Co-Management Strategy In Mitigating Fisheries Conflicts In Homa Bay County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

There has been conflict in the fishing industry world over. Fisheries conflicts are among

the persistent problems affecting the security of food, livelihoods and fishing

environments crucial to poor fishing communities in developing countries. In Kenya, the

same has been a major problem and it has taken government’s efforts to curb. One of the

strategies introduced more so in Homa Bay County is the Co-Management Strategy in

which all stakeholders are involved. Although this co-management strategy has been

suggested as a solution to the problem of fisheries use, conflicts still persist. The study

examined the effectiveness of co-management strategy in mitigating fisheries conflicts in

Homa Bay County. It was guided by the following specific objectives: to establish the

effectiveness of Co-Management Strategy in mitigating fisheries conflicts in Homa Bay

County; to find out Community Perception on the Co-Management Strategy in mitigating

fisheries conflicts in Homa Bay County and to establish challenges on the effectiveness

of Co-Management Strategy in mitigating fisheries conflict in Homa Bay County. The

common property theory which assumes that individual interest will not prevail over the

best interest of the community as a whole and Marx’s Conflict Theory which assumes that

Conflict theory states that tensions and conflicts arise when resources, status, and power

are unevenly distributed between groups in society and that these conflicts become the

engine for social change were used in the study. This study was guided by a conceptual

framework derived from common property theory and Marx’s theory of conflict. The

framework was based on the driver-problem-issue- intervention analysis that put into

context the dynamics of variables that addressed the objectives of the study. The research

design used was descriptive in nature. The population of the study was 18, 300 registered

members of BMUs. Multi stage sampling was used to identify two beaches in each of the

five divisions namely: Mfangano, Mbita, Lambwe, Central and Gwassi. Homa Bay

County was selected because it has the largest share of L. Victoria and highest number of

BMUs in the country. The study established that averagely there were about 100 registered

members in each BMU. 40% of BMUs from each of the five divisions were sampled,

resulting to 39 BMUs. From each BMU sampled, 10 registered members were randomly

sampled. The sample size was therefore, 390. The respondents were also clustered as

Fishermen; Boat Owners; Fish Traders and Owners of fishing gears and government

officers. Data was collected using structured questionnaires, interview schedules,

observation and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). In terms of analysis descriptive

statistics was generated to build a picture of the respondents’ characteristics, this was done

using SPSS. Inferential Statistics used the regression models and ANOVA. The study

found out that Co-Management Strategy mitigates fisheries conflict. The study also found

that the community perception of co-management strategy was positive. Lastly, study also

found that challenges faced by Co-Management strategy were an impediment in the

mitigation of fisheries conflict. The findings of this study support and add knowledge to

previous studies on fisheries conflicts. It is envisaged that the study will contribute to the

field of conflict management within the broader context of co-management strategy in the

fisheries sector, thus leading to harmonious coexistence at the beaches, sustainable

utilization of fisheries resources and improved livelihood of the people.The study suggests

more stakeholders should be involved in the policy formulation and that there should be

more seminars and training of stakeholders. Studies also suggest further re