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Abstract: "Give
a man a fish…Contextualising Living Aquatic Resources Development
in the Lower Mekong Basin" Complete
Paper (pdf 724KB)
Capture fisheries in the Lower Mekong Basin are an important living aquatic
resource exploited for both food and income by rural communities. The
importance of capture fisheries has been recognised by archaeologists
studying the Angkorian Empire and by French travellers during the 1800s.
In recent years, these resources have increasingly been recognised as
an important part of rural livelihoods. Yet, they are highly undervalued
in development policy. This has been based on two assumptions: firstly
that capture fisheries are in decline (despite a lack of accurate data)
and secondly that fish are a culturally acceptable development intervention.
This paper argues that the focus on fish culture is derived more from
outside perceptions of Asian culture than any real understanding of the
importance of capture fisheries, and that this has resulted in natural
living aquatic resources having a low profile in riparian government planning
and policy. The paper begins with an historical review of culture and
capture fisheries development in two Mekong riparian countries, Thailand
and Lao PDR. The paper then explores how the ‘cultural appropriateness’
of fish (per se) in Asian cultures has been used as a justification for
aquaculture extension in international aid and national government policy.
© 2005 Australian Mekong Resource Centre |
