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Rights and Conflicts in the Management of Fisheries in the Lower Songkhram River Basin, Northeast Thailand

Environmental Management volume 43, pages 557–570 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

A complex, pre-existing local property rights system, characterized by overlap and conflict, comprises the local basis for managing inland fisheries in communities of the Lower Songkhram River Basin (LSRB) of Northeastern Thailand. The components, conflicts and changes of the system are analyzed for fourteen communities, focusing on the auction system for barrages, an illegal and destructive, yet tolerated, fishery. These rights, adapted to gear type, seasonality, and habitat of the LSRB fisheries, are a critical social resource and proven management system that should be legitimized. Recommendations are made for both improving general inland fisheries policy and reforming the barrage fishery.

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Acknowledgments

All field research and related activities were supported financially entirely by the Fisheries Program of the Mekong River Commission, to which we are most grateful. We are especially grateful to the many people in Lower Songkhram River Basin who cheerfully tolerated our intrusions and questions, and unstintingly shared their experience and knowledge. An earlier manuscript benefited from the comments of participants in the “8th Asian Forum on Fisheries and Aquaculture: Strategic Outlook for Asia,” as well as those of three anonymous reviewers. We express our gratitude to them all.

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Affiliations

  1. Ubon Ratchathani Inland Fisheries Research and Development Center, Muang District, Ubonratchathani Province, 34000, Thailand

    Malasri Khumsri

  2. School of Environment, Resources, and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang Pathumthani, 12120, Thailand

    Malasri Khumsri & Ganesh P. Shivakoti

  3. School of Policy Studies, Kwansei Gakuin University, Kobe-Sanda Campus, Sanda, Hyogo-ken, 659-0012, Japan

    Kenneth Ruddle

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  1. Malasri Khumsri
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  2. Kenneth Ruddle
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  3. Ganesh P. Shivakoti
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Correspondence to Malasri Khumsri.

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Khumsri, M., Ruddle, K. & Shivakoti, G.P. Rights and Conflicts in the Management of Fisheries in the Lower Songkhram River Basin, Northeast Thailand. Environmental Management 43, 557–570 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-008-9203-6

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Keywords

  • Fisheries management
  • Inland fisheries
  • Property rights
  • Local institutions
  • Fisheries policy
  • Barrage fishing