Myanmar fisheries legislation with particular reference to freshwater fisheries legislation

Myanmar fisheries legislation with particular reference to freshwater fisheries legislation

Descripción

The fisheries sector in Myanmar, comprising the freshwater fisheries, marine capture fisheries and aquaculture, plays a very important role in the economy of the country and provides an important source of food security for the people of Myanmar. Presently, the freshwater capture sector is by far the most important economically and socially. The Ayeyarwady Delta once supported half of the mangrove forests in Myanmar. but there are competing demands on the mangrove ad fisheries ecosystem in the Ayeyarwady Delta. Several years of pressure on the mangrove forests, including demand for firewood and charcoal, hunting mangrove animals, conversion of mangrove areas for rice and shrimp farming and destructive fishing practices such as excessive fishing efforts, have significantly reduced the productivity of the mangrove forest areas. Specifically in relation to fisheries, there are now clear signs of serious depletion in the Delta. The observed volume fish landings are declining and there is a reduction in the size of species caught. The Sustaible Small Scale Fisheries and Aquaculture Livelihoods in Coastal Mangrove Ecosystems was part of the Environmentally Sustaible Food Security Programme (ESFSP). The aim of the Sustaible Small Scale Fisheries and Aquaculture Livelihoods in Coastal Mangrove Ecosystems project is to promote and undertake pilot level implementation of practices for the co-magement of fisheries in a demarcated magement area in the Ayeyarwady Delta. One of the acti vities of the ESFSP to address the problem of conservation of fisheries resources in the mangrove areas is the “formulation and promotion of better co-magement practices and sustaible utilisation guidance for mangrove ecosystems.” Implementation of co-magement in the pilot areas for the project, and in Myanmar as a whole, is not supported by the existing fisheries and related legal framework. An additiol complicating issue that has arisen is the substantial overlap and contradictions between th e fresh water fisheries legislation and legislation dealing with forestry and wildlife conservation in the mangrove areas. Additiolly, enforcement of existing legislation is weak. The factors listed above have given rise to the need to undertake an evaluation of the legal framework underpinning forestry and fisheries legislation, including co-magement arrangements and enforcement challenges to inform proposals for change. This review contains an overivew of these legal issues as they pertain to aquatic resources magement especially in freshwaters and their relationship to other legislation on tural resources in Myanmar. There is particular reference to co-magement and the legal aspects relating to its emergence in Myanmar.