Fisheries governance in the 21 st century: barriers and opportunties for fisheries and fish conservation in South American large rivers

BAIGÚN, C.; CASTILLO, T.

Roma

Conferencia; Global Conference of Inland Waters. Freshwater, fish, and the future: Cross-sectorial approaches to sustain livelihoods, food security, and aquatic ecosystems; 2015

FAO

FISHERIES GOVERNANCE IN THE 21 ST CENTURY: BARRIERS AND OPPORTUNTIES FOR FISHERIES AND FISH CONSERVATION IN SOUTH AMERICAN LARGE RIVERS Claudio Baigún1 and Trilce Castillo21.Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús, INTECH-UNSAM (CONICET). Av. Intendente F. Marino, Km 8,5 7130 Chascomus, Argentina baigun@gmail.com2.Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química, INTEC-UNL (CONICET). Güemes 3450, Santa Fe, CP: 3000Governance processes in large rivers of South America are increasingly challenging fisheries managers as resources are being deteriorated due to overfishing, damming, pollution, land use, etc. These effects are exacerbated as artisanal fisheries are sustained by long distance migratory species, often moving among countries. Most of South America freshwater fisheries support a hierarchical (conventional) management approach based on centralized command-and-control policies regulation and the application, in some cases, of a harvest-oriented market approach directed to maximize economic returns through intensive exportation fisheries. These frameworks appear to be inappropriate because they fail to perceive such fisheries as highly dynamic socio-ecological systems and to understand that main policies should primarily be focused on the conservation of fluvial ecological integrity, and to improve socio-economic benefits and the preservation of communities welfare based on guaranteeing food security and employment. Despite some successful examples of participatory governance in the Amazon basin, this vision have not been sufficiently expanded to other watersheds as part of regular management programs. Given that governance is strongly related to management policies, there is a need to start promoting the application of an ecosystem approach to fisheries management (EAF) based on integrating a multidimensional for large river fisheries. Using the Parana River as a case study, we assess on what extend the current legal framework adhere to an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF) as a suitable benchmark to identify gaps and opportunities for improving governance capacity-building. Results indicate that required governance mechanisms under an EAF are still poorly developed in this basin preventing the implementation of appropriate strategies to address and solve the inherent conflicts of fluvial fisheries and to cope with external stressors such as climate change.