Co-management driven enforcement of rules and regulations on Lake Tanganyika, Zambia

Abstract

The economic gains from illegal fishing are high in the face of growing demand for fish. Resources are declining; fisher community conflicts are increasing. Increased enforcement is the policy option chosen to improve compliance with rules-in-use among fishers. A study was conducted to investigate effectiveness of enforcement of rules and regulations under co-management on Tanganyika. The study was conducted in the two districts of Mpulungu and Nsama in Zambia. A total of 568 respondents were sampled at 5% confidence interval and 95% levels of confidence. Information/data was collected using structured and semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions. Analyses were run using SPSS computer software and Classical Content Analysis. Results of the study revealed that the policy option is faced by challenges associated with resource (human and financial) availability. The study recommends appropriate organisational and institutional structural development adequately tailored to drawing fishers into processes of management for improved compliance behaviour.