The naditional Approach Towards Sustainable Management of Common Property Fishery Resources in Nigeria

Abstract

The search for effective ways of managing renewable natural resources is currently being intensified in many developing countries. In order to attain optimum utilization and renewability of the resources, emphasis is often placed on state regulation and private ownership to the utter neglect of local collective actions. Both approaches have made limited impact on the sustainable development of fishery resources. The root cause of failure has been the misperception of the property regimes under which fishery resources are being managed within the local environment. The study reveals that traditional fishery management under a regime of common property could be effective and so alternative management strategies such as privatization and public control being frequently recommended in the literature will be a misplaced priority.