Skip to content

Evidence of spatial competition, over resource scarcity, as a primary driver of conflicts between small-scale and industrial fishers

Published Article

Africa

Publication date: January 2, 2023

File format: url

View resource

Research across Ghana’s coast reveals that conflicts between small-scale and industrial fishers are driven mainly by spatial competition, with 98% of incidents occurring inside the inshore exclusion zone and clustering near major ports. Results highlight the need for evidence-based policies that reduce vessel encounters and clarify spatial rights.

Subject Tags

  • Fisheries

ABSTRACT

Accounts of fishing conflicts have been rising globally, particularly between small-scale and industrial vessels. These conflicts involve verbal or physical altercations, and may include destruction of boats, assault, kidnapping, and murder. Current scholarship around industrial/small-scale fishing conflicts theorizes them as a form of resource conflict, where fish scarcity is the dominant contributor to conflict and competition. Alternatively, conflicts may be driven by spatial competition, concentrating where there are increased encounters, unrelated to resource status. Current policies to address these conflicts focus on enforcing the separation of small-scale and industrial vessels; however, this broad spatial separation has yet to be evaluated for deterring conflicts. Here we employ a novel spatial analysis to estimate the locations of industrial/small-scale conflicts at sea in Ghana, West Africa. Using data from narrative reports over the period of 1985 to 2014, we combine qualitative information on depth and shoreline indicators to analyze conflict locations. We find virtually all expected conflict locations (98%) occurred within the zone meant to exclude industrial vessels, and conflicts concentrated primarily around major ports. Our results suggest conflicts are likely more related to spatial patterns of vessel presence than patterns of resource use. These findings suggest a critical need for evidence-based and contextual information on the drivers of fisheries conflicts, rather than continued reliance on assumptions of resource scarcity. They also suggest that nuanced policies that reduce vessel encounter and clarify exclusive spatial rights may be more important in responding to these conflicts than approaches designed to broadly separate fleets or increase fish stocks.

Citation

Seto, K. L., Easterday, K. J., Aheto, D. W., Asiedu, G. A., Sumaila, U. R., & Gaynor, K. M. (2023). Evidence of spatial competition, over resource scarcity, as a primary driver of conflicts between small-scale and industrial fishers. Ecology and Society, 28(1).

https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-13650-280106

TNC Authors