Co-management of the shrimp fishery in Madagascar

Research PaperThe shrimp fishery is a major export sector for Madagascar, yielding 10,000 tons per year and providing US$75 million in foreign exchange earnings. From the 1960s, it was managed through annual licenses allowing access to either exclusive or common fishing zones. In the mid-1990s, irregular and discretionary licensing, exacerbated competition amongst fishing companies and loss of confidence between the State and the private sector resulted in overfishing and serious threats to the future of the fishery. In 1994, on the joint initiative of the shrimp industry and government, the GAPCM was set up as a professional organization designed to represent its members' interests and develop under a National Shrimp Research Program to provide relevant information to the increasingly dynamic partnership between the government and the GAPCM. In 2000, a decree introduced new fishing rights, raised fees and made licenses longer-lasting, transparent, competitive, transferable and dependent on annual economic performance reviews. The GAPCM also dealt with compliance to EC sanitary regulations, monitoring and surveillance of the fishery, conflict resolution with traditional fishermen and eco-labeling. It now advocates an institutional approach to public management of the shrimp fishery through a mechanism balancing biological and economic sustainability. Although some challenges remain, considerable progress has been made in building up working institutions, which are not only based on a rationale that draws on some of the best recent theoretical work in economics, but which also show empirical evidence of a successful co-management approach