Conspiring to Violate Fishing Regulation: The Case of Saiko Fishing in Ghana (Fish Retailers)

Socio-economic studies on fisheries crime in developing countries have focused on resource extractors (fishermen), and neglected fishmongers (typically women) who are passive participants in the illegal fishing activities. Although they do not face the same level of risk and severity of punishment as their male counterparts owing to socio-cultural norms that do not allow women to directly engage in fishing but indirectly support fishing through say provision of finance, social, economic, and psychological factors may determine their decision to support illegality by trading in the illegal catch, and the effect of participation on household welfare. By employing an endogenous treatment effect model, the study investigates the decision to participate in trading in fish caught illegally (i.e., saiko) in Ghana, and the impact of participation on food security and household expenditure. We found that peer pressure and the misperception of catch trends increased the likely of participation, and participants spend less but are more food secured. In addition, fishmongers who are sensitive to changes in incomes over a narrow range of income are less likely to participate, have lower household spending but are more food secure. Thus, providing adequate and timely information on the state of the fish stocks to fish traders and embarking to social protection programs aimed at improving their food security status may reduce the participation in the saiko trade.针对发展中国家渔业犯罪的社会经济学研究，长期以来均聚焦于资源捕捞者（渔民），却忽视了作为非法捕捞活动被动参与者的鱼贩群体——其主体通常为女性。尽管受社会文化规范约束，女性不得直接参与捕捞活动，仅能通过提供资金、社会支持等方式间接助力渔业，因此她们所面临的处罚风险与惩戒力度均低于男性同行；但社会、经济与心理层面的多重因素，仍会左右其通过交易非法渔获参与非法活动的决策，以及该参与行为对家庭福利的影响。本研究采用内生处理效应模型（endogenous treatment effect model），针对加纳境内非法渔获（即saiko）的交易参与决策，以及该参与行为对粮食安全与家庭支出的影响展开分析。研究结果显示，同伴压力与对渔获量趋势的认知偏差，会提升非法交易参与概率；参与该活动的家庭虽支出更低，但粮食保障水平更高。此外，收入变化敏感度局限于狭窄区间的鱼贩，参与非法交易的概率更低，其家庭支出虽相对较低，但粮食保障水平更高。因此，向鱼贩群体提供充足且及时的鱼群资源现状信息，并推出旨在提升其粮食保障水平的社会保护项目，或可降低saiko非法交易的参与率。