Impacts of the comanagement of subsistence and commercial fishing on Amazon fisheries

Abstract

This paper characterizes two types of fisheries in the Lower Amazon and their interactions: small-scale (subsistence-oriented) and commercial fisheries. Small-scale fishing is carried out by floodplain residents who practice fishing as part of a diversified, subsistence-oriented, livelihood strategy that also includes activities such as farming and cattle raising. Small-scale fishers operate locally, with small boats. Commercial fishers, on the other hand, practice fishing as a primary occupation and are highly mobile, operating with motorized boats of up to 70 t storage capacity. Smaller commercial boats (with storage capacity less than 4 t) focus on the capture of scale fish that are sold at the local fish market. Larger boats specialize in catching migratory catfish that are sold mostly to fish processing plants. Small-scale fishers account for about 75% of the total catch in the Lower Amazon, while commercial fishers account for 25%. The average annual catch per area in the region is 34 kg/ha/year. This is approximately 37% of the maximum production potential estimated from an empirical catch-effort model for Amazon floodplain lakes. At present therefore, the fishery is only moderately exploited overall, but some species of great commercial interest are overexploited. There have been no appreciable trends in fishing effort or catches in the Lower Amazon over the past decade. Bioeconomic models suggest that the commercial fleet operates at the open access equilibrium (where profit is equal to costs), so that expansion can occur only should there be an increase in demand. Many floodplain lakes are now subject to fishing regulations set by local communities under legally supported comanagement schemes known as 'fishing agreements.' The agreements primarily restrict fishing methods favored by commercial fishers, and have been associated with moderate average increases in catch rates in the lakes (mostly for the benefit of subsistence-oriented fishers). At the regional level, the conservation benefits of effort reductions in comanaged lakes may have been approximately offset by effort increases in other lakes and the main river. Greater attention to regional-level management may be required in the future, particularly if demand for fisheries products should increase.