Income diversification as a response to social-ecological traps : A case study of small-scale fisheries and aquaculture in the Tam Giang lagoon, Central Viet Nam

Abstract: Many small-scale fishing and aquaculture households in the global South struggle with reinforcing feedbacks between resource degradation and livelihood impoverishment – a situation that is often resembled to a social-ecological trap. Studies suggest that facilitation of income diversification contributes to mitigation and even prevention of trap situations as it reduces exploitation pressure while at the same time makes the households’ livelihood more resilient. Understanding of how income diversification of small-scale fishing and aquaculture households has impacted on social-ecological traps, what impedes or enables income diversification, and how government facilitates income diversification, is crucial to develop effective policies and actions to facilitate sustainable development of small-scale fishing and aquaculture households. Using the Tam Giang lagoon, Viet Nam as a case study, this thesis finds that small-scale fishing and aquaculture households maintain varied income portfolios, including mobile fishing, fixed fishing, earth pond aquaculture, net-enclosed aquaculture, cage aquaculture, and paid labour. Diversification of their income helps to improve the households’ well-being. However, as these different income activities still depend on ecologies from one and the same natural environment, the strategy of income diversification accelerates the deterioration of the lagoon, which in turn impoverishes the well-being of its users. As a result, income diversification in this context produces and reinforces a social-ecological trap. This finding suggests that the households need to develop income activities that either depend in radically different ways on aquatic ecologies, or draw sufficiently on other than aquatic ecologies to escape the trap. Yet, both of these options are in practice hard to realize because people lack abilities e.g. education, labour skills, and alternative job opportunities to do so. The households in the Tam Giang lagoon are in need of support to improve their abilities and job opportunities to engage in alternative livelihoods. But these supports need to consider generational differences within households and the specific social and ecological contexts in which households are situated. For example, fishers and aquaculturists should be provided local-based alternative income activities to supplement their fisheries and aquaculture income. Meanwhile, their children should be improved their education and labour skills to engage in alternative jobs to exit fisheries and aquaculture. In this regard, this thesis finds that fisheries agencies are often unable to provide these supports. They need to enrich their understanding of social-ecological situations and aspirations of fishing and aquaculture households and their generational differences; improve their lack of motivation, commitment, and capacity; gain support from local governments to successfully support these households.