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 AfricaTable 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 AfricaTable 4. Fisheries Development Aid in Africa – Top Recipients

Recipient Total (US $ millions)

Recipient Number of 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 AfricaParameter Global Africa

Fish utilization andtrade

110 million tones (77% catch) used for human food;Trade: 37% catch (value US $86 billion); exportsgrown by 32% (2000-06); 49% exports from DCs;

- 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 andconsumption

- Global per capita fish supply increased to 16.7 kg in 2006 (from 16.4 kg in 2005);

- fish contributes 15% global protein supplies;

- Fish supply in SSA is static (8.3 kg/capita);- Mean fish consumption by country : 21%

daily protein;- Ghana (65%), Sierra Leone (63%), Gambia

(57%), Nigeria (36%), South Africa (8%);

Policy andmanagement

- Policy development and fisheries management are major challenges;

key issues:- limited institutional capacity;- role of public sector reform and better governance, and ODA;- Concern over fishing capacity and subsidies;- Also in key areas (mainstreaming EcSA and PrecA, bycatch,

bottom trawl regulations, sharkfisheries, IUU);- prioritization of capacity-building;- role of international and regional dimensions.

There have been few objective assessments of policy and fisheries management in Africa;

There are some recent indicators:(1) Fisheries development policy:- PRSPs – fisheries quality rating: 32%- WB-CAS – rating: 6%- EU-CSP –rating: 10%- Mean value : 16%(2) Fisheries management :- 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 fisheriesSource: 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.

• 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.

Challenges to effective aid- Key issues

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.orgwww.africanfisheries.org www.stopillegalfishing.com