Institutions, Economics, and Conflicts: Fisheries Management Under Pressure

Abstract

"Poorly defined property rights, increasing effort and decreasing catches are resulting in conflict in fisheries throughout the world. While these effects are common and well documented in highly regulated fisheries in the European Union (conflicts over allocation of quota for example) and North America (for example conflicts over access to salmon stocks between the USA and Canada); the effects upon fisheries in developing countries, while under-researched are invariably more dramatic and can have long-term implications for the promotion of sustainable livelihoods.

"While there is as yet little evidence of a sharp increase in natural resource conflicts (Hussein, 1999) it is apparent, however, that the consequences of conflict in the management of natural resources are becoming more detrimental to long-term sustainable exploitation and are effecting an increasingly large number of people (Olomola, 1998; Homer-Dixon, 1994; Streiffeler, nd; Myers, 1987). Although there is an extensive literature on natural resource conflicts, little work has been done on a) analysing the causes of conflict beyond the case-study arena or b) applying economic tools to the study of conflict. In an attempt to redress the balance, this paper sets out some initial findings from an on-going study into the management of conflict in tropical fisheries. Drawing on New Institutional Economics and common property resource management theory, it analyses how and why fisheries institutions adapt to changing circumstances and the role of conflict in the process. Using evidence from Ghana it examines the emergence of fisheries management institutions under differing access regimes and analyses the factors which appear to have influenced institutional change.

"The paper argues that conflict can be the result of rising transaction costs and the inability of natural resource institutions to manage these changes. It also argues that conflict can be both a positive and negative force and should not necessarily be eliminated altogether.

"The paper is divided into four sections. First, it locates fishing as an economic activity within developing countries and looks at the interactions between local, national and international policy objectives and how these can impact upon the development and exploitation of the resource. In the second section, conflicts are described and why they emerge in natural resources management is discussed. Focusing on the role of institutions it looks at how changes in institutions might affect the management of common property resources. Section three draws on initial findings from field research conducted in Ghana between March and May 2000. In the final section, the paper presents a number of conclusions as to the process of conflict formation and the possibilities for managing it."