Comments on: Commentary on “Like herding fish: overfishing, free riders and reinventing collective action in Eastern Africa’s lakes” (Friday, September 25, 2009) https://rose.geog.mcgill.ca/wordpress/?p=1284 Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:00:03 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.8.10 By: rachel https://rose.geog.mcgill.ca/wordpress/?p=1284&cpage=1#comment-65976 Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:00:03 +0000 http://rose.geog.mcgill.ca/wordpress/?p=1284#comment-65976 I agree with you, Natalie, that the parachuting in of foreign “experts” can lead to problems, and is at its worst a new kind of imperialism. I’m not convince, however, that this is what is going on here. In response to a question over why they were focusing on BMUs as a unit of management, Prof Lauren Chapman said that they were continuing to use this tool because this is what the local community has put in place and what their local collaborators would like to continue using, not because they necessarily think it is the best tool. This suggests to me that they are collaborators invited to take part in this project, not the instigators of it. As for the question of creating exclusive property rights, presumably these already exist: I assume people own their own fishing boats and equipment. And the institutionalization of BMUs and lake access does not actually create individual rights, but community rights. It is then the role of the community to distribute to individuals access to the shared resource. This method of resource access is not inherently western: it is used by Japanese inshore fisheries cooperatives and Canadian west coast First Nations management systems, among others. The research presented in this talk is not the end of the line, it only provides the data that is necessary for setting up this kind of management system; ultimately this information needs to be taken up by the local community to devise its own system of management.

]]> By: Raquel https://rose.geog.mcgill.ca/wordpress/?p=1284&cpage=1#comment-65974 Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:33:40 +0000 http://rose.geog.mcgill.ca/wordpress/?p=1284#comment-65974 Hi Natalie,
I think our concerns are somehow related. You´ve mentioned ‘cultural sensitivity’ and the will of people of the region. As I see it, countries and politics are socially and culturally constructed. The community´s behavior, interests and ideas pretty much shape States. Therefore, disregarding local people´s preferences and knowledge means, to a certain extent, disregarding National States and their policies.

On the other hand, I would argue that even tough local fishermen may not be aware of the western notion of exclusive rights, they are represented by countries that are fully conscious and informed about such a concept. So much so that they´ve been fighting for property rights over an island in Lake Victoria. An island that has much to do with fishing. I know that this may be interpreted as a contradiction to my previous comment, but that´s how I see things right now. Cheers! = )

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