Ever since mankind has been utilizing natural resources there has been a need for managing them. Natural resources like water, soil, forests and fish can be managed sustainable, unlike unrenewable resources like oil or gold, which once extracted are exhausted. The evidence for the role natural resources management plays lies in the history of mankind itself. In his book: “Cannibals and Kings: Origins of Cultures” Harris (1991) describes how the most advanced civilizations collapsed due to a mismanagement of the natural resources they depended on. Today, nothing has changed and although not apparent for most people in everyday life, we still all depend on the natural resources our societies and economies are built on. This point cannot be stressed enough, because it is not only the rural and poor communities in developing countries that encounter problems with the sustainable management of natural resources but also and to the same extent the citizens in the developed world.

Management of natural resources has always occurred in one way or the other. The traditional hunting system of the Cree people in the western James Bay area in Quebec is one such example. Hunting areas are ‘rested’ by rotation, so that beaver populations may recover in the years they are not hunted, to ensure long-term sustainable beaver harvest (Berkes, George and Preston 1991,15). But only through increasing news coverage about desertification, global warming, or the extinction of species will natural resources management and its relevance, normally reserved to scientists, researchers, and government officials, become generally known to the public.

Fish, just like beavers, are resources that are hunted. And just as in the traditional hunting system of the Cree people global fisheries depend on a ‘management-system’ to ensure sustainable catches. In the 1970s the FAO valued the global potential of marine fish stocks at 100 million tons, of which approximately 80 million tons could be harvested each year (FAO 2001,3; FAO 2002,6). Fishery data from the last three decades and the fact that reported world catches have been oscillating around 85 million tons since 1985 confirm this information (FAO 2001,3; FAO 2002,7). In recent time capture fisheries worldwide are receiving more and more attention. Between 1971 and 1972, for example, the Peruvian anchoveta fishery collapsed (Pauly et al. 2002,690). Or another example is the collapse of the Atlantic cod fishery at the Grand Banks in Newfoundland, Canada, that caused more than 50 000 people to lose their jobs and annual losses, which amounted to 50 million USD (Harris 1998; cf. Myers, Hutchings and Barrowman 1997). And last but not least the more dramatic, and exemplary for West Africa, decline of Ghana’s fishery leading to a decline in fish supply per caput (Atta-Mills, Alder and Sumaila 2004,16).

The rise of production from capture fisheries coincided with the development of fishing fleets worldwide. However the global fishing fleet soon outgrew the available fish catch. A comprehensive study from Lindebo (1999) revealed that estimates of global overcapacity of fishing fleets varied from 25 percent to 155 percent with the most part of figures fluctuating around 50 percent, depending on the various models and underlying assumptions. FAO (1993, cited in Lindebo 1999) estimate a global deficit of 54 billion USD, using cost and revenue data for the world fisheries in the late 1980’s, with capital costs at 124 billion USD and revenues at 70 billion USD. The analysis of global fisheries revealed that 50 to 60 per cent of stocks, depending on the fishing region and particularly in the Northeast Atlantic and the North Sea, are overfished or have collapsed (Froese and Pauly 2003,250; Grainger 1999,23). Several studies come to the conclusion, that fisheries management has generally failed to manage fishery resources sustainable and attribute this to the institutions (Froese and Pauly 2003,251; Grainger 1999,23). Ironically the fish stocks studied best, i.e. in the Northeast Atlantic and the North Sea are the ones most heavily overfished, compared to the world average (Froese and Pauly 2003,252). Many fisheries have undergone substantial changes regarding their catch composition and this trend is also reflected in a shift in the balance of the ocean’s ecosystems, e.g. in the North Sea from demersal fish like herring to lower organisms like jellyfish and crabs (Froese and Pauly 2003,253). Aquaculture has certainly flourished from this development and has been “the world’s fastest growing food production system for over a decade”, supplying the world with food fish (Grainger 1999,24). Consequently the number of people employed in fisheries and aquaculture has increased from 13 million in 1970 to 38 million in 2002 (Grainger 1999,24; FAO 2004,6). The number of people, whose livelihoods depend on fisheries and aquaculture, is estimated at 200 million worldwide (Grainger 1999,21).

Vietnam’s coastal waters feature rich fishery resources comprising over 2 000 species of fish, amongst which are about 130 species with economical value (Dang Ngoc Thanh 1995,77; Duong Long Tri 2002,2; Ruangsivakul and Siriraksophon 2002,2). With 3260 km of coastline many livelihoods in coastal communities depend directly or indirectly on fishing or aquaculture. In the year 2000, 70 percent of jobholders in Vietnam were working in agriculture, forestry, aquaculture and fisheries of which 3,4 million employees were working in the fishery sector (Duong Long Tri 2002,2). Seafood products also supply nearly half of animal protein in the Vietnamese diet (Tenenbaum 1996,1282; FAO 2005). In recent years the pressure on fishery stocks has increased dramatically (Ruangsivakul and Siriraksophon 2002,2) (emphasis added). In the years from 1990 to 2001 the catch per unit effort (CPUE)

Catch per unit of effort (CPUE): The quantity of fish caught (weight) by a certain amount of effort (e.g. fishing time, gear type). CPUE can be compared between different types of gear and used as a measurement for the abundance of fish.

“It must be to remind that 80-90% of the total fisheries yield is exploited in the coastal fishing grounds with the depth less than 30m occupying only 10% of total sea area of Vietnam. This excessive exploitation has been occurring in a narrow zone for a long time, resulted to serious decrease of the fish resource reserve. The using of backward fishing technics sometimes even use of explosive substance in exploitation caused to mass extermination all living organisms including juvenile, economical fishes and shrimps. For that reason, some fishes of great economical value as Clupanodon thrissa, C. chacunda, Ilisha reevesii as well as some mollusks having a great ornamental value as Cymbium melo, Charonia tritonis, Cassis cornuta etc. are at present time decreasing in quantitative or on the threshold to extinct.”

The same author estimated the potential fishery stocks in coastal waters with about 1,500,000 tons and a total allowable catch (TAC)

Total allowable catch (TAC): The quantity of fish allowed to be caught from a fishery resource in a specified period (usually a year) ensuring a sustainable fisheries production.

The overall research objective is to develop a framework and identify starting points for the successful introduction of integrated natural resources management and to improve rural livelihoods in a coastal fishery environment facing environmental degradation. The intention of the present study is to contribute to a new approach in research for development for a more participative, adaptive and poverty reducing integrative management of natural resources. The objective is to provide concepts, methods, tools and examples that can be used by scientists and decision-makers in development organizations, e.g. the CGIAR and national fisheries research systems who plan and conduct research on living aquatic resources. Effective resources management depends on several factors, the consideration of the complexity of a natural resources management system and its specific local conditions as well as participation and facilitation to develop solutions for existing problems.

The presented methods and tools are applied to the conditions of an exemplary coastal fishery system facing degradation in Vietnam. The case study of Nha Phu Lagoon provides a comprehensive documentation of planning and implementing integrated natural resources management research in practice. Furthermore, it demonstrates the complexity of a natural resources management system composed of multiple stakeholders, sectors, interests, resources, management strategies, and problems to exemplify the potential of applied integrated natural resources management methods and tools with regard to its pursued objectives.

The means by which this complex multi-stakeholder system is addressed is one of integrated natural resources management. One of the key characteristics of this approach is participatory action research, which builds on a learning cycle, and may be described as a cycle “consisting of phases of planning, acting, observing and reflecting” (Allen 2001,2). Participatory action research aims to formulate public knowledge, develop a shared understanding of resource management issues, and help people to help themselves.

Former research and development initiatives associated with natural resources management were limited in achieving their objectives, namely sustainable natural resources management and poverty reduction (Campbell and Hagmann 2003,1). These limits were set by the clash of two paradigms: positivism versus constructivism. Moreover, a large variety of theoretical models exist for achieving adaptive management thus sustainable development, like the transfer of technology (TOT) model, integrated rural development (IRD) and the sustainable livelihoods approach.

The development and application of integrated natural resources management as a research approach to cope with the complexity of a natural resources management system constitute the central part of this study. The complexity of a multi-stakeholder system is dealt with in theory, expressed in a conceptual framework and applied through various participatory methods.

More detail is added by describing the genesis of integrated natural resources management, the research design and applied methods, the implementation of integrated natural resources management in the case study and the development of alternative management strategies.

The contribution to integrated natural resources management, leading to sustainable management of fishery resources and thus reduction of rural poverty, is accomplished through several tasks:

1. The coastal fishery sector is depicted and evaluated regarding:

• The multi-stakeholders system;

• The natural resources and existing management forms;

• The prevailing institutions and decision-making processes.

2. The identification of starting points for the successful introduction of integrated natural resources management in a coastal fishery sector:

• Specify arenas for resource user groups and policy makers;

• Participate in developing options and scenarios for alternative resource management.

The study of integrated natural resources management rather concentrates on planning and implementing integrated natural resources management research in practice and the adjustment of applied methods to the conditions of a coastal fishery environment. Further steps need to be taken towards the comparison and establishment of integrated natural resources management to other NRM research to develop sustainable natural resources management.

Scientists, practitioners in the national fisheries research systems and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) for example, who might be inspired by some of the methods and findings and would like to integrate them into their own work, are provided with concepts, methods and recommendations in this study.

The study is organized around seven chapters. In Chapter 1 the motivation to engage in INRM within a coastal fishery environment is depicted. Following the introduction, the next section mentions the problems and objectives of this work and provides a context for this study.

Chapter 2 provides a descriptive overview of the genesis of integrated natural resources management. Thereby the focus lies on the paradigm shift in research and development (R&D) and the shortcomings of conventional research approaches. Chapter 2 continues with a review of definitions, terms, and concepts that are commonly used in integrated natural resources management.

Chapter 3 describes the applied methods and the role of the researcher. It begins with an overview of the research design from ´concept to practice` and the process that the researcher uses to guide those involved. Then the applied participatory methods are discussed and listed in order to make later applications more transparent and replicable for the interested reader. Subsequently my own role in the research process and its design is reflected and an outlook provided how to reduce limitations when implementing integrated natural resources management.

Chapter 4 begins with an excursion into global fisheries, world capture fisheries and fishing fleet statistics. The status of world fish stocks and the various forms of overfishing are depicted, before introducing several approaches of fishery management.

Chapter 5 provides the background to the start of the wider case study reported in this thesis, which can be seen as a platform to apply and test the integrated natural resources management research approach. This involved an integrated natural resources management research initiative, conducted in 2003/2004, to address the issues of coastal fishery resources degradation and rural livelihoods in Nha Phu Lagoon, Vietnam. After a brief introduction, Chapter 5 continues with background information on the coastal fishery sector in Vietnam. Empirical findings of the natural resources management system are differentiated into institutional and organizational structures, natural resources and their management, resource users, trends, problems in the implementation of institutions within the various production systems, and devolution of natural resources management.

Chapter 6 begins with a discussion about the shortcomings of conventional research approaches, which is deepened by evaluating their impacts in regards to poverty eradication. Some more practical details of practicing integrated natural resources management research are then discussed. The next paragraph provides a critical assessment of fishery management and its implications. The following section opens with a discussion of the case study, concerning the evaluation of the fishery sector, state- and local-led management, decision-making processes, environmental degradation, and livelihood strategies. A further analysis describes and complements the production systems in fishery and aquaculture and their institutions. Finally, the participatory development of new management forms and ideas is highlighted, and an illustration given of how it can help in getting people to think more deeply about natural resources management.

Chapter 7 presents the general conclusion and outlines some implications for future integrated natural resources management research within a coastal fishery environment.

Although the individual chapters of this study partly overlap in their topics and methodology, they can be read independently from each other. Having more or less independent chapters also implies that certain repetitions are unavoidable.