ISSN 2070-7010 579 FAO FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE TECHNICAL PAPER 579 Inland fisheries evolution and management Case studies from four continents Inland fisheries evolution and management This document is one of a series prepared by the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department of FAO examining some of the best-studied inland fisheries. Looking at Lake Constance, the Amazon Basin in Brazil, Lake Victoria and the Tonle Sap – Great Lake System in Cambodia, these case studies illustrate some of the most pressing issues faced by inland fisheries. – Case studies from four continents ISBN 978-92-5-108125-9 ISSN 2070-7010 978 9251 081259 FAO I3572E/1/12.13 Cover photos: Clockwise from top left: Dai fishery on the Tonle Sap (courtesy of the MRC Fisheries Programme); Lake Victoria (courtesy of Ashley S. Halls); Amazon fishing boat (provided by Robin Welcomme); Lake Constance (courtesy of Roland Roesch). FAO FISHERIES AND Inland fisheries evolution AQUACULTURE TECHNICAL and management PAPER 579 Case studies from four continents Edited by Robin L. Welcomme Independent Consultant and Visiting Scientist Imperial College Conservation Science Long Barn Stoke by Clare, United Kingdom John Valbo-Jorgensen Fishery and Aquaculture Officer FAO Subregional Office for Mesoamerica Panama City, Panama and Ashley S. Halls Director Aquae Sulis Ltd Bath, United Kingdom FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 2014 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. 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All requests for translation and adaptation rights, and for resale and other commercial use rights should be made via www.fao.org/contact-us/licence-request or addressed to [email protected]. FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/publications) and can be purchased through [email protected]. iii Preparation of this document This document is one of a series prepared by the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department examining some of the best-studied inland fisheries. It was prepared as four chapters: • Status and trends of the fishery resources of the Amazon Basin in Brazil, by Mauro Luis Ruffino; • Lake Constance fish and fisheries, by Roland Roesch; • The stationary trawl (dai) fishery of the Tonle Sap – Great Lake System, Cambodia, by Ashley S. Halls and Bruce Paxton; • Status, trends and management of the Lake Victoria Fisheries, by Jeppe Kolding, Modesta Medard, Oliva Mkumbo and Paul van Zwieten. These case studies are used to illustrate some of the most pressing issues faced by inland fisheries in a concluding section prepared by the editors. iv Abstract In 2009, inland fisheries produced some 10 million tonnes of fish. Despite their importance to rural communities, especially in the least-developed countries, little attention has been paid to this sector in recent years. As a result, there is a deficit in management of the fisheries and also an increasing threat to freshwater by a number of non-fishery users of the aquatic resource. As part of an effort to raise awareness of the problems facing inland fisheries and to examine more closely the various issues, this document reviews four of the world’s best-documented inland fisheries: the Amazon, Lake Constance, the Mekong and Lake Victoria. These represent two lake fisheries and two river fisheries drawn from a wide geographical sample – Africa, Asia, South America and Europe. This technical paper draws conclusions from the four case studies and more general experience as to some of the main issues facing inland fisheries. Inland fishery statistics are generally are very poor, so knowledge of the actual contribution of the sector to food security is not known. Nevertheless, inland fisheries employ about 56 million people directly and indirectly. The state of the stocks of fish in many fisheries is not known because of the low level of research across the many rivers and lakes. However, it is understood that, in many cases, the main driver of the fish assemblages is not the way in which the fishery is managed but rather the state of the environment as acted upon by other human uses. This means that mechanisms are needed to improve both management of fisheries through forms of comanagement and collaboration at the national and international level between agencies responsible for the management of the aquatic resource in general. Welcomme, R.L., Valbo-Jorgensen, J. & Halls A.S. eds. 2014. Inland fisheries evolution and management – case studies from four continents. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper No. 579. Rome, FAO. 77 pp. v Contents Preparation of this document iii Abstract iv Acknowledgements ix Abbreviations and acronyms x 1. Status and trends of the fishery resources of the Amazon Basin in Brazil 1 Introduction 1 The structure or classification of Amazonian fisheries 1 Statistics used for evaluating landings 2 Inland capture commercial fishery production 3 Species contributing to Amazon fisheries 6 The status of inland fisheries resources 6 Catfishes 6 Characids 10 Arapaima gigas 13 Inland capture fishery of ornamental fishes 14 Employment and income 15 Status of management of fisheries in the region and the management scheme/measures in place 16 Management strategies applied 17 Management policies and the promoting of sustainable fisheries 18 2. Lake Constance fish and fisheries 21 Introduction 21 The lake 21 The fish community 21 Fisheries management 24 Governance 24 Stocking 24 Fisheries 24 Professional fisheries 24 Anglers yield 29 Discussion 30 Conclusion 32 3. The stationary trawl (dai) fishery of the Tonle Sap – Great Lake system, Cambodia 33 Introduction 33 Target species, gear and fish disposal 34 Species caught 34 Gear – the dai 35 Disposal of the catch 37 Management 38 Monitoring and evaluation 39 vi Catch, effort and CPUE trends 40 Trends in species diversity and catch composition 40 Trends in fish size (mean weight) 45 Conclusions 45 4. Status, trends and management of the Lake Victoria fisheries 49 Introduction 49 Trends in catch 51 Trends in effort and estimated total catch rates 52 Trends in the most important fish stocks 54 Stock assessment and drivers of the fishery 56 The history and institutional structures for the management of the fisheries 57 Ongoing efforts under the comanagement approach 60 Concluding remarks 62 5. Review of the case studies 63 The case studies 63 Fishery statistics 63 National catch statistics 63 Employment 64 Research 64 Drivers 65 Fishing 65 Environmental drivers 66 Recreational and ornamental fisheries 66 Management 67 National 67 International 68 References 69 TABLES 1. Brazilian Amazon fisheries and aquaculture production 4 2. Inland capture commercial fishery in the Brazilian Amazon Basin, by producer state 5 3. Landings by species groups in the states of the Brazilian Amazon Basin in 2006 7 4. Indicators of the community-based management system of Arapaoma in the Jarauá Sector, 1999–2005 15 5. Value of exports of ornamental fishes by state in Brazil 15 6. List of fish species occurring in Lake Constance 23 7. Closed season and gear allowed for the whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) and perch (Perca fluviatilis) fisheries on Lake Constance in 2011 24 8. Principal families and species making up 99 percent of the dai catches, in descending order of total percentage contribution 36 9. Mean (and range) dimensions, mesh sizes, and periods of operation of each dai net type 37 vii 10. Maximum gear dimensions and minimum mesh sizes for the three types of dai nets 38 11. Estimates of total annual catch in the Tonle Sap – Great Lake fishery, 1938–1995 39 12. Estimated catches of the most abundant species reported for the Tonle Sap – Great Lake system 43 13. Indicators of fishing effort in the Lake Victoria fishery, 2000–2010 53 BOXES 1. Measures taken as a result of the Regional Plan of Action to prevent and eliminate illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing in Lake Victoria 60 FIGURES 1. Brazilian states where landings are monitored by IBAMA 3 2. Total, marine and inland capture commercial fishery production in Brazil and the Amazon Basin, 1996–2006 5 3. Status of the main stocks in the commercial inland fisheries of the Amazon Basin 8 4. Annual landings of main catfish species groups, 1996–2006 10 5. Annual landings of representative fisheries products, 1996–2006 12 6. Number of fishers by state and respective percentage in relation to the total number of fishers in Brazil 16 7. Commercial fishing in Santarém 1992–2002: fishery effort (number of fishers/day) 18 8. Comparison of the fishery productivity (catch per unit of effort, CPUE) in communities with and without fishery agreements. Communities with management are those with black bars 18 9.