State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2004 - Library

Highlights of special FAO studies
137
However, the ecological dynamics are complex and population-driven growth in
effort may be less damaging than is generally considered. An increased perception of
the natural variability, with vulnerable stages during periods of low productivity and
uncertainties connected to the emergence of more efficient technologies, indicates a
need for “early warning systems”, in line with the elements outlined above.
The finding that effort dynamics depend as much on the general economic and
social development in the region as they do on the fishing economy, implies the
need for a much broader focus for monitoring fisheries. Economic analyses based
on how people react and respond to macroeconomic changes are as important to
understanding fisheries development as those based on current biological monitoring.
As long as changes in effort remain population-driven and the fishing pattern is
small-scale and multigear, general regulations relating to effort are problematic. It will
be difficult to show that reduced effort leads to improvements in both catch rates and
total yield. Adaptive effort reduction may nevertheless be of local importance, either
in particularly vulnerable periods, or as a means of coping with natural variations that
occur under any type of management system. However, if effort dynamics become
more investment-driven, the need for regulations will increase considerably. It should
not be too difficult to decide how to answer the question of whether the SADC
freshwaters should continue to serve as an economic safety-valve and a buffer for
the people of the region, or whether its fisheries should develop into more industrial
enterprises (and thereby exclude many of these people). In a situation characterized
by serious and long-lasting macroeconomic recessions, it would appear essential that
the buffer function be upheld. Besides, the freshwater fisheries will hardly become a
driving force in the process for much needed economic reforms.