Research initiatives on fisheries co-management in Central and Southern Africa

Abstract

As part of their collaboration on a world wide research project on fisheries co-management (1995-1999), the Institute o Fisheries Management and Coastal Community Development (IFM-CCD) at the North Sea Centre (NSC) Denmark and the International Centre for the Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM) in the Philippines have entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS) as a research partner in the region. This agreement represents part of a much bigger collaborative. research approach that aims to link National Aquatic Research Systems (NARS) and other research partners from Africa and Asia with the North Sea Centre and ICLARM. This collaboration is based on mutual interest to gain practical experience in, research in fisheries co-management, to demonstrate its applicability as a sustainable, equitable and efficient management strategy, and to develop models for use and adoption by governments, fisher communities NGO and others. The initial list of partners in Asia includes actors from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand and in Africa Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. In May 1995, and as a follow-up to the exchange of ideas and information between the IFM - ICLARM project and existing and potential research partners in Asia and Africa held in Denmark at the NSC, CASS agreed to act as the initial focal point for the establishment of a possible network of social and natural scientists involved in fisheries co-management in the Central and Southern African Region. As part of this initiative a workshop for existing research partners and other actors and potential partners was planned for November 1995. This report is a summary of the workshop.