Unregulated Open-Access versus Regulated Open-Access Fishing: Stakeholders Perceptions in Sierra Leone
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Case Study of the Small-Scale Fisheries (SSFs) Sector in Sierra Leone
3. Methods
4. Results
“For a very long time we were not concentrating on fisheries…I tell you it was in 1994 that the military government under the NDRC established the Department of Fisheries. Before this time, it was under the Ministry of Agriculture. It was never taken seriously…small-scale fishermen were not paying licences, they fished for free. Today, they think it is their right to fish for free because in the past they did not have to pay licencing fees”.
“Our government allows the big trawlers to catch all our fish, so what are we poor fishers going to do? Our children need to eat, and we are few fish in our water, so we use this net [monofilament] to help us catch fish to keep body and soul going…this is how we survive here” [KI-18, a fisherman].
5. Discussion
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
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Questions | Participants’ Perceptions of OA | KIs Percentages (%) |
---|---|---|
| Pay fishing licence, therefore, is not open access | 65 |
Can fish anytime and with any fishing equipment. It is open access. | 30 | |
It is partially regulated OA | 30 | |
Not sure whether it is regulated or unregulated OA | 1 | |
| Food and income | 100 |
| Lack of political will to effectively regulate OA | 85 |
Government control of artisanal fisheries and community-based fisheries organisations | 85 | |
Poor control of value chain | 43 | |
| Decline in fish stocks | 67 |
Impacting on food and income | 45 |
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Okeke-Ogbuafor, N.; Gray, T. Unregulated Open-Access versus Regulated Open-Access Fishing: Stakeholders Perceptions in Sierra Leone. Fishes 2024, 9, 282. https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes9070282
Okeke-Ogbuafor N, Gray T. Unregulated Open-Access versus Regulated Open-Access Fishing: Stakeholders Perceptions in Sierra Leone. Fishes. 2024; 9(7):282. https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes9070282
Chicago/Turabian StyleOkeke-Ogbuafor, Nwamaka, and Tim Gray. 2024. "Unregulated Open-Access versus Regulated Open-Access Fishing: Stakeholders Perceptions in Sierra Leone" Fishes 9, no. 7: 282. https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes9070282