Fishery degradation in Pakistan: a poverty-environment nexus?

The number of fishing vessels in Pakistan's coastal waters has been steadily increasing but the fish catches steadily decreasing. Press reports blame this on poverty-driven overfishing by the artisanal fishers with banned nets. Using qualitative methods and tapping into local stakeholder knowledge, this study dispels simplistic views by exploring in depth the coastal artisanal fisheries sector in Pakistan and documenting the challenges faced by it. We argue that the poverty-resource degradation nexus is mediated through a poverty-credit market nexus and that addressing this problem will resolve imperfections in both the credit and product markets. Further, we argue that fishery degradation also has other causes and that addressing these and empowering communities will ease the poverty-resource degradation nexus.