To fish or not to fish? Resource degradation and income diversification in Benin

The authors study the impact of natural resource degradation on income diversification in Beninese fishing communities. Using survey data and econometric analysis, they show that fishermen are more likely to diversify their income when the degradation of the fish stock is more severe. However, the l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEnvironment and development economics Vol. 21; no. 5; pp. 669 - 689
Main Authors Stoop, Nik, Houssa, Romain, Verpoorten, Marijke
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.10.2016
Subjects
Case studies
Commercial fishing
Conferences
Data processing
Degradation
Developing countries
Diversification
Econometric analysis
Econometrics
Economic models
Economic statistics
Economic theory
Employment
Environmental economics
Fish
Fisheries
Fishermen
Fishing
Fishing communities
Fishing equipment
Fishing gear
Households
Hypotheses
Income
Labor market
Lakes
Land degradation
LDCs
Low level
Natural resources
Poverty
Raw materials
Studies
Benin
Mexico
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Summary:The authors study the impact of natural resource degradation on income diversification in Beninese fishing communities. Using survey data and econometric analysis, they show that fishermen are more likely to diversify their income when the degradation of the fish stock is more severe. However, the level of income diversification that they find is surprisingly low and far from sufficient to relieve the stress on the lakes. The latter relates to low levels of formal education among fishermen and the unregulated use of highly productive, but damaging, fishing gear. These two factors result in a high return to fishing relative to non-fishing activities, even amid degradation.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:1355-770X
1469-4395
DOI:10.1017/S1355770X16000012