Fishermen's Incomes and Fisheries Management

Abstract

The improvement of fishermens' incomes is often a central objective of fisheries management programmes, especially in developing countries. This paper considers the determinants of fis her mens' incomes and discusses the way in which different management methods may be expected to affect incomes. Stress is laid upon the difference between wealth and income. It is argued that many management measures are likely to have a significant effect on wealth but little, if any, on income. In designing management systems which have income improvement as a goal, care needs therefore to be taken if a sustainable improvement in incomes is to be achieved rather than a, perhaps unintended, wealth re-distribution.