Drivers of the Distribution of Fisher Effort at Lake Alaotra, Madagascar
File(s)
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Understanding how fishers make decisions is important for improving management of fisheries. There is debate about the extent to which small-scale fishers follow an ideal free distribution (IFD) – distributing their fishing effort efficiently according to resource availability rather than being influenced by social factors or personal preference. Using detailed data from 1800 fisher catches and from semi-structured interviews with over 700 fishers at Lake Alaotra, the largest inland fishery in Madagascar, we show that fishers generally conform to IFD. However, there were differences in catch: effort relationships between fishers using different gear types as well as other revealing deviations from the predictions of IFD. Fishers report routine as the primary determinant of their choice of fishing location, explaining why they do not quickly respond to changes in catch at a site. Understanding the influences on fishers’ spatial behaviour will allow better estimates of costs of fishing policies on resource users, and help predict their likely responses. This can inform management strategies to minimise the negative impacts of interventions, increasing local support for and compliance with rules.
Date Issued
2016-02-01
Date Acceptance
2016-02-01
Citation
Human Ecology, 2016, 44 (1), pp.105-117
ISSN
1464-5653
Publisher
Springer Verlag
Start Page
105
End Page
117
Journal / Book Title
Human Ecology
Volume
44
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Subjects
Science & Technology
Social Sciences
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Anthropology
Environmental Studies
Sociology
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
IFD
Fisher spatial behaviour
Multi-habitat fishery
Adaptation
Risk
Madagascar
IDEAL FREE DISTRIBUTION
SPATIAL-DISTRIBUTION
LOCATION CHOICE
FLEET DYNAMICS
DECISIONS
MODEL
BEHAVIOR
HETEROGENEITY
ALLOCATION
ECONOMICS
Ecology
1601 Anthropology
Publication Status
Published