Community valuation of fishery resources and conservation :

Abstract

The study was about community valuation of fisheries resources and conservation at Victoria Nile, Namasagali Sub County Kamuli district. There has been no attempt taken to. find out the value community attaches to the fishery resource. Study objectives were to assess the socio economic contribution of the fishery to the community of Namasagali Sub County, to find out the willingness to pay for future benefits of the. resource; to evaluate the level of conservation efforts on the resource by the community and to identify strategies for community involvement in fish conservation A cross sectional study was used which involved use of questionnaires covering 50 respondents. Data collected Was analyzed using SPSS 16; this facilitated the formation of frequency tables, graphs, pie charts and cross tabulations for univariate and bivariate analysis. Study findings indicated that; the socio economic contribution of the fishery is basically through provision of domestic income, the estimated average MWTP value was Ugandan shillings 25,250,019, this figure does not reflect the true value of the resource this is because the study considered only tangible use benefits and majority of community members have alternative preferred economic activities to fishing. Study findings. also indicated that majority of respondents have knowledge on conservation methods and' are willing to adapt to them but they are only limited to gear ban and finally study indicated that there is a gender and occupational imbalance in fisheries which mostly neglects women and fish traders respectively. In conclusion community valuation of the fishery resource is low due to the exclusion of other non-marketable benefits, low educational levels and preference alternative activities to fishing, this is also accelerated due to the reducing chances of resource conservation because community is knowledgeable to only gear ban which is not an effective conservation method as regards regulation of fish stocks -and an imbalance in. resource management. Thus the researcher recommends that community members be sensitized on both the tangible and non-tangible benefits of the resource, other effective conservation methods should be adopted and finally boost women and fish trader participation in resource management. These help increase community members WTP value for future benefits and willingness to adopt sustainable conservation practices.