Savant Journals *Corresponding Author: Dr. Warebi Gabriel Brisibe*, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port- Harcourt, Nigeria Email: briswares@yahoo.com Savant Journal of Research in Environmental Studies Vol 2(1) pp. 001-007 January, 2016. http://www.savantjournals.org/sjres Copyright © 2016 Savant Journals Original Research Paper Common Pool Resources and Fishing Rights Amongst Ijo Migrant Fishing Communities in the Niger Delta, Nigeria Dr. Warebi Gabriel Brisibe Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port-Harcourt, Nigeria Accepted 21 st December, 2015 It is a known fact that as long as several users withdraw from a common pool resource with no clear cut governance regime and with no physical barriers demarcating the vast aquatic range, disputes over rights of usage and contested fishing landscapes are likely to occur. As such, this paper examines fishing rights of Ijo migrant fishers in the open aquatic spaces of Nigeria’s Niger Delta regions. This study employs the use of case entries and court rulings in customary courts within the Niger Delta region on claims of ownership and tenure over fishing sites, as one of its methodologies. It also uses interviews and focus groups from practicing fishermen to obtain information on territorial claims over fishing grounds. The findings show how fishing rights are obtained and maintained based on traditional management systems as observed through customary law on different levels in open aquatic spaces. Keywords: Fishing Rights, Migrant fishers, Common pool resources, Zones INTRODUCTION Ruddle and Akimichi (1984) observed that, The ways in which fishers perceive, define, delimit, „own‟ and defend their rights to inshore fishing grounds – or their „sea tenure‟ – is one of the most significant „discoveries‟ to emerge from the last ten years of research in maritime anthropology (Ruddle and Akimichi 1984:1) Although the practice of laying claim to aquatic territories around inland waters is not new, yet dispelling of the commonly held view, that the sea and its resources are common property everywhere, was a major stride in anthropological research in the 1980s. Historically, issues regarding fishing rights and user tenureship of water bodies have often been addressed under land use acts in most parts of the world. The view that water bodies are simply submerged land or part of essential accessories to arable land is commonly held in feudal and agrarian societies respectively. Such land and their adjoining water bodies were normally privately owned and leased to communities for taxes, depending on their occupation (Akimichi and Ruddle 1984). Scott (1989), analysing fishery rights in medieval times, argued that since all lands, including submerged lands could be in private hands, the overlying fisheries could equally be privately owned, except where such lands were too far offshore. Sudo (1984) observed similarities in how land and inshore waters were treated in most Micronesian societies. Both were simply regarded as „food resources‟. Hence, he concludes that “the subject of sea tenure should be discussed within the broader context of land tenure” (1984:161). In Ijo societies and the Niger Delta region as a whole, land may not necessarily include water under law. However, when acquiring a portion of an area to carry out any form of livelihood practice, streams, lakes, ponds and dense uncultivable swamps (akpara) are at that point treated as land. RESEARCH JUSTIFICATION What makes this study of importance is the issue of migration. The issue of fishing rights among sedentary fishers is bedevilled with its own complexities as it is, how much more when migration is involved. Pinho et al (2012) explored fisheries management in relation to migration. Their work emphasized the fact that fish populations are migratory and as such the fishers themselves are likely to move. Their study focuses on how local knowledge of fishers has been used in establishing cultural boundaries that aid in local fisheries