Local-scale governance: a review of the Zambian approach to fisheries management

Despite recent policies for optimizing sustainable management of fisheries, their success has been modest in practice. Excessive fishing effort and use of unsustainable fishing methods attributed to common-property of and free access to the resources by local and industrial fleets leading to decline in fish catches has continued in the presence of currently prescribed (co-)management possibilities. The country adopted co-management approach to fisheries management in the 1990s with a view to improve the fisheries stocks through community enforcement of fishery management regulations. Co-management success has not been that easy to measure or its results appreciated. In retrospect of overfishing, need is sought to continue providing a range of empirical evidence of co-management interventions as basis for designing realistic and innovative solutions for the nation. New policies and institutions need to be informed by research developed to understand fisheries systems in order to better promote sustainable trajectories. The after review recommendation to central government is a coherent approach that uses and crystallizes multiple interests and skills of co-management stakeholders. Most stakeholder groups have been involved in an ad hoc fashion through workshops, public meetings and consultative processes mainly organised by Department of Fisheries or projects. Stakeholders should be involved from the design of the process to contributing at each step in the process, including the ongoing monitoring and evaluation. A form of Memorandum of Understanding is suggested to formally set out a process that acknowledges each stakeholder’s interests providing forums to facilitate discussion, consultation and monitoring of management activities.