TENURE RIGHTS IN LARGE RIVER FISHERIES: PERSPECTIVES AND CHALLENGES

Claudio R. M. Baigún

Fluvial fisheries play a critical role as livelihood thus fishing tenuresare fundamental in assuring economic growth, food security,

employment, equitable access to resources and poverty alleviation.

Main key differences among coastal (marine) small scale fisheries and fluvial fisheries

• The influence of the watershed: Basin drivers have a paramount relevance acting at different temporal and spatial scales

Main key differences among coastal (marine) small scale fisheries and fluvial fisheries

• Several large river fisheries are based on migratoryspecies that exhibit complex migratory patternscoupled to flood pulses

• Fisheries performance (species/gears/areas/stakeholders/fishing periods) varies according to annual hyrological regime

• If fluvial small scale fisheries differ in a broadsense from marine counterparts, are rightsconflicts and tenure governance processessalso different?

Problems

• External drivers: Artisanal fishers are facing increasing conflicts associated with water and land uses, such as damming, drying of floodplains for urbanization,, agricultural and cattle ranching practices, roads, dredging, etc. all of which reduce fish habitats, limit access to fishing areas and can impact on fisheries quality.

• Tenure conflicts involve the waterscapeincluding land-water interfaces particularly in highly pulsatile systems (Amazon, Orinoco, Meckong, etc.) as floodplains are valuableareas for other productive activities that mayaffect/complement/compete with fishing as livelihood

Large rivers fragmentation represents the mostpervasive impact affecting fisheriessustainability, including strong changes in tenures and fishing rights

How dams could affect tenure rights in large floodplain rivers?

More dams and reservoirs will imply:

• More impounded water but less productive fisheries• Change in catch composition that cannot be restored by fish

passages or stocking in rivers inhabited by not- salmonidspecies

• Replacement of large size and high valuable species by smalland less valuable ones implying the loss of socio-economicbenefits

• The loss of traditional fishing areas and livelihoods by forced eradication

Perspectives

• Climate change impacts on more vulnerable fishers and their rights

• More deeply discussion on habitats tenurerights as key elements for assuring suitableaccess to fishing areas

• Fisheries as commodities insted of ecologicalservices: Recreational fisheries impacts, fisheries for exportation (Amazon, Parana)

• Need to adopt an EAF/EBFM approach to include new visions of fisheries sustainabilityencompassing a basin scale perspective and stakeholders participation in policy-makingdecissions

Thank You