Heterogeneity and Rule Conformance in the Management of the Kapenta Fishery at Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe

Abstract

"Socio economic and biophysical heterogeneity has an important impact on collective conformity to resource management measures. Within the kapenta fishery of lake kariba, there are several types of heterogeneity. These include differences in appropriation skills, political influence, initial endowment and local resource endowments. Kapenta operators have somewhat different preferences regarding resource management, assign different priorities to various objectives of resource management and have different access negotiating capacities. The differences in personal objectives regarding resource management and the differences in degree of control and access over the fishery have led to situations where users have varying incentive structures. This study shows that the social political and economic situation of users leads to variations on how different users relate with the kapenta resource."