Evolution of Common Management: Opportunities and Challenges for Fishing Communities in Thailand

Abstract

"This paper seeks to analyse the evolution of the Common Fisheries Policy as a Community tool for the management of a common-pool resource in the context of Ban Don Bay in Suratthani Province, Thailand. This study applied a qualitative approach to collect data by interviewing key informants in the study area. The participants of the study were traditional fishermen and their families. The study used a paradigms of fisheries management (conservation, economic and social/community) and the concept of common pool resource . Results from the study found that policies of the state in each of the affected resource management. And the livelihoods of fisheries. People living in traditional fishing communities tend to be a vulnerable group due to the rapid changes caused by the environmental degradation that has resulted from short-sighted governmental policies, capitalization and natural disasters. It was also found, however, that the people living in these communities are extremely resourceful, industrious and adaptable, showing a commendable degree of flexibility in their ability to cope with severe situations by invoking a variety of effective strategies that utilize human capital, natural capital and social capital. They have been particularly effective in drawing upon their local wisdom and knowledge, conducting local research to identify and analyze various problems, which has, in turn, permitted them to propose and implement successful solutions to the problems they face. The fishing communities of Ban Don Bay, therefore, have a lot to offer in terms of teaching and assisting others communities who face similar problems in terms of the rapid change wrought by environmental degradation and ill-conceived government policies."