Evaluating the potential of fishermen"s organizations in developing countries

This handbook contains guidelines for obtaining social and cultural information which can be used to evaluate the potential for establishing FO"s and, later, to support their operations. The first chapter examines the role of FO"s in fishery development and includes a brief outline of the various types of FO"s. This is followed by two chapters which explain the need for sociocultural information and identify general sociocultural factors that influence the success of FO"s; attention is also given to particular aspects of fishing as an occupation that are related to problems in developing FO"s. The final three chapters outline the kinds of information needed for the development of FO"s (e.g., membership, economic factors, government support); provide detail on the acquisition of the necessary data through review of written records, surveys, and interviews; and present techniques for converting the data into information of use in the decisionmaking process throughout the development cycle. (Author abstract, modified)