Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
How would possible changes in i shing patterns af ect the economy?
One potential management option would be to move away from seine
netting as the main i shing method and increase trap i shing. Each seine
i shing boat covers a large area of
Enhalus acoroides
on each trip and the
small trap i shing areas required by individual trap i shers would be much
smaller than the available area. How would an increase in trap i shing and
a decrease in net i shing af ect the people involved? From an economic
point of view everyone employed in the seine net i shery, with the excep-
tion of the i shing boat owners, would have a higher income if they were
employed as trap i shers (after the initial expenditure on boats and traps).
Net i shers could potentially earn double their salary as trap i shers. They
would also catch fewer i sh per person so if the same number of men were
involved in the i shery, the total i shing intensity would drop (trap i shers
catch an average of 6.7kg per trip whereas net i shers catch an average of
9.4kg per person per trip - even taking into account the extra days i shed
by trap i shers, fewer i sh would be caught) so putting less pressure on
resources. There would, however, be some problems with this change in
i shing strategy. There would be the initial problem of i shers being able to
raise the capital to buy a canoe and traps. Trap i shers also had an outlay
of about 160 000MZN every few months, for replacing their traps. This
worked out as an expense of approximately 3350 MZN per i shing day.
If i shers moved from net i shing to trap i shing this would restrict the
business of the seine net boat owners. As the net i shing boat owners were
the only businesspeople on the island, if they were to lose their livelihood
it could have a negative ef ect on the overall development of the area.
Boat owners invested money from i shing in other local businesses such as
shops and market stalls. These provided employment for members of the
owners' families and other local people, and provided a service. Each boat
owner provided a reliable income for anything from i ve to 12 i shers and
also part-time income for the women and children who cleaned i sh.
Conclusions
In conclusion, the study reported here showed that i shing was the single
most important source of food and employment on Quirimba Island,
along with subsistence agriculture and the women's invertebrate i shery,
but the majority of people and households relied on a combination of
marine resource use and agriculture. Seagrass beds were the main habitat
to be exploited on Quirimba and therefore the most valuable habitat to
the community. There was a hierarchy of earnings in the seagrass i shery
in Quirimba, with boat owners being the highest earners, then trap i shers
followed by boat captains and boat crew. Net i shing was the biggest single
source of employment on the island and yielded the lowest wages of jobs
