The road to Mangkok: achieving equitable distribution of benefits from small-scale fisheries development

Abstract

Small-scale capture fisheries in many less-developed countries are important both as labor-intensive sources of employment and as the major source of fish within these countries. Nonetheless, communities of such fishermen often are the most economically depressed. Geographic isolation and difficulties of transportation lead to inefficiency in marketing, while the relative inefficiency of their boats and gear compared to commercial fishermen limits their catch. The broad goal behind development efforts is to improve standards of living of the target population. For small-scale capture fisheries, there are two basic development strategies: those that focus on production and those that focus on efficient handling, processing and marketing of existing production. It is argued here that the strategy chosen is likely to determine who will benefit from development. The distribution of such benefits should be an important criterion in the design of small-scale fisheries development efforts.