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
Fish utilization and
trade
Global
110 million tones (77% catch) used for human food;
Trade: 37% catch (value US $86 billion); exports
grown by 32% (2000-06); 49% exports from DCs;
Africa
- Africa is a net exporter of fish (since
1985);
- Total exports: US $4.4 billion (5%
global)
- 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
consumption
(from 16.4 kg in 2005);
kg/capita);
- fish contributes 15% global protein supplies;
- Mean fish consumption by country :
21% 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
management
challenges;
assessments of policy and fisheries
key issues:
management in Africa;
- limited institutional capacity;
There are some recent indicators:
- role of public sector reform and better governance, and
(1) Fisheries development policy:
ODA;
- PRSPs – fisheries quality rating: 32%
- Concern over fishing capacity and subsidies;
- WB-CAS – rating: 6%
- Also in key areas (mainstreaming EcSA and PrecA,
- EU-CSP –rating: 10%
bycatch, bottom trawl regulations, shark
- Mean value : 16%
fisheries, IUU);
(2) Fisheries management :
- prioritization of capacity-building;
- Formulation/Implementation mean :
- role of international and regional dimensions.
34%
(3) Fisheries management (McWhinnie
Table 3. Comparison of the status of global and African fisheries and aquaculture fisheries
rating):
Source: Cunningham and Neiland (2009), adapted from FAO-SOFIA
- Morocco (33%)
- Namibia (50%)
- South Africa (50%)
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 casestudies. 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