Coastal fisheries of Latin America and the Caribbean

Coastal fisheries of Latin America and the Caribbean region: issues and trends 93.5 Lack of governance structuresAccording to Kooiman et al. (2005), governance is beyond government and broaderthan management in that it involves problem solving, creation of opportunities,and interactions. Mahon et al. (2008) advocate an interactive fisheries governanceperspective, which involves a dynamic and complex fish chain, leading from theresource and its supporting ecosystem to the global marketplace and the localconsumer. The dynamics of this chain need to be balanced as the system respondsto a variety of stimuli.Interactions within complex fisheries systems in many cases have beenignored when fisheries resources are examined in an isolated manner and publicparticipation in problem solving and creating opportunities are discouraged(Castilla and Defeo, 2005; Charles, 2001; Garcia and Charles, 2008; Mahon et al.,2008). Given the current context and the high diversity that characterize coastalfisheries in LAC, alternative forms of governance are required, particularly todevelop local institutions that help increase social capital and develop strategiessuitable to the social, economic and political contexts faced by the correspondingfisher groups. For example, many chapters throughout the document place specialemphasis on the need for collective access rights for fishing communities in orderto promote co-management. This approach highlights resource use and accessamong the challenges fisheries face in the move towards good governance.4. CONCLUDING REMARKSAs fishing pressure has imposed significant problems on fisheries and theirmanagers across most LAC countries, various degrees of response, in terms offishery management and assessment, have been developed. However, many gapsstill exist in the understanding of the issues, as will be discussed in the differentcountry chapters. These gaps arise as a result of some key limitations.First, with regard to assessment, the limited qualitative and quantitativeinformation on coastal and small-scale fisheries is evident. In many countries,official statistics make no distinction between landings from small-scale fisheriesand from larger-scale commercial ventures. Although landings from these twosectors can be distinguished based on gear use in some cases (as attempted inTable 1), there is generally a lack of permanent programmes to monitor catchesfrom these fisheries. Problems associated with evaluation are also common,exacerbated by limited financial support for research.Second, the ‘management tool-kit’ appropriate for small-scale fisheries ismuch less developed than that for large-scale fisheries, and transferability ofmanagement approaches from the latter to the former is highly questionablegiven the major differences both in the characteristics of these fisheries and intheir importance to fishing households. Even if these tools were transferable, animportant management limitation – the lack of human and economic resources –remains a key challenge (FAO, 2000; Salas et al., 2007; Mahon et al., 2008).