Promoting community-based resources management: a case study in Nam Oon Dam, Sakon Nakhon Province, Thailand

Abstract

The SEAFDEC Training Department (SEAFDEC/TD) has been implementing the six-year project ‘Enhancing the Compilation and Utilization of Fishery Statistics and Information for Sustainable Development and Management of Fisheries in the Southeast Asian Region: Facilitating Activities on Gathering Fisheries Information through Introduction of Community-based Resources Management/Co-management’ since 2013. Supported by the Japanese Trust Fund (JTF), the project necessitates the improvement of the compilation of fisheries data to reflect the importance of small-scale coastal and inland fisheries, and which could be used as a basis for fisheries planning and management. The project has the ultimate objective of supporting the ASEAN Member States (AMSs) through the assessment of problems and constraints in fisheries data collection in small-scale coastal and inland fisheries at national levels. In the process, the key issues in fisheries data collection could be identified and addressed by the countries through regional workshops and on-site trainings on the concept of community-based resources management (CBRM) that could be organized by SEAFDEC/TD at provincial levels in respective AMSs. The project also intends to provide technical assistance to fisheries officers of the AMSs in selected sites to enable them to properly collect and analyze the information gathered from fisheries communities, for policy formulation, and later on, for the development of appropriate CBRM plans for small-scale coastal and inland fisheries. To set off the project, Thailand was chosen as a project pilot site, more particularly the Nam Oon Dam in Sakon Nakhon Province, where the on-site training course on Practical Approach for Enhancing Co-management in Inland Fisheries organized by SEAFDEC/TD in 2013, provided a clearer and detailed perspective on the concept and methodologies on CBRM, and enhanced the skills of the stakeholders in establishing fisheries organizations.