Migrant (‘dago’) fishers in coastal East Africa : understanding fisher migration and its role in artisanal fisheries

Sammanfattning: Coastal and marine resources support tourism and recreation, urbanizationand coastal development sectors as well as marine genetic resources and bioprospecting. Fishing remains the most important economic activity forprovision of food and income to coastal communities. Although fishermenusing fishing grounds are generally drawn from adjacent villages with landingsites, there are migrant fishers from other areas who use these landing sites.Fisher migration is common in artisanal fisheries within the Western IndianOcean (WIO) region but has not been empirically investigated. This thesisassesses artisanal fisheries of East Africa, particularly focusing on migrantfishers with the objectives to: 1) determine spatial and temporal patterns ofmigration; 2) assess the strategies by fishers’ to obtain their livelihood; 3)determine the factors influencing fishers’ access to resources; 4) determineimportant fishing grounds; 5) assess determinants of spatial behaviour duringfishing.Cognisant of the inherent complexities associated with fisher migration, thisthesis used interdisciplinary research approaches adopting an eclectic mix ofmethods including in-depth reviews of literature, social science methods andParticipatory Geographical Information System (PGIS) to collect primary data.We adapted a two-pronged approach of studying artisanal fisheries, first wasa general study at migration destinations in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambiqueto establish the degree, and patterns of migration including the sources anddestinations (Paper I). This was followed by specific studies at known sources(II) and destinations (III, IV & V). The thesis takes a holistic approach ofunderstanding ‘fisher migration’ as a livelihood strategy within the completespectrum of the spatial characteristics at the migrant destination or origin place(migrant fishers’ ‘space’).The study identified specific destinations of migrant fishers on the EastAfrican coast (I). There were significant within country migrations, whereastrans-border migrations were mainly from Tanzania. The migration patternswere mainly seasonal, following the monsoon patterns. The drivers of migrationwere diverse and include ecological, socio-cultural but economic drivers weredominant (II). They include availability of fish or search for specific (value)fish species. Migration is a way of life for fishers whose livelihood activitiesmay be disrupted by natural cycles, trends and shocks such as strong winds anddroughts (III). These factors are unique to the specific place. ‘Access’ relates toability, right, permission or liberty of fishers to utilise resources. PGIS trackingusing GPS and fishing preference mapping used together, yield reliable spatialinformation on the location of important fishing grounds (IV). Migrant fishers’knowledge facilitated access to fishery resources and fishing grounds asinfluenced by higher chances of the availability of target taxa in the area (V).