Political Economy of Fisheries
Reform: Lessons and
Applications for Development
Assistance
Sloans Chimatiro
Senior Fisheries Advisor
NEPAD Secretariat, Johannesburg, South
Africa
Steve Cunningham,
Director
IDDRA
Montpelier, France
Presented at the Case Study Peer Review Session of the Africa
Platform for Development Effectiveness
6th June 2011, Balalaika Hotel Sandton, South Africa
Presentation outline
• Background to the study
• Methodology
• Factors which have influenced fisheries aid
to Africa
• Levels of fisheries aid to Africa (1973-2001)
• Analysis of performance of fisheries aid
• Challenges to effectiveness of fisheries aid
• Recommendations
Background
• This study is part of a collaborative global study between NEPAD
Agency and the World Bank entitled “The political economy of
natural resource use: lessons for fisheries reforms”; and
subsidiary study known as “The political economy of fisheries
reform: lessons and applications for development assistance”.
• The studies aim at drawing lessons to inform the architecture of
the donor support to African fisheries policy and governance
reforms.
• The studies are based on the hypothesis that:
“the key reason for the disconnect between fisheries
development aid and impact of fisheries (natural resources)
sustainability is that by and large development projects have
lacked a solid theoretical underpinning”
Methodology
• Preparation of background paper on Africa, as part of the
World Bank’s global study
• Commissioned four case studies: Ghana (Anglophone, West
Africa, less aid); Mozambique (Lusophone, Southern Africa,
a lot of aid); Senegal (Francophone, West Africa, a lot of
aid); and Uganda (Anglophone, East Africa, a lot of aid)
• Description of country’s aid structure; fisheries performance
in terms of formulation of projects, and development
impact
• Economic theory of overexploitation of fisheries and
suggestions for effective involvement of aid
Factors which have influenced
fisheries aid to Africa
• Growing scarcity of fish globally has focused interest in
Africa
• The powerful fishing entities in Europe and Asia
represents a strong political lobby to sustain their
industry
• “Aid Business” has become more pluralistic, comprising
donors, aid agencies, intermediaries in recipient
countries
Levels of fisheries aid to Africa
• Using data provided by the World Bank, we
found that African fisheries have received
substantial aid (US $4.6 billion between
1973-2001)
Levels of fisheries aid to Africa
Table 3. Fisheries Development Aid in Africa – Top 10 Donors
Donor US $ millions Donor No. projects
Japan 799 France 294
France 432 EU-OECD 206
Sweden 392 Sweden 167
Italy 312 Japan 165
EU-OECD 309 Norway 161
AFDB 281 Italy 131
Norway 272 Canada 117
West Germany 234 Netherlands 100
World Bank (IDA) 178 Belgium 84
World Bank (IBRD) 145 Spain 81
Total 3,354 1,506
Source: Calculations based on database developed by Hicks (2007)
Levels of fisheries aid to Africa
Table 4. Fisheries Development Aid in Africa – Top Recipients
Recipient Total Recipient Number of
(US $ millions) projects
Mozambique 385 Mozambique 147
Angola 366 Angola 106
Morocco 342 Senegal 103
Senegal 302 Madagascar 75
Mauritania 203 Mauritania 69
Egypt 191 Tanzania 64
Madagascar 190 Namibia 60
Tunisia 178 Morocco 59
Somalia 149
Source: Calculations based on database developed by Hicks (2007)
Levels of fisheries aid to Africa
Parameter Global Africa
Fish utilization and 110 million tones (77% catch) used for human food; - Africa is a net exporter of fish (since 1985);
trade Trade: 37% catch (value US $86 billion); exports - Total exports: US $4.4 billion (5% global)
grown by 32% (2000-06); 49% exports from DCs; - Total imports: US $679 million (<1%
global)
- 19.4 % agric exports on average;
Supply and - Global per capita fish supply increased to 16.7 kg in 2006 - Fish supply in SSA is static (8.3 kg/capita);
consumption (from 16.4 kg in 2005); - Mean fish consumption by country : 21%
- fish contributes 15% global protein supplies; daily protein;
- Ghana (65%), Sierra Leone (63%),
Gambia (57%), Nigeria (36%), South
Africa (8%);
Policy and - Policy development and fisheries management are major There have been few objective assessments
management challenges; of policy and fisheries management in
key issues: Africa;
- limited institutional capacity; There are some recent indicators:
- role of public sector reform and better governance, and ODA; (1) Fisheries development policy:
- Concern over fishing capacity and subsidies; - PRSPs – fisheries quality rating: 32%
- Also in key areas (mainstreaming EcSA and PrecA, bycatch, - WB-CAS – rating: 6%
bottom trawl regulations, shark - EU-CSP –rating: 10%
fisheries, IUU); - Mean value : 16%
- prioritization of capacity-building; (2) Fisheries management :
- role of international and regional dimensions. - Formulation/Implementation mean : 34%
(3) Fisheries management (McWhinnie
rating):
- Morocco (33%)
- Namibia (50%)
- South Africa (50%)
Table 3. Comparison of the status of global and African fisheries and aquaculture fisheries
Source: Cunningham and Neiland (2009), adapted from FAO-SOFIA
Challenges to effective aid- Key
issues
• Lack of ownership of the process of identifying and formulating
projects by the African fisheries institutions, including Ministries of
Fisheries and fish-dependent communities.
• Over the past decades, capacity development was never emphasised in
fisheries development aid (recently this has changed).
• Volume of aid and aid targets have been influenced by the prevailing
development narrative with particular focus on infrastructure (e.g.
Fishing harbours and fleets). With evidence that choice of targets were
consultative;
• Fisheries policy has been influenced by international development
narratives for natural resources; with no efforts have to link fisheries to
the wider national macro-economic development policies.
Challenges to effective aid- Key
issues
• Multiplicity of channels of aid has overwhelmed the capacity of recipient
countries to coordinate and make good use of aid
• The performance of fisheries aid is difficult to discern precisely in all the case-
studies. In all four case study countries, the fisheries are in general currently
characterised by:
overexploitation, both economic and biological, which suggests that the
overall contribution of fisheries aid aimed at fisheries development has
not been very successful, in many cases, the fisheries are in poor state
than before.
effective fisheries management systems have been not been
established, and the problems associated with regulated open access
have emerged including weak economic performance, declining stock
levels and social instability.
Recommendations
• Likely use of aid as a source of investment, should include a detailed
assessment, at an early stage, of the potential benefits which can be realised
on a sustainable basis from a well-managed fisheries sector.
• Aid-funded projects should be well-designed and provide the future vision and
direction for fisheries sectoral development through the clear identification of
policy objectives and implementation mechanisms.
• The prioritisation of fisheries aid programmes and projects should be clearly
linked and flow from the sectoral policy framework – objectives and
mechanisms.
• The performance of fisheries aid investments should be carefully monitored,
assessed and evaluated:
at a project level (i.e. did the project achieve its stated objectives?); and
in relation to sectoral policy goals (i.e. did the investment have a positive and desired
impact in relation to policy goals?);
Recommendations
• Fisheries aid should be part of this dynamic process, with a need to anticipate
and plan ahead for likely investments required over time;
• The linkage between national macro-economic policy and fisheries policy
must be established and understood in order to ensure that fisheries aid is
effectively prioritised and used within the overall context of national
development.
• Fisheries aid for improved fisheries management should give proper
consideration to the central role of resource rent in fisheries exploitation (both
a benefit and an incentive to overexploit under weak management) and
addressed using appropriate management approaches (e.g. wealth-based
fisheries management). Economic analysis should provide the essential
theoretical and empirical framework;
• The relationship between fisheries reform and fisheries aid should also be
well-defined in the future; including the benefit & cost of reform, and the
need for aid where appropriate over time given that fisheries reform can take
decades rather than just years.
Pix: S. Chimatiro
www.nepad.org
www.africanfisheries.org
www.stopillegalfishing.com