BACKGROUND

At the first meeting of SFLP national coordinators (Cotonou, April 2000), Mali NCU submitted a request for support in the implementation of participatory management plans for the Sélingué fisheries.

Almost 2,000 fishermen, spread over about 70 fishing camps, are directly involved in fisheries in Sélingué. Most of them are professional migrant fishermen or farmer-fishermen native to the Inner Delta region of Niger and they migrate seasonally back to their region of origin.

Sélingué fisheries communities face certain hardships that are economic (e.g. credit management) and social (e.g. weak fishing community lobbies, difficult access to social services and infrastructures such as health and education) which make them vulnerable to poverty. However, the social situation of fisheries communities is expected to take a turn for the better with the implementation of the National Strategy for Poverty Alleviation.

The fishing system on the Sélingué Lake is a free access one. Nevertheless fishermen observe certain practices originating mainly from the fishing traditions of the Niger Inner Delta and aim to organise fishing in the reservoir lake. While there is no record of any major conflict within or between the Sélingué fisheries communities, disputes sometimes occur between fisheries communities from different regions (e.g. incompatible fishing practices) and/or between fishermen and traders (e.g. nets destroyed by canoes with outboard motors).  The relationship between fishermen (aliens) and indigenous populations are based mainly on mutual economic interest. Some fisheries communities also practice subsistence farming but have problems in accessing land, and this can give rise to occasional local problems.

There are no systematic (institutionalised) systems for managing disputes and conflicts directly related to fishing but rather a series of ad hoc arrangements, some legally based (e.g. local fishing conventions). Arrangements are also made between fishermen and wholesale fish traders to fix fish prices at the two main landing sites.  (La Carrière and Faraba).

In the second half of the 90s, the Government of Mali, through the DNAER[1], promoted a sectoral policy placing emphasis on the participation of fisheries communities in management, in keeping with a national policy of “decentralised management of natural resources”.

Another important policy factor was the “technical decentralisation” of the Ministry with a transfer of administrative skills to the Office for the Rural Development of Sélingué (ODRS). The ODRS carries out certain advisory support missions to the fisheries communities including the drawing up of local fishing agreements and monitoring of fishing activities.

Both the government and the communities agree on the need to establish a sustainable partnership for management. It is against this background that the SFLP offered support to the NCU in Mali to implement a participatory management process for the fisheries in Sélingué.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of such institutional support to the Mali NCU was to bolster the efforts of various partners involved in the Sélingué fisheries sector to consolidate the basis for participatory fisheries management by using the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) and taking into account certain elements of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF).

A series of activities was identified and conducted between May and October 2001 with the fisheries communities of selingué and the ORDS. At the end of the period, in January 2002, a feedback seminar was held and attended by representatives of all partners involved in the participatory management scheme: fisheries communities, local representatives, development partners and relevant technical services.

MAIN RESULTS OF THE STUDIES

Results obtained demonstrate that the selected communities enjoy substantial natural capital assets as well as, to a lesser degree, physical, social and human capital. Access to financial capital appears to be particularly problematic.

Livelihood strategies presently observed among these communities are based essentially on spatial mobility, flexibility and the establishment of a relationship of trust between economic partners in the fisheries sector. These strategies help to partially compensate for the lack of financial capital and to cope with the vulnerability context characterised by a sharp seasonal shortfall in resource availability and the frequent occurrence of environmental and economic shocks.

As regards policies, institutions and processes (PIP), it appears that despite the very positive development of laws regulating the fisheries sector and democratic life in Mali (especially with the recent introduction of a true decentralisation process), fisheries communities of the Sélingué reservoir are still contending with the results of their relatively recent establishment in the region. Consequently, they are still distanced from the local political scene and have restricted access to public services and equipment. This state of affairs is detrimental to their livelihood especially for the groups within the community that are vulnerable to poverty. Furthermore, and paradoxical as it might seem, the situation is exacerbated as the decentralisation process progresses.

Even if certain aspects of PIP, in particular, recent texts on decentralisation, offer extremely interesting prospects for participatory management of fisheries, we must recognize that the level of implementation of the decentralisation process does not permit us to immediately envisage the establishment of a management tool capitalizing fully on opportunities offered by these texts. Stop-gap solutions will therefore have to be sought.

In this respect, it is recommended to follow the next 3 main points:

1. The creation of a climate that will increase the income of stakeholders in the sector by better value for products and access to institutional micro-credit.

2. Progressively establish institutional conditions for greater participation by fisheries communities in the development of their resources and their sub-sector.

3. Promote greater integration of fisheries communities into local and national development.

On the basis of these main points, several actions and concrete projects have been identified as suitable for support by SFLP.

Most of the actions regard the consolidation of the first point, that is the improvement of income for most of the stakeholders by boosting the economic performance of the sector. This point has been favoured because it reflects and incorporates most of the specific requests of fisheries community representatives expressed during the participatory diagnostic sessions and at the feedback workshop. It has however been necessary to organise concrete measures for this point in the form of a limited number of coherent activities designed principally to increase the added value at the local level without increasing pressure on the environment or destabilising the organisation of the sector or widening the gap between rich and poor. As far as the last aspect is concerned, special attention will be given to the improvement of access to credit by the most vulnerable people and groups. We should also explain that for activities designed to put in place equipment and infrastructure, communities will be invited to create partnerships with other development aid bodies which have a specific mandate in this area.

Concrete measures as regards point 2 are expected to be achieved through support to the National Coordination Unit (NCU) to, on the one hand, adjust the present mechanism for fisheries management with a view to making it more participatory (moving beyond mere consultation with the communities) and, on the other hand, to prepare for the future by assuming a progressive transfer of Sélingué fisheries management to local collectivities. The choice of this “two-speed” strategy is justified by the fact that the State services today, and for some time to come yet, constitute the principle mechanism for all development in the field of fisheries management, in particular for all aspects pertaining to the regulation of fishing effort. Nevertheless, an important part of the activities of this institutional support project will consist in paving the way for a progressive transition to greater community participation in the management of resources and activities.

Some of the concerns under point 3 will also be addressed by the same project for support to the NCU, namely through actions designed to achieve reciprocal awareness by local authorities and fishing communities, of the advantages of integrating these communities into the social and economic development process in the Sélingué region.

In contrast, the implementation of the other proposals related to point 3, such as those concerning the improvement of physical capital by improving living conditions (sinking wells, building canteens) must be initiated through research and sensitisation of local partners.

The implementation and the follow up of the proposals and recommendations of the study will, in the coming years, constitute a high–level challenge to the Malian Fisheries Administration (DNAER). Furthermore, the lack of staff of the responsible department will not allow for recourse to improvised strategies requiring multiple trials.

These aspects could be addressed in the framework of a pilot project (sub-regional) which would tackle the improvement of the political and institutional environment for co-management of inland fisheries and include 4 countries: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Mali. SFLP’s launching of such a pilot project seems to be a factor that will contribute substantially to the chances of success of actions identified in 2 and 3 because the pilot project should enable Malian structures to find support within a sub-regional network of skills and to share lessons learned from experiences in different countries.  

The report of the consultant P. Morand is available only in french [Read online 646 K - Download 276 K]

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