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Abstract:
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"Access to inshore fisheries in Sierra Leone and their management are discussed in order to provide a basis for improving fisheries management. On the basis of the property rights framework, the state is the de jure owner of the inshore fisheries resources, exploited by the artisanal fishers as authorized users. Fishers perceive stocks as a free good and in extracting the resource rent, they can be considered as de facto owners. There is therefore an overlap in the roles of State and village management authorities. Fishers consider resource supply to depend on the willingness of 'God' to replenish the stocks, ignoring the effects of fishing on stock abundance. No direct stock management problem is therefore perceived by the fishers, but to appease 'God' they do not fish for at least one day every week, thereby contributing to stock conservation. The direct management problem for the local authorities concerns equitable access to stocks and resultant conflicts, which they attempt to overcome by spatial and temporal arrangements for different gears. The state's attempts to conserve inshore stocks by excluding the industrial fleet, and the use of small mesh sizes, chemicals and dynamite, are ineffective because of their minimal enforcement and disregard by fishers."
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