A CASE STUDY OF INLAND FISHERIES MANAGEMENT IN THE LUCHERINGO-ROVUMA-MESSINGE RIVER SYSTEMS, NORTHERN NIASSA, MOZAMBIQUE: FROM OPEN TO COMMON PROPERTY?

There is growing realisation world wide that the attainment of environmental sustainability is contingent upon reinstatement of community authority over management of natural resources. In acknowledgement of this imperative the government of Mozambique has formulated policies and enacted legislation to promote Community-Based Natural Resource Management. The research reported here considers the prospects for achieving CBNRM in a fishery located in a remote part ofthe country on the border between Mozambique and Tanzania. The central hypothesis addressed is that the fishery in historical terms was operated under a common property regime and that, under a number of forces, this has changed to an open access regime. The challenge facing government is to return the fishery to a common property regime. A conceptual framework which illustrates transformation ofthe fishery was developed. This was used to structure the research. Central question posed includes: what evidence is there that the fishery may have operated as common property system? what evidence is there that it now operates as an open access system? • what forces promoted such change, if indeed change has occurred