introdiiced. Shrimp arc most ~iburiclant iii diallou coastal waters where small-scale fishermen opcrate. The encroxhmcnt of commcrci;iI trawlers has ilcgainto their traditional fishing gwiiiid~ tivcly affcclctl the catchcq ;~iicl incomes of smallxxle fi5hermcn. \vho find themscl\~c3 unable to compete with the more cft’cctlve tr:i\+Ic‘rs (Bailey. lYS-I;i. 1986). Increasingly. competition ha given way to violent conflict a5 wiaIIkalt2 fishrrmcn fight to retain accc’ss to local rewurces. The uncontrolled use of commercial trawlers has incrcasccl pressure on biologically rcne!vablc fishcrics resources to such an extent as to caux total landings to decline in both \+eight and \aluc. Thus. small-scale fishermen are competing on unequ;~l technical terms for ;L declining resource. This threat to ;I \ulnrr;thle rewurcc has sc‘rious implications for domestic con5umer5 in the region. where fish is the only afforclablc source of high quality animal protein for the majority of the population. Trawlers have opt’rafd in Southssst AG for at Icast 50 years. but only during the past two ;I significant role in daxcles haw they playd regional fisheries. The modern era of trawling is directly related to the development of strong international demand for shrimp. f ligh price> offered in Japan and ofher highly ckvctopcd nations provided the ntxcssary stimulus for Ioc;kt entrepreneurs. Foreign technical and financial asistancc hastened this process. Owr the past 20 the German Agency for Technical years, Cooperation has provided governmcnrs in the

FISIIEKIES

region

technIcal

and

DC\‘ELOPIlES-I

sclrntific

support

in

the

areas of boat and gear Jaiy and in conducting exploratory fishiny surveys. The .-\si;in Development Bank financed construction of tra\\lerc to be

operated

government

by during

an

agency

of

the

hlalavGan

the

mid-1970s. The \i’orld Bank provided credit fxcilitirs to the Bank of Indonesia for construction of trawlers during the mid- to late lY7Os. The J:kp:mes~ restrict4 their Investment in trawlers to the c\tahlishment of private joint venture enterprises. but on a governmzntnl level hate providecl technical and financial support for ;I \vide rang2 of projects, including tuna fisheries and develqxiirnt of major fishinp ports equipped for export trade. Official Japanese assistance often is linked to the granting of permission to Jqx111ese distant-water fishermen to operate within the jurisdictions of recipient nations (FAO. IYS-la). Clearly there is a need in many Third World countries for increased capacity to exploit offshore resources. Ct2ner;illy. efforts in this direction require c~ipital-intcnsiv~ fishing tcchnologies. Our primary concern is that these technologies, once introduced. have not been used in offshore fishing grounds. but rather in co;lst;d waters where mar:nt’ resources art: most conccntrkited.

Inevitably,

this

has Icd to compcti-

tion

(and sometimes violence) hetwecn commcrcial and small-scale fishermen. Even where commercial fisheries cl0 not directly affect the interests of small-scale fishcrmcn or thrcatcn rcsourct sustainability. the emphasis placd on this form of development results in ;I skewing of dcvclopmcnt benefits in favor of a rclativc few. Less obviously. the emphasis given to commercial fisheries is dctrimcntal to smallscale development because the most able government staff usually are assiyied to worl; on internationally sponsored prolects. Work in the artx of small-scale fidieries dsvelopment is It‘ss prestigious and may offer fewer opportunities for profe5siond advancement. International donors have contributed to this diversion of attention away from the problems of small-scale fisheries but just 2s easily can reorient sectoral dtzvdopmcnt by shifting their own funding priorities towards programs emphasizing small-scale fishrria and rcsourcc manapcment.

7. ETf4ICAL

DIhlENSIONS POLICY

1.X I tlE

I’tfIKD

inno\aticm 0 I1 communitb xxzial structure (Emmerson. lY75, IYSO). The ethical dimension> of pr[,~uction-oricnt~~ fisherich devslopmcnt strategies supported by intcrn;itionaI donors ;Irr c’vt‘n more sharply drawn Lvhcn. as ib frequent11 the casr‘.

the aim of such

increased

export

FAO

several

developing

levels

effort5

earnings

sector.

is to encourapk

from

commodity countries

of undernutrition

the

studies

fisheries

show

bvith

among

that

disturbing

their

populations

conduct ;i booming business in fisheries exports (FAO. IYS-lh). Export of readily avail-

also

able protein local

sources.

populations.

erations

about

national

aid

question should

the form

by this States.

promoting

provide

food

Major expended fishcrics most

to

1lowevcr. rise

through

tcchnulogies

the

neither

ation

local

It is clear, 2nd might

values income

provide

and

nor necessarily that

for

into

agencies

(Emmcrson.

the hands

S.

POLICY

primary World

and

national

IYSO).

responsibility development

policymakers

of

said.

it is obvious

that

agencies

the

of a few

IMPLICATIONS

with

assistance

proctx.

to dcvclopment

by international 1975,

project

has skewed

has ted to local resistance initiated

among

sound

development

of development

projects

incorpor-

to resource

distribution.

;I basis

to do so all too frequently

The

traditions

developmental

relating

and a sustainable

Third

into

possible

Failure

and/or

nor

coun-

local values

from

design benefits

and such

donors

nonetheless.

of community

allocation

value-

developing

community

isolation

may be neither

others.

goals and

conscquenccs

international within

the

intentioned.

the inherently

to incorporate

through

dcsirxhle.

well

the

For

process.

Maintaining proccsscs

are

being

scientific principles In the absence of

policymakers

valut‘s

nations.

negative

applied.

planning

arc within

fait to meet their

the

tries have sought

to

production

to recognize

understanding,

to

of both international

efforts

of

serves

(or desire)

governments

unintended

nature

natiorxil

people’?

they often to

failure

laden

own

of developing

these

international

that

ability

increase

ot ethical

of development:

or other

resources

sectors part

form

nation‘s

national

and

of intrr-

fundamental

a system

its

financial

donors

give

for

to

consid-

implementation

A

is posed

;I developing

denial

ethical

and substance

national

strategies.

he

consequent serious

the United

donors, inhibit

with

raises

and

development

OF FlStlEKIES

Profit-oriented fisheries development strategies promoted by international donors and national policymakers rarely consider local community values and the impact of tcchnoiogical

I’_.<

\\OKLD

must

for priorities

individual bilateral

establishing must nations.

rest This

and multilateral

bear part of the respon-

aycncw an. hwevcr. play an important role in promoting full consid~r~ition of all variables through selective rocarch (e.g.. on industrk structure, conirnunity org,knirativn. and resource rnana~emcnt). supportin, 17 effort3 that are few ihk not onlv on technical and txonomic proun&. but also \vhich art‘ mciallv raponsihlc in prwiding ;i broad distribution development benefits. There is evidence that many Third b’orld policyiiabers art2 becoming increasingly recrptive tu the ned to balance the soint’tinit‘z computing gnls of fisheries dewloprnent. rt‘sw ret‘ I1l~IIl;l~elnent. and distrihutlve quit> (Smith. 1979): indeed. at least oiit‘ dtxeloping nation (Incloncsin) has taken the lead in thib direction hy iinposin, cr xi ;dmost total ban on all commt‘rcial trawling to halt resource deplrtion and protect the traditional resource ue rights of smd-scale fishcrnwn (Bailey, 19S-h. l!X%).’

of

FISt1ERIES

DE\‘ELOP\IEST

IU

ItIE

I’tllRD

L\ORLD

12-5

I‘h~~mwn, I>.. “Conllict u ithln the lishinc Industry.” /C‘I.,4R,I/ .A’r.\s>Icl~er. \‘<,I .3. No. 3 (196)) pp. _%4.