Fisheries extension

services

Their role in rural development

Robert C. Cole

The author discusses the ways in At the lowest levels of rural existence there is no room for failure for
which a fisheries extension service, there are no reserves. The failure of migratory fish to appear in their
designed particularly to serve the appointed season, the loss of a catch through gear failure, loss of gear
small-scale fisheries sector, should
through stress of weather, or the loss of a batch of processed fish
be formed, trained, and
through spoilage are major disasters. In extreme cases such disasters
administered. He reviews duties
lead to starvation and death. No one should be surprised if peasant
common to most extension
programmes and suggests possible
fishermen are reluctant to give up established and thoroughly tested
links with other services. The point practices in favour of untried innovations. This is especially so when
is made that an extension service the new practices are presented by people who would probably starve
can play a full role in the on the beach if they tried to make a living out of fishing, fish handling,
development of the community it is or fish marketing.
planned to help only if the Arguments against new practices range from that is not our way
community accepts its activities as through maybe that does work elsewhere but it wont work here to
being an essential part of their the spirits would not approve of that. At the root of the speakers
existence.
objections lies the knowledge that his own operations are on such a
tiny scale and offer such low margins of profit that he cannot afford
Robert C. Cole is with the Tropical to experiment. So changes come slowly and, at each stage, the
Products Institute, 56-62 Grays Inn profitability must be adequately demonstrated before a new practice
Road, London WClX 8LU. UK. can become acceptable. There is seldom any problem in introducing
changes which can be shown to be profitable or to make life easier. It
This article is a revised version of a paper
is often much more difficult to effect improvements in product quality.
presented by the author at the conference
on Handling, processing and marketing Such improvements almost invariably raise the price of the product
of tropical fish organised by the Tropical and most consumers in developing countries are unable to pay a
Products Institute. Ministry of Overseas
premium price for better quality, much as they may prefer a better
Development, London, and held in
London on 5-9 July 1976. The paper is product.
Crown copyright and is reproduced with
the permission of the Controller of Her
Majestys Stationery Office.
Problems of relocation
If we define rural development as the improvement of the living
standards of people living in rural areas, we need to look far beyond
the concepts of fisheries development which are usually uppermost in
the minds of fisheries department administrators. Typically the 8 or 9
million artisanal fishermen of the tropics live in small groups in
ramshackle housing, totally lacking the amenities of modern life such
The introduction of synthetic materials effective sanitation, education, and
as piped water, electricity,
for net and line manufacture and of
internal combustion engines to drive perinatal, medical and dental care. Often villages are isolated by poor
fishing craft are obvious examples. roads; some can be reached from outside only by water; some are

132 MARINE POLICY April 1977

 Fisheries extension services - their role in rural development

seasonally inaccessible. Development requires attention to all these

factors as much as to the improvement of fishing boats, fishing gears,
berthing or beaching facilities and handling, processing, preservation
and marketing methods.
One simple way to overcome many of the difficulties seems at first
sight to uproot entire villages and move them to new locations where
the facilities lacking in the old ones either exist or can readily be
provided. This is seldom an acceptable solution. Many of the people
involved are fishermen/farmers who own housing and land. The land
which provides much of the villages subsistence could not easily be
provided elsewhere. There are religious objections too based on such
factors as desire to be near ancestral graves. These and similar factors
render the people immobile. Most governments are already battling
against the ill effects of the cityward drift of the peasantry and would
wish to do nothing which might increase or accelerate this.
But the main reason for deciding against relocation of whole
villages lies in the factors which are responsible for their development
on the existing sites. The most obvious of these is proximity to the
fishing grounds which include estuaries, mud flats, shallow banks,
lagoons, mangrove swamps, and coral reefs. Such grounds can be
fished most profitably from small vessels of shallow draught and in
producing fish from such areas the artisanal fisheries can make useful
contributions to the economy.3 Long runs to and from the grounds
reduce fishing time, and thus profitability, and increase the time the
fishermen are at risk when there is bad weather.

Research and development

The fish landed in these villages often include both low-bulk, high-
value items such as prawns and crawfish on which export industries
may be based, and bulky low-value items such as mussels, cockles
and clams which provide cheap food of high quality. These artisanal
fisheries also provide much employment using low levels of capital
inputs. Such important national assets should be developed so that the
fisheries continue to be productive while the people involved enjoy at
least some of the amenities of life which many take for granted. This
usually requires improvements in both working and living conditions,
and, while some development may be paid for by the injection of
capital from outside, in the long term the improvements, or at least
the maintenance of these, must be paid for by increasing the
profitability of the fishing and fish marketing operations, thus
increasing the real income of those engaged in the fisheries. James
elaborates these points.4
The development of the industrial elements of an artisanal fishery
R.M. Lawson, Report on Credit for requires, as does the development of any other fishery, that all sectors
Artisanal Fishermen in Southeast Asia, of the industrial operations should be considered for improvement.
FAO. Rome, 1972.
Thus a proposal to fish further to seaward or to use bigger nets may
R.C. Cole, Report on Fisheries
Development and Requirements of generate a need for bigger boats of deeper draught v+ich in turn need
Fishery Education and Trainino in deeper water and mooring, more fuel and ice, and which demand a
Mala &a, Thailand, Fiji and - The higher degree of skill in the crew. The heavier catches expected will
Philippines, FAO, Rome. 1973.
4D... James, Fish Processing and require more, or possibly different processing facilities, bigger or more
Marketing in the Tropics: Restrictions to markets, more transport and better roads, and possibly the
Development, Paper presented at
development of an export market with the attendant necessity to meet
Conference on Handling, processing and
marketing of tropical fish, Tropical foreign standards of hygiene, packaging and product quality.
Products Institute, 5-9 July 1976. Expertise in a number of very different specialisations is required, and

MARINE POLICY April 1977 133

Fisheries extension services - their role in rural development

there will be a need for research and development in many of these

specialisations.
Research and development is, of course, totally wasted, unless the
results are applied and in the case of the artisanal fisheries the results
must be applied by people who suspect that all change is not
necessarily for the better. Like any other people they are likely to
accept advice most readily from someone they trust as having their
best interests at heart. Research and development must therefore
logically be followed by extension work and, particularly in the
artisanal fisheries context, it makes better sense to talk of R, D and E
rather than R and D alone. It should certainly not be assumed that
extension can stand alone either, for there are few cases where
unmodified technology transplants successfully from temperate to
tropical conditions.
The development of an artisanal fishery in most circumstances
requires a modest amount of applied research and a great deal of hard
work at the basic village level by officials (or unofficials) who have
received adequate technical training, understand the intricacies of the
technical and socio-economic aspects of the industry, and are trusted
and respected by the people who run the industry.j

Organisation and administration of extension services

Wherever possible the extension service should be organised at the
national or federal level rather than at the state or other subsidiary
level. Of course, much good extension work is done by universities, by
regional laboratories, and similar organisations. This is particularly so
in the developed countries where the fishing industry is at an
advanced level and where high-level expertise is needed. In these
situations the industry solves the simpler problems for itself. Those
working in the industry are educated to secondary school or higher
levels and if they cannot resolve a problem themselves they can
contact a laboratory or other organisation and explain their needs.
The illiterate or semiliterate peasant fisherman cannot do this and
needs a very different kind of service. He needs someone close at
hand who can satisfy his simpler needs and can translate the more
complex needs into terms easily understood by the more expert.
Simple problems can often exist undetected for years, simply because
there is inadequate contact between the fishermen and those paid to
serve them. Sometimes there appears to be no contact at all between
government and the fishermen other than the minimum required for
the collection of taxes and statistics.
This essential contact between government and industry requires
the employment of rather large numbers of people at the village level
and the basic principle of the fisheries extension service is the
employment of workers who live among the fishermen. Such people
must inevitably be trained as generalists rather than as specialists.
This means that their skill and knowledge in any particular subject
will be limited and will indeed often be rather basic. They should be so
trained that they can identify the needs for a particular kind of expert
assistance and know where this can be found. Thus, the service as a
whole should be able to draw on the expertise and experience of
5 In visiting 18 developing countries in various branches of the fisheries department, other government
1974-75 (in South East Asia, Southern departments, the research and experimental stations, universities, and
America and Africa), I found no single
fisheries extension service that I the fisheries training institutes and schools. Cooperation from these
considered even reasonably effective. organisations would best be assured by central controls.

134 MARINE POLICY April 1977

 Fisheries extension services - their role in rural development
Control structures
Where the fisheries department is responsible for fisheries
development, it follows that the fisheries extension service should be a
branch of the fisheries department. This is the arrangement that
usually seems to work best. Among other things, it permits financing
of the service from the national treasury. It also provides for one of
the essential requirements of the extension service: that those
employed should work on a full-time basis. Furthermore, it helps to
provide a career structure offering the possibility of promotion within
the extension service or into other branches of fisheries work. If the
service is organised on a very small scale, it can provide few posts
above the basic level and a further problem is that it cannot provide
adequately for specialist posts for technologists above this level.6
A further reason for suggesting that the extension service which
can be provided by universities and similar bodies in the developed
countries would prove unsatisfactory in the developing world is the
need for assistance with the socio-economic factors which control
living rather than working conditions in the artisanal fisheries of the
developing country.
A senior member of the fisheries department should be in charge of
the extension service and it is preferable that he should have no other
duties whatsoever. In addition to employing approximately one
worker for every 500 fishing families, the service should employ
people in a supervisory grade at a ratio of roughly 15 field workers;
in very large countries it may be necessary to employ people who
control the supervisors at a roughly similar ratio. Whether or not it
will be necessary for the service itself to employ specialists depends
largely on the size of the country and the way in which the fisheries
department is organised. Where the extension service is large it is
obviously best to employ specialists who are trained in their own
technology but have also been taught how to operate as extension
workers. Where the service is smaller it is certainly not essential that
specialists should be employed; the specialists employed in other
branches of the fisheries department can be trained for extension
work and required to perform extension duties as part of their normal
functions.

Terms and conditions for extension workers

It is extremely important that extension workers should be able to
travel freely and quickly through the district in which they are
required to work. In some cases it may be possible for them to do this
on a pedal bicycle but this is an energy-sapping and time-consuming
means of transport. It is usually better to provide extension workers
with motor bicycles: these are more useful than motor cars or other
forms of four-wheeled transport in the isolated village conditions in
which they are working. They should be taught to ride, service and
maintain these.
All that has so far been said about the workers applies with equal
force to their families. It is important for the service to keep the families
happy in their isolation and arrangements should be made so that, as
far as possible, they can enjoy the facilities available to the families of
workers at equivalent levels in the towns. Where this is impossible an
6The smallest countries can afford to allowance should be paid.
employ only one man as a fisheries
extension worker and must seek expertise One of the tenets which is often quoted by people discussing the
that he is unable to provide from outside. organisation of an extension service for agriculture, fisheries, or allied

MARINE POLICY April 1977 135

Fisheries e.ytension services - their role in rural development

industries is that the extension worker should not be burdened with

any duties other than those normal to an extension service. As far as
is possible it is certainly desirable that the extension worker should be
able to concentrate full-time on his extension duties. The fisheries
extension worker must be seen by the fisheries community as
someone who is on their side rather than a member of a revenue-
collecting government department. Most fisheries departments have
some responsibility for collecting revenue in the form of licence fees
for fishing boats or fishing gears, or both, and because the officers
who work in this department are seen as part of government they are
often suspected of being in league with the collectors of income and
other taxes as well. This is another powerful reason why fisheries
extension workers should be used solely as extension specialists
wherever possible.
It must be recognised, however, that in some countries it is
impossible to employ specialists for extension work because the
country simply cannot afford it. In these circumstances, the fisheries
assistants who have other duties, such as the collection of fisheries
statistics, may have to do the extension work too. It is, however, best
if licensing duties are not undertaken by these people. It is always
possible to arrange for a team from regional or national headquarters
to undertake licensing duties so that the extension worker is seen by
the fishermen as part of a different organisation.

Responsibilities of extension branch

While the head of the fisheries department will obviously finally be
responsible to government for the control of the departments
expenditure, the head of the fisheries extension branch should be
responsible for the preparation of an annual budget for extension
work and should have control of this. It should include capital
expenditure for major items which the extension branch needs for its
work, annual salaries for the staff and recurrent expenditure for
purchase of minor items, travel and similar matters. The extension
branch should then be able to plan its work rather more than one year
ahead. Indeed, the branch should normally be planning the work that
it will be undertaking during the next two or three years. Similarly, the
extension branch should be responsible to the head of the fisheries
service for the recruitment of extension workers and for their training.
The-branch should not be responsible for the recruitment of specialist
technologists; generally it is better if these are recruited by the fisheries
service. The extension branch should of course be responsible for
training specialists in extension work and for the preparation of
extension material.
A very few fisheries departments have arranged to give regular
broadcasts to fishermen; these have generally been extremely. well
received and have proved useful in circumstances where there is a
considerable variation in fish prices either seasonally or from one part
of a country to another. A very limited number of training manuals
suitable for artisanal fisheries is at present available. For some of the
simpler technologies, it should surely be possible to prepare suitable
A.H. Maunder, Agricultural Extension: A manuals in one of the major languages which could be translated into
Reference Manual. FAO, Rome, 1972. local languages wherever needed.8
8There are, of course, some difficulties in Finally the branch should be responsible for regular reports to the
this: even the illustrations that would be
needed would not necessarily be
head of the service indicating what progress has been made. More
universally applicable. important, it should be responsible for preparing an annual assessment

MARINE POLICY April 1977

 Fisheries extension services - their role in rural development

of the effectiveness of the various aspects of the work of the extension

service.
The head of the extension branch must be responsible to the head
of the fisheries service for the planning of future work as well as for
the execution of the current programme. Any programme which is
developed should comply with the objectives of the national
development plan where one exists. But, while the head of the branch
has this responsibility, he and his headquarters colleagues should not
attempt to produce a master plan without consulting right down to
the working level. The extension worker and the people he serves
inevitably have a much clearer idea not only of what is needed, but of
what is practically possible, than do the headquarters staff. Planning
should start from the bottom up.
In consultation with the members of the community, the extension
worker should plan a programme of work at least one year in
advance. Where problems which need a long-term solution exist, the
programme may well look two or three years ahead. It should include
possible means of solving the problem and must be agreed with the
workers superiors. They may be able to suggest alternative solutions
and must, in any case, be aware of the budget that will be needed to
see the plans through and of the calls that may be made on other staff
such as specialists. The plan should include the problems which most
urgently require solution but within these there should be a list of
priorities and the worker must be prepared to tackle unforeseen
problems on an ad hoc basis whenever these arise.

Work of field staff

The work of the extension staff in an artisanal fishery is very different
from the work pattern followed by the members of a university staff
who undertake extension work. The university worker normally lives
in a community apart from that in which the fishermen live and he is
almost invariably a specialist. The extension worker in the artisanal
fishery on the other hand is a generalist and he must live among the
people with whom he works so that he can develop an understanding
of the pattern of life in the fishing community. He must learn how
local conditions affect the way in which fish are caught or cultured,
the way in which they are processed and marketed, and how these
operations are financed. He also needs to know how profits and
earnings are used. Thus the first task of any extension worker newly
appointed to a particular district must be to prepare an inventory of
the capital equipment available, including the human resources, and
the ways in which these are employed.g
In preparing his inventory the extension worker should note any
obvious deficiencies in the infrastructure, such as lack of berthing
facilities, communications, transport and marketing facilities, as well
as noting what particular skills are present or absent in the
T. Yasueda, Fisheries Exrension Service, community. He will succeed in his job only when he gains the
FIE:FET/73/9P 3. FAO, Rome, 1972. confidence of the community in which he is working and must
Examples include the placing of leading therefore be on the lookout for obvious deficiencies which can be
marks or lights in the approach to the
landing point, or the marking of a known quickly and easily remedied. lo If he does find that something simple is
hazard to navigation, improving the lacking he should not make good this deficiency without first
supply of engine spares, fuel, bait, salt, or consulting the community; many communities have a pet project of
ice, making dental, medical, and perinatal
facilities available on a regular basis, or their own. If the extension worker can discover what this is, and if it is
improving marketing or storage facilities. something which is practicable, then he should go ahead with this

MARINE POLICY April 1977 137

Fisheries extension services - their role in rural decelopmenl
rather than attempting to introduce a project of his own. It is
important that the community shouid recognise as soon as possible
that the extension service is intended to help them, and is not
interested merely in indulging its own fancy ideas.
Idetdjkation and handling of problems
When the extension worker has obtained a good working knowledge
of the pattern of life in the communities for which he is responsible,
has established good working relationships with the members of the
communities, and has set out his inventory, he should identify the
most important and urgent problems in consultation with the
communities and should work on these. He must, of course, prepare a
work plan and discuss this with his superiors. He should meet his
immediate superior at least once a month, report on the previous
months work, and outline his plans for the coming month. In some
cases he may be able to find solutions to local problems himself, and
in others he will need to seek the help of colleagues or workers from
other departments. Sometimes no one in government will be able to
help and he will have to go to a commercial company for assistance.
But it is important that problems should be reported up through the
service because sometimes the answer to a particular difficulty will
aheady be available as a solution has been found in another part of
the country or elsewhere.
The extension worker can thus be an important link between the
research stations and the fishing communities. This is one of the many
reasons why research stations carrying out fisheries work should be
under the direct control of the officer in charge of the fisheries service.
It then becomes possible for the extension branch to ensure that the
work which they know is needed is given proper weight in the
programme of work of the research stations. The immediate superiors
of the field worker should require that he provides regular reports at a
monthly meeting. The reports should note progress achieved, new
problems that have arisen, and any other matters of interest in the
area in the workers charge. There will be failures as well as successes
and the reasons for both must be assessed and analysed; the service
as a whole should adopt a flexible outlook and be prepared to modify
and change its plans as this becomes desirable.
A list of national objectives is a useful guide to the individual
worker; a number of districts can often work on the same aspect at
one time. The provision of literature is then a simple matter and the
districts can be backed up with radio or television programmes.

An extension programme is essentially an educational programme;

the extension worker has to create situations in which others can learn
and be stimulated to learn through the teaching systems. Since no
two people have precisely the same physical or mental ability some
will learn faster than others, some will learn most easily by listening,
others by seeing, doing, or by discussion. Some will need all four
processes, so the extension worker must be prepared to vary his
approach and to use a variety of methods.
Suitable methods fall into three broad groups - those used with
R.C. Cole, Fisheries Education and individuals, those used with groups, and mass methods. Contacts with
Training, Zambia. Fi:~P~~~73/~09/1. individuals may include home visits, office calls, casual contacts and
FAO. Rome, 1975.
l2 D.J. Bradfield, Guide to Extension personal letters. Home visits can be particularly useful since they
Training. FAO. Rome, 1966. provide opportunities for discussion of private problems which may

138 MARINE POLICY April 1977

 Fisheries extension services - their role in rural development

not take place in other circumstances. They also give the extension
worker an opportunity to meet the families as well as the fishermen
and so to learn about family problems. Particular care is needed in
writing letters to give advice. These should be as simple and to the
point as possible and all letters must be readily understandable.i3
Once an extension worker becomes known in his district he can
expect to do much useful work by means of casual contacts made in
such places as fish markets, gear supply shops, boat yards, or even by
visiting fishing villages. Fishermen who do not come to his office or
who cannot write will contact him informally in this way, and he
should treat these approaches just as seriously as the more formal
ones.
Proper detailed records should be kept for all individual contacts.
Reference to these records would tell the extension worker, or his
successors, all that they need to know about a particular fishermen,
his way of life, his methods and problems, what has already been
done to help him, and the results. It is vitally important that any
promises made during these contacts are kept. If an extension worker
promises to send written advice, or to make a contact on someone
elses behalf, or obtain advice for him, he must carry out his promise.
Every extension worker should keep a detailed daily diary in which he
records all contacts and promises made besides his other activities.
The diary is an official document and should be kept in such a form
that it will be useful and available to his superiors and his successors.
ChambersI suggests that agricultural extension workers should
issue notebooks to the farmers in their district in which they record
notes of their visits. This has the twofold advantage of enabling
superiors to check on the number of visits made to individual farmers,
and of providing a form in which any advice can be left with the
farmer.i5
l3 Whenever possible, a suitable
illustrated fact sheet should be sent rather Group methods generally require even more careful planning than
than a long personal letter. Even where individual contacts. They may include meetings on a village or larger
there is no regular postal service it is scale, demonstrations of methods or results, visits to other villages or
often possible to send letters by hand
through delivery men, or, for instance, fish landings, and participation in shows. Group meetings are
through fish buyers. particularly useful in developing countries. They should be treated as
a Ft. Chambers, Managing Rural opportunities for discussion rather than as lectures; the people,
Development. Scandinavian Institute of
Management Studies, Uppsala, 1974. particularly the leaders, should be fully involved and encouraged to
15As far as I am aware, no fisheries take active roles.
extension service has ever done this, but
Fishermen are accustomed to learning by method demonstrations,
there are some situations in which it
might be useful. It might not be necessary since this is the way in which fathers teach their sons to fish. Subjects
to issue notebooks to individuals: these which would best be taught in this way include net making and
could be left with village headmen and
hanging, processing and preservation such as salting, smoking and
serve just as useful a purpose as they
would if given to individuals. drying, icing fish, manufacture of fish boxes and smoking kilns - all
l6 For example, that by hanging a net to the usual practical skills.
the correct length you catch more fish,
Result demonstrations differ only in that they go a step further and
that properly iced fish keeps longer than
poorly iced fish, that well smoked fish show what happens as a result of varying or carrying out a particular
looks and tastes better and keeps longer process. l6 The essence is to compare two or more procedures.
than poorly made smoked fish, and that
Visits should be made when some parts of the country are carrying
by doing it the new way you can show a
bigger profit for your labours. out advanced techniques not used in other parts. They are then
Newspapers, magazines, and television especially useful as the visitors can imagine for themselves what
cannot be used to reach all developing-
conditions were like before the changes were made, and can see for
country fishermen. Methods which can be
used include radio (fishermen often sit themselves the advantage of making the changes. It would obviously
mending their nets beside transistor be very difficult to reach all members of the fishing communities, and,
radios), posters and handouts. Such
when new laws are enacted, fish prices changed, or new methods
material should be prepared for the
extension service as a whole rather than prove outstandingly successful, the mass media and other mass
by the individual extension worker. methods should be used.

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Fisheries extension services - their role in rural development

As with any other educational programme, it is necessary to check

the progress being made and to evaluate results. This is more difficult
with extension programmes than with any others, because the
students and teachers meet at undefined times in a variety of different
places. Nevertheless an attempt must be made, or no one will know
whether the service is succeeding in its objectives or not. In most
countries it would be difficult, if not impossible, to attempt to use even
moderately sophisticated methods of evaluation, such as systematic
formal enquiries by teams of trained research workers. Much simpler
methods are needed, particularly when dealing with illiterate or
semiliterate people.
Effective checks on progress are made by requiring extension
workers to submit regular reports in which they detail what they have
done, where they have been, and what they think the results have
been, not only for the current period of work but also for work done
in the past. Such reports are best presented verbally with
accompanying notes at a regular meeting with the individual
extension workers immediate superiors. Every extension worker
should have a clear planned programme showing exactly what he is
going to do during the year, and, in particular, what points he is trying
to convey to fishermen or their families. This gives the individual
workers confidence and makes it easier to check on the effectiveness
of their programme. The extension programme is really aiming to
change the attitudes of people in the fishing villages; even in the best
circumstances it is difficult to make other than a purely subjective
evaluation of this.

Liaison
Advice about the technologies involved in fishing and fish handling
will almost invariably be available within the fisheries department. But
not all fisheries departments are able to advise on matters such as
boat construction, and in most countries there are specialised
departments which deal with the marketing of agricultural and
fisheries products and with the formation and operation of
cooperative societies. Many of the projects in which an extension
worker will be involved will require that capital is provided from
outside the immediate area in which he is working, often by the
national government. Sometimes the running costs for some of his
projects will be provided in the same way. Often fishermen or their
families need advice on the care of their animals, the growing of their
crops, their fruit or coconut trees, or vegetable growing. Where major
public works such as roads or bridges are required, the public works
department or its equivalent will be involved. In medical matters,
workers at the Ministry of Health will be required.
Clearly the people needed, some of them fairly senior in
government service, will not come running when the extension
worker, who is comparatively junior, whistles. Indeed, officers of
other departments often show a marked reluctance to appear in
fishing villages at all, and when they do it is usually for a very brief
visit. It is necessary to evolve a method of working which will ensure
that the fisheries extension worker is able to obtain the advice and
assistance he needs from other departments and to integrate the
efforts being made by the various government departments to develop
a particular area.

140 MARINE POLICY April 1977

 Fisheries extension services - their role in rural development

Management
In recent years various methods of providing for the integration of
development have been tried. Chambers* provides a valuable review
of the management of rural development based on ideas and
experience obtained in East Africa. The methodology he recommends
is based on what he calls the programming and implementation
management (PIM) system which was developed in Kenya from
1971 onwards. Chambers refers to the three main components of the
system :

0 A programming exercise, which was annual and held just before

or just after the beginning of the financial year. This is a meeting
attended by all those directly concerned with implementation at
which they jointly and freely draw up a phased work programme
for the year.
0 A management meeting, which was usually monthly. At this
meeting attended by those concerned directly with
implementation, progress is reviewed against the phased work
programme, bottlenecks are identified, and remedial action
agreed upon.
0 An action report, which was described as a monthly management
report, summarising briefly the progress made and problems
encountered, naming those responsible for action, and sent
quickly and simultaneously to those concerned at different levels
in Government.

Anyone concerned with rural development would find Chamberss

exposition of great value. In some situations it is possible to hold
regular meetings attended by all departments involved in rural
development. But the group meeting must be small, or it degenerates
from a workshop to a talkshop.
A similar system was evolved in Malaysia in the 1950s and 1960s
which suggests that a system of this kind can be made to work under
widely differing conditions. Like everyone else who has been
intimately involved in the development process, Chambers is insistent
that the people who are being helped should be intimately involved at
every stage of the process and that their thoughts and ideas should be
incorporated in any programme which is developed.

Training for extension workers

In Europe and North America the people who carry out extension
work in the field are often university graduates. Such people are
seldom broadly trained generalists; usually they are specialists and in
some cases highly specialised so that they may be responsible, for
example, for quality-control aspects of fish processing rather than
working in fish handling generally. Such people could of course be
very useful in the development of an artisanal fishery; unfortunately
they are far too expensive to be employed in these situations.
In the developing world the fisheries extension worker should be a
well trained technician who has a good understanding of a number of
different technologies, including boat-building and maintenance,
fishing gear maintenance and fish handling, processing and marketing.
Ft.Chambers, op ci?. Reference 14. In most territories which were formerly under UK control three levels

MARINE POLICY April 1977 141

Fisheries extension services - their role in rural development
R.C. Cole and D.N.F. Hall. Guide co of grading in the government service are recognised, the more senior
Fishery Education and Training, FAO,
Rome, 1973.
posts being filled by university graduates, the middle level posts by
R C Cole, Report of the FAO Mission to diploma holders who have attended a 3-year course of instruction
Nigeria to Determine the Needs for following secondary school, and the more junior posts by certificate
Training in Inland Fisheries and Wild Life
Management, Part 1: Inland Fisheries,
holders who have attended a 2-year course of instruction following
FAO. Rome, 1975. secondary school. Cole and Hall discuss job specifications and
* Any course of this type should include standards of proficiency in considerable detaiLI The fisheries
subjects such as basic sciences and
mathematics, statistics, Fisheries
extension worker is normally a certificate holder, his immediate
cooperative societies, principles of adult superior is a diplomat, and the more senior officers in a fisheries
education and mass communication, department are usually graduates.
ecology, Fish, Fisheries biology and aquatic
sciences, Fish handling, preservation,
Cole and Hall set out in their curriculum the training syllabus used
processing and marketing, Fisheries for Fisheries Assistants in Uganda. The course was designed for
management, fish culture, Fishing gear people who would be working in freshwater fisheries and needs
technology, navigation and seamanship. It
is also very important that students should
modification for those working in marine fisheries in other parts of the
be taught to write clearly and concisely: world. In addition to the basic science, mathematics and technology
they should be given plenty of practice in set out in this course, a student who is to work as a fisheries extension
this and in taking part in and controlling
meetings. delivering lectures and carrying
officer needs training in the principles of adult education and mass
out demonstrations. In general, the aim communication, and the management and operation of fisheries
should be to arrange the course so that at cooperative societies. ColeZo suggests a curriculum for use in Nigeria
least half the students time is spent in
practical work.
for training extension workers during a 2-year certificate course;
unlike the Uganda one, this course is not yet in operation.:
Robert C. Cole graduated at the In some countries students are selected for a 3-year diploma course
University of London in 1951 and rather than for a 2-year certificate course when they leave school.
subsequently attended the Colonial Office
Fisheries Officers Course. In 1966, he
Since this frequently results in the training of people who then prove
became a Fellow of the Institute of Food unsuitable for the type of work they are expected to do, it seems much
Science and Technology. Mr Cole has more sensible to arrange that new recruits to the fisheries department
been a Fisheries Officer in Malaysia. has
undertaken consultancies on fisheries
work for at least several months in the field before they undergo any
development and training with the training at all. They should then attend a 2-year certificate course
Ministry of Overseas Development and before returning to the field and only those who have passed the 2-
FAO, and was Principle andAdviser of the
Fisheries Training Institute at Entebbe,
year course satisfactorily and have then proved themselves useful in
Uganda. He has written many scientific the field should be selected for a third year of training leading to a
and technical reports and papers. With Or diploma and, in most cases, to immediate promotion. No one should
D.N.F. Hall, he compiled the FAO *Guide to
Fisheries Education and Training (see
fill or attempt to fill a supervisory role in a fishery extension service
above, Reference 19J. without having worked at the most basic field level.

142 MARINE POLICY April 1977