IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/endesu/v22y2020i6d10.1007_s10668-019-00443-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“Bring fishermen at the center”: the value of local knowledge for understanding fisheries resources and climate-related changes in Lake Tanganyika

Author

Listed:
  • Gideon Bulengela

    (University of Dar es Salaam)

  • Paul Onyango

    (University of Dar es Salaam)

  • Joan Brehm

    (Illinois State University)

  • Peter A. Staehr

    (Aarhus University)

  • Emmanuel Sweke

    (Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (TAFIRI-Kigoma Centre))

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the value of local knowledge of fishermen from Kigoma, along the North Eastern shores of Lake Tanganyika, regarding fish and climate-related issues of the lake. We explore how that knowledge can be incorporated into sustainable management activities. We used a qualitative approach to investigate the local knowledge and perception of changes and their causes. About 64 respondents comprising fishermen, fish processers, Beach Management Unit leaders, fisheries officers and elders were interviewed between April and December 2016. Our analysis shows that there have been increasing fishing activities in the lake from the 1970s. Increased fishing activities and climate-related changes in the lake have resulted in dramatic decreases in fish landings between the 1990s and the present. It was also revealed that fishermen hold valuable knowledge on fish availability, ecological conditions of the lake, and seasonal weather conditions. While they acknowledge the effects of changes in fishing practices and fishing pressure to explain the gradually decreasing fisheries, they have less understanding of the importance of longer-term changes in the lake environment resulting from climate change. This study concludes that future fisheries management could benefit from further incorporation of fishers’ local knowledge such as those related to ecological conditions of the lake and pressures from fishing practices. By expanding mechanisms to include the fishermen’s local knowledge, a strong signal is sent to them that their knowledge is valued by fisheries management. This has the potential to further motivate the fishermen to be active participants in contributing to sustainable management practices that can positively impact declining fish resources. In other words, fishermen need to be further “brought at the center” in decision-making processes that influence fisheries management options.

Suggested Citation

  • Gideon Bulengela & Paul Onyango & Joan Brehm & Peter A. Staehr & Emmanuel Sweke, 2020. "“Bring fishermen at the center”: the value of local knowledge for understanding fisheries resources and climate-related changes in Lake Tanganyika," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 5621-5649, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:22:y:2020:i:6:d:10.1007_s10668-019-00443-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10668-019-00443-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-019-00443-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10668-019-00443-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Renato Silvano & John Valbo-Jørgensen, 2008. "Beyond fishermen’s tales: contributions of fishers’ local ecological knowledge to fish ecology and fisheries management," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 10(5), pages 657-675, October.
    2. Allison, Edward H. & Ellis, Frank, 2001. "The livelihoods approach and management of small-scale fisheries," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 377-388, September.
    3. Daniel Pauly & Villy Christensen & Sylvie Guénette & Tony J. Pitcher & U. Rashid Sumaila & Carl J. Walters & R. Watson & Dirk Zeller, 2002. "Towards sustainability in world fisheries," Nature, Nature, vol. 418(6898), pages 689-695, August.
    4. Catherine M. O'Reilly & Simone R. Alin & Pierre-Denis Plisnier & Andrew S. Cohen & Brent A. McKee, 2003. "Climate change decreases aquatic ecosystem productivity of Lake Tanganyika, Africa," Nature, Nature, vol. 424(6950), pages 766-768, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Apurba Krishna Deb & C. Emdad Haque, 2011. "‘Sufferings Start from the Mothers’ Womb’ : Vulnerabilities and Livelihood War of the Small-Scale Fishers of Bangladesh," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(12), pages 1-28, December.
    2. Deepananda, K.H.M. Ashoka & Amarasinghe, Upali S. & Jayasinghe-Mudalige, Udith K., 2015. "Indigenous knowledge in the beach seine fisheries in Sri Lanka: An indispensable factor in community-based fisheries management," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 69-77.
    3. Mohammad Mojibul Hoque Mozumder & Md. Abdul Wahab & Simo Sarkki & Petra Schneider & Mohammad Mahmudul Islam, 2018. "Enhancing Social Resilience of the Coastal Fishing Communities: A Case Study of Hilsa ( Tenualosa Ilisha H.) Fishery in Bangladesh," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-21, September.
    4. Richter, Andries & Dakos, Vasilis, 2015. "Profit fluctuations signal eroding resilience of natural resources," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 12-21.
    5. Espinoza-Tenorio, Alejandro & Espejel, Ileana & Wolff, Matthias, 2015. "From adoption to implementation? An academic perspective on Sustainable Fisheries Management in a developing country," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 252-260.
    6. Alberto Roca Florido & Emilio Padilla Rosa, 2024. "Analysing the impacts of a reform on harmful fishery subsidies in Spain using a social accounting matrix," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 13(1), pages 1-29, December.
    7. Flückiger, Matthias & Ludwig, Markus, 2015. "Economic shocks in the fisheries sector and maritime piracy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 107-125.
    8. Lynch, A. J. & Baumgartner, L. J. & Boys, C. A. & Conallin, J. & Cowx, I. G. & Finlayson, C. M. & Franklin, P. A. & Hogan, Z. & Koehn, J. D. & McCartney, Matthew P. & O’Brien, G. & Phouthavong, K. &, 2019. "Speaking the same language: can the Sustainable Development Goals translate the needs of inland fisheries into irrigation decisions?," Papers published in Journals (Open Access), International Water Management Institute, pages 70(9):1211-.
    9. Hongxiang Li & Lei Jin & Yujie Si & Jiandong Mu & Zhaoning Liu & Cunqi Liu & Yajuan Zhang, 2024. "Lake Restoration Improved Ecosystem Maturity Through Regime Shifts—A Case Study of Lake Baiyangdian, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-16, October.
    10. Ryan S. Naylor & Carter A. Hunt, 2021. "Tourism and Livelihood Sovereignty: A Theoretical Introduction and Research Agenda for Arctic Contexts," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-11, August.
    11. Bennett, Nathan James & Govan, Hugh & Satterfield, Terre, 2015. "Ocean grabbing," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 61-68.
      • Wehner, Nicholas & Bennett, Nathan & Govan, Hugh & Satterfield, Terre, 2015. "Ocean grabbing," MarXiv bm6pf, Center for Open Science.
    12. Vincent-Paul Sanon & Raymond Ouedraogo & Patrice Toé & Hamid El Bilali & Erwin Lautsch & Stefan Vogel & Andreas H. Melcher, 2021. "Socio-Economic Perspectives of Transition in Inland Fisheries and Fish Farming in a Least Developed Country," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-34, March.
    13. Bradley Chen & Victoria Y. Fan, 2015. "Strategic Provider Behavior Under Global Budget Payment with Price Adjustment in Taiwan," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(11), pages 1422-1436, November.
    14. Sheila M W Reddy & Theodore Groves & Sriniketh Nagavarapu, 2014. "Consequences of a Government-Controlled Agricultural Price Increase on Fishing and the Coral Reef Ecosystem in the Republic of Kiribati," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(5), pages 1-11, May.
    15. Dana Miller & Stefano Mariani, 2013. "Irish fish, Irish people: roles and responsibilities for an emptying ocean," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 529-546, April.
    16. Sanchirico, James, 2004. "A Social Scientist's Perspective on the Potential Benefits of the Census of Marine Life," RFF Working Paper Series dp-04-23-rev, Resources for the Future.
    17. Shimpei Iwasaki & Bam Razafindrabe & Rajib Shaw, 2009. "Fishery livelihoods and adaptation to climate change: a case study of Chilika lagoon, India," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 339-355, April.
    18. Hatim Albasri & Jesmond Sammut, 2021. "A Comparison of Vulnerability Risks and Conservation Perceptions between Mariculture, Fishery and Ecotourism Livelihood Groups in a Multi-Use MPA in Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-17, November.
    19. Wamukota, A. & Brewer, T.D. & Crona, B., 2014. "Market integration and its relation to income distribution and inequality among fishers and traders: The case of two small-scale Kenyan reef fisheries," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 93-101.
    20. Gamble, Robert J. & Link, Jason S., 2009. "Analyzing the tradeoffs among ecological and fishing effects on an example fish community: A multispecies (fisheries) production model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 220(19), pages 2570-2582.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:22:y:2020:i:6:d:10.1007_s10668-019-00443-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.