Community-based aquaculture and resource management: Concepts and approaches

Abstract

Poverty characterizes most fishing communities in the Southeast Asian region. In the Philippines, the socioeconomics survey of the National Statistics Office shows that 684,500 or 95.3% of the total 718,267 fishing families belong to the low-income group (Herrin and Racelis, 1992). The poverty of fisherfolk is directly caused by the widespread degradation of marine and coastal resources (Lacanilao, 1989), their low educational attainment, lack of skills for alternative livelihood and non-empowerment in local governance (Agbayani, 1995). [Extract]