Including coastal resource users in fisheries management evaluation of San Miguel Bay, Philippines

This paper examines an approach that integrates the judgment and perceptions of coastal resource users in prioritizing the criteria and indicators for fisheries management impact evaluation. Five criteria with corresponding indicators were identified and selected namely, acceptability, biotic diversity, economic performance, enforceability, and equity. The weights of importance of criteria and indicators were determined through the Analytic Hierarchy Process applied in a case study with 23 resource user groups (categorized as fishers, local government unit, non-government organization, private sector and women) in San Miguel Bay, Philippines.The results of this study revealed that overall, acceptability is the most important criterion in evaluating the impacts of fisheries management strategy in San Miguel Bay, especially for the local government units and fishers groups. The best measure of acceptability criterion are the indicators resource users participation in fisheries management process, level of awareness of resource users in fisheries resource management and number of fishers who belong to an organization. Ten groups have consistency ratios between 0.0 and 0.08 which are within the acceptable level of 0.10. Conversely, most groups (78%) have consistency ratios less than 0.26. Also, the results of the preference analysis are remarkable because among the representative groups, most fishers groups exhibited consistencies in their judgments (average consistency ratios of 0.06-0.08). Economic performance indicators were consistently judged across groups indicating that individuals present higher convergence of views toward economic objective.     

Back to square one? Fisheries allocation under pressure

In Norway there is a long tradition of allocating fish resources among the fishers. In modern times this has been done through specific allocation keys. This article describes the development of the allocation system for the offshore (trawler) and coastal fleets. The allocation system is closely related to stock assessment and the fixing of global quotas (TACs) as well as structural policies to prevent “capacity creep”. All three systems can be seen as institutions, where the TAC-machine is firmly established while the two others are under pressure, largely due to competition on the global fish market. The established goal of maintaining a diversified fishing fleet is now gradually being dismantled, with repercussions for coastal employment and settlement patterns. The coastal fleet is per 2013 something entirely different from the situation in 1990, when the coastal fisheries were effectively closed. Sooner or later this development is bound to change also the management institutions, and in particular the allocation system and the closely related structural policies.     

Connecting fishers to conserve a transpacific ambassador: A trinational fisheries learning exchange

Fisheries learning exchanges (FLE) can be useful for enhancing fisheries management. Reversing the decline of the North Pacific loggerhead turtle is a priority articulated in US, Japanese, and Mexican natural resources policy. However, by 2005, while nesting beach protection was strong in Japan and bycatch reduction had been achieved in U.S. Hawaii-based longline fisheries, bycatch mortality was very high in Mexican artisanal fisheries and believed to be problematic in Japanese coastal fisheries. Efforts to conserve the population were hindered by lack of understanding and cooperation by and between fishers, conservation practitioners, scientists, and managers of all three countries. The authors produced a trinational FLE with participants from Japan, Mexico, and Hawaii to share bycatch challenges and develop solutions. The trinational FLE gave fishers and other participants new, otherwise unattainable knowledge, perspectives, and experiences that empowered them as leaders among their peers, resulting in unexpectedly strong cultural and conservation outcomes that included: a) understanding of the myriad threats to loggerheads throughout their ranges and lifetimes, b) development of a transpacific conservation partnerships to undertake coordinated recovery efforts, c) participatory research to develop and test bycatch reduction technological and practical solutions for Japan and Mexico, and d) hundreds of juvenile loggerheads spared per yr from bycatch mortality via changes in fishing practices by FLE participants. The authors conclude that the reciprocal FLE can serve as a practical tool with potential for broad application for empowering fishers and other fisheries stakeholders to improve fisheries.     

Outside the law? Analyzing policy gaps in addressing fishers’ migration in East Africa

Coastal areas, and their small-scale fisheries, are important targets for both internal and transboundary migration partly because high mobility is an inherent feature of many artisanal fisheries livelihoods. As climatic changes are forecast to occur, environmental changes may trigger increased flows of migrant fishers. Policies that seek to promote development in ways that do not extensively degrade natural resources will thus have to deal with likely increases in flows of people across administrative boundaries. However, to date little attention has been directed at this issue and little is known about how policies related to coastal resources and development address these issues. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by analyzing policies and legal documents related to coastal resource management and development to examine the extent to which they recognize and integrate fishers' migration in their provisions. Migrant well-being and vulnerabilities are also addressed by examining the extent to which existing policies dealing with socio-economic development and environmental management address migrants and their needs. The analysis shows that policies related to governance of marine resources and coastal development lack an acknowledgment of fishers' migration issues and suggests that this signals an important gap in policy. The implications of this are discussed. The paper also highlights the fact that the invisibility of the issue in policy means that institutions developed to deal with coastal management at the community level may not have sufficient support from legal and policy documents, and may not be developed or equipped to handle the possible conflicts and difficult trade-offs that need to be addressed as a result of current and potentially increasing fishers’ mobility.     

Social,economic and environmental effects of closing commercial fisheries to enhance recreational fishing

Recreational fishing mortality can have a major impact on coastal fish populations, bringing recreational fishers into conflict with commercial fisheries. This article reviews exclusion zones for commercial fishing, or ‘recreational fishing areas’ as a solution to the conflict between commercial and recreational fisheries. Recently designated recreational fishing areas in the state of Queensland, Australia are examined as a case-study. The goal of recreational fishing areas is to enhance recreational fishing and provide economic opportunities through charter fishing. However, recently designated recreational fishing areas in Queensland have not been thoroughly assessed for their social, economic and environmental impacts and they are not integrated within existing management frameworks for fisheries. The designation of recreational fishing areas is thus a shift away from evidence-based management in Queensland's fisheries and has likely occurred solely for political reasons – there are more voters in the recreational fishery than commercial fishery. In Queensland, excluding commercial fishing on its own is unlikely to result in long-term benefits to recreational fisheries because recreational harvest is a major component of fish harvest for some key species and there is no legislated limit to recreational harvest. Current political attention on recreational fishing areas provides an opportunity for fisheries managers, politicians, conservation groups and the public to discuss what is needed to manage sustainable coastal fisheries. In particular, recreational fishing areas need to be combined with efforts to enhance stewardship among recreational fishers if they are to be successful in the long-term.     

A sixteen-country mobilization for sustainable fisheries in the Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem

The Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem (GCLME) extending from Bissagos Island (Guinea Bissau) in the north to Cabinda (Angola) in the south defines the shared transboundary waters off the coast of western Africa, which embodies some of the major coastal upwelling sub-ecosystems of the world and is an important centre of marine biodiversity and marine food production. The GCLME is characterized by distinctive bathymetry, hydrography, chemistry, and trophodynamics and represents the number 28 Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) ranked among the most productive coastal and offshore waters in the world with rich fishery resources. However, over-exploitation of fisheries, pollution from domestic and industry sources, habitat destruction and poorly planned and managed coastal developments and near-shore activities are resulting in a rapid depletion of the rich fisheries resources and degradation of vulnerable coastal and offshore habitats putting the economies, productivity and health of the populace at risk. Recognizing the urgency of the fisheries decline and the environmental and socio-economic consequences for the region, the 16 countries bordering the ecosystem have mobilized complementary resources to the funding from the Global Environment Facility and United Nations Industrial Development Organization to implement priority management actions agreed in the preliminary Strategic Action Programme for the recovery of depleted fish stocks and restoration of degraded habitats for the advancement of the achievement of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) Johannesburg Plan of Implementation targets for recovery of fish stocks.     

Factors influencing participation of ‘top-down but voluntary’ fishery management—Empirical evidence from Taiwan

Taiwan has recently implemented a system of voluntary suspension of fishing activities as a means to reduce fishing efforts in offshore fisheries. This system is a top-down management approach but fishers voluntarily participate. Given the economic incentive offered, this system has not convinced a great number of fishers to participate. An understanding of what constitutes the underlying causes leading to fishers’ participation and non-participation provides fisheries managers with the opportunity to refine policy design and delivery. This paper aims to identify factors that may have potential to either promote or hinder fishers’ participation, and investigate the association between factors and fishers’ intention to participate using a logit regression model. The factors were classified into three categories: motive, constraint and fishers’ attitude toward resource use and management. A structured questionnaire including factors to collect empirical data from fishers was applied. The incentives in the form of reward did not seem sufficiently strong to draw fishers’ participation. However, fisher's positive view toward resource use and management enhanced intention to participate. This knowledge points out the importance of internalized resource stewardship among fishers in fishery management and can assist in developing fisheries management strategies aimed at enhancing fishers’ voluntary participation.     

National comprehensive approaches for rebuilding fisheries in South Korea

Korea's coastal and offshore fisheries have experienced reduction in their catch in the early 2000. The amount of catch from coastal and offshore fisheries dropped from 1.7 million tons in 1986 to 1 million tons in 2004. To address such catch reduction, fish stock enhancement programs have been constantly developed and implemented. However, as fish stocks have been estimated to decrease since 2000 in spite of various management measures, the Korean Government genuinely acknowledges the necessity to enhance fisheries productivity through the recovery of depleted fish stocks. Based on such acknowledgement, a fish stock rebuilding plan (FSRP) combined with conventional fish stock enhancement programs was established in 2005. For stocks which have shown drastic decrease, a FSRP was set up and promoted. So far, 10 FSRPs have been established and operated, and plan is being made to expand them to 20 species by 2012. The result of pilot projects shows that stocks have been increasing after the introduction of FSRPs. For instance, the catch per unit effort (CPUE) of sandfish in the East Sea has increased from 0.44 in 2005 to 0.78 in 2011. Consequently, fishing income has increased by 15%. The key lessons learned during the implementation of FSRP are: the causes for the decrease of stock vary and are complicated and it is necessary to adjust and eliminate some conventional policies that could have unforeseen negative impacts on fish stocks. The FSRP-based fisheries management policy in Korea carries great significance, for it has changed the focus of policy from simply maintaining the status quo to stock recovery and it allows relevant stakeholders to get actively involved in the procedures of establishing and promoting the plan, leading to effective implementation of the plan. The current FSRP is operated with species, but if it can be gradually expanded to encompass the whole ecosystem, it will greatly contribute to more effective management and fish stock recovery for all species in offshore and coastal waters surrounding Korea.     

Time preference of small-scale fishers in open access and traditionally managed reef fisheries

Individuals with high discount rates are likely not partial to conservation because they are unwilling to sacrifice short term benefits for potentially higher gains in the future. Many reef fisheries worldwide are open access, and fishers under open access systems are theorized to discount the future at an infinite rate. In contrast, fishers in a customary managed fishery can be expected to be more long term oriented, and thus possibly have lower discount rates. The present study tests this hypothesis by eliciting the discount rates of fishers in an open access small-scale reef fishery, and compares these rates to those of fishers in a customary managed reef fishery. Results indicate that fishers in both open access and traditionally managed reef fisheries have high annual discount rates that are on average over 200%. Contrary to expectations, fishers under an open access system are not associated with higher discount rates compared to customary management. It also appears that a larger proportion of open access fishers are more long-term oriented than those in the customary managed fishery, which is encouraging for the future conservation and sustainability of open access fisheries resources.     

Recent developments in Korean fisheries management

Korean fisheries face stock depletion and enforcement problems even after various fisheries management tools have been used for 50 years to manage the fisheries. Because of these problems, self-control management has been introduced into Korean fisheries led by the central government since 2001.This paper analyzes the characteristics of 79 model communities (2002) which have introduced Self-control Management Project (SMP) as their fisheries management system. Based on the characteristics of 79 model communities, we categorize Korean SMPs into 3 types: fishing village community model (I), fishing gear community (aquaculture (II-1) and coastal and offshore fishery (II-2)) and large-scale community (III). This paper also provides alternative policies to alleviate problems in different types of communities and to expand and more firmly establish the SMP in Korean fisheries.     

Patterns of species composition of beach seine fisheries off North-Western coast of Sri Lanka,fishers’ perceptions and implications for co-management

As in many developing countries, small-scale fisheries including beach seining contribute significantly livelihoods and food security of coastal communities. Beach seining in Sri Lanka is seasonal mainly during calm season deprived of strong monsoonal winds, and essentially a multi-species fishery. Knowledge about the seasonal occurrence of pelagic species is important to be known for proper planning of the fishing activity, especially due to the reason that beach seine fishers in many parts of Sri Lanka make decisions to attach the cod-end of correct type depending on the target species. The possibility of identifying pattern of seasonal occurrence of target fish species in beach seine fishing sites off the southern region of north-western coast of Sri Lanka was therefore investigated using Self Organizing Maps (SOM). The analysis indicated that beach seine fishers’ local knowledge to predict the occurrence of certain species in the fishing sites to adjust their fishing strategies to target desirable species was consistent with the findings of SOM approach. Consequently, it was concluded that as beach seine fishers use indirect indicators such as colour of sea water and behaviour sea birds predict the species occurrence fairly accurately, their local knowledge can be incorporated in the management planning of beach seine fisheries in the North Western coastal area of Sri Lanka.     

The role of local taboos in the management of marine fisheries resources in Tanzania

Contemporary government rules for fisheries resources management in developing countries have been challenged for their inadequacy. The search for modern management models for coastal and marine resources could be usefully informed by wealth of traditional knowledge that enabled communities to sustainably live with their environment for centuries or millennia. Local taboos, defined as implicit or explicit social rules prohibiting certain actions, have played an important part in many traditional approaches to resource use. A mixed methods approach was used to investigate how local taboos play a role in the management of fisheries resources in some rural and urban coastal communities of Tanzania. Focus group discussions, key informant interviews, participant observations and questionnaire surveys were used to gather primary data. Data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The study identified a number of potential local taboos in the management of fisheries resources and their habitats in coastal Tanzania. While these taboos showed some potential for applications in modern management approaches, a majority of fishers indicated non-compliance to most of them, especially in urban areas. A number of reasons are revealed to have attributed to the non-compliance of these taboos. These findings suggest the prospect for judicious integration of traditional practices with modern strategies, to enhance compliance. More studies on traditional knowledge that has a role in fisheries resources management are recommended, as are biophysical assessments in conjunction with traditional practices to reveal their scientific benefits. Successful community-based fisheries resources management in Tanzania will draw on modern and traditional perspectives.     

Status,trends and challenges in the sustainability of small-scale fisheries in the Philippines: Insights from FISHDA (Fishing Industries' Support in Handling Decisions Application) model

Managing small-scale fisheries in a developing country like the Philippines is very challenging because of high pressures from expanding fishing population, poverty and lack of alternative options. Thus, resource-focused fisheries management initiatives such as marine protected area (MPA) establishment will likely result in further marginalization of the poor fishers which could pose more serious problems in coastal communities. In this study, the status of small-scale fisheries in 44 coastal towns in the Philippines was assessed using FISHDA (Fishing Industries' Support in Handling Decisions Application), a simple decision support tool which requires minimal or easily-generated data. Results showed that 68% (30 out of 44) of the studied towns have unsustainable fisheries unless 58% of their fishing grounds are protected from all fishing activities. Alternatively, 53% of the active fishers in towns with unsustainable fisheries must totally stop fishing to avert fishery collapse. Alarming as it may sound, this is still an underestimate as catches incurred by the highly efficient and destructive illegal fishing activities such as blast, poison and large-scale fishing, which are reported to be still rampant in many coastal areas in the Philippines, were not accounted for in this study. This study demonstrated that MPAs alone may not be enough to avert fishery collapse even if MPA size is increased from the current 3% to 15% of the municipal waters, i.e. up to 15 km from the shore, as required by the Philippine law. Various challenges confronting the fishery and important recommendations to address them are further discussed.     

Institutional analysis of UK coastal fisheries: Implications of overlapping regulations for fisheries management

This paper addresses the issue of overlapping fisheries regulations by multiple authorities for coastal fisheries in the United Kingdom. It examines one particular case study of the oyster fishers of the Isle of Wight, focusing on resource management regulations, fishermen's strategies to deal with ambiguous legislation, and the response of the various management authorities. The case study forms the basis on which to discuss institutional implications for effective operational management of the UK's coastal fisheries resource.     

Fishers’ knowledge indicates short-term temporal changes in the amount and composition of catches in the southwestern Atlantic

The scarcity of data on fish catches difficult management of small-scale fisheries in developing countries. This study applies fishers’ knowledge to investigate temporal changes in the amount (biomass) and composition (major ecological categories) of fishing resources exploited by small-scale coastal fisheries in the southeastern Brazilian coast. Four hypotheses were investigated: (1) The amount of fish caught reported by fishers would decrease over time. (2) Older fishers would report higher fish catches than younger fishers. (3) Recent interviews would mention large-sized predators less often. (4) Recent interviews would mention less high valued fishing resources. Interviews with 421 fishers in 36 communities in the southeastern Brazilian coast were analyzed, covering a time span of 14 years, from 1995 to 2009. The hypothesis 1 was confirmed, 3 was partially confirmed, while 2 and 4 were not confirmed. Fishers’ age was unrelated to all variables. The results from fishers’ interviews indicated the temporal trends of: (1) a decrease in the biomass of fish caught; (2) an increase in the occurrence of smaller fish and invertebrates in the catch; (3) an increase of high value fishing resources; and (4) maintenance of large predators. The first two indicators suggest excessive fishing, but the later indicators (3 and 4) suggest that the socioecological system of the southeastern Brazilian coast had not yet undergone major ecological shifts.     

Development trajectories and impacts on coral reef use in Lingayen Gulf,Philippines

Management interventions to reduce pressures on coral reefs often include attracting fishers to non-extractive non-fishery supplemental livelihoods. We look at the case of coral reefs in Lingayen Gulf, Philippines to understand the impacts of local (i.e., aquaculture and tourism), regional, and national development on the artisanal fisheries sector. Using household surveys and a coral reef interaction index (CRII), we obtained relative levels of dependency and impacts of fisheries, aquaculture, and tourism on coral reefs for livelihood. Results show that overall dependency on coral reefs remains high despite its decreasing quality. Socio-economic profiles reveal steep hurdles in shifting fishers to aquaculture. Both aquaculture and fisheries will continue to grow and eventually compete for space if left unmanaged further resulting in reduced reef quality. Shifts of fishers to tourism-based and other low-capital requirement mariculture (e.g., sea ranching) are more realistic than the expectation of absorbing fishers into current aquaculture businesses. Strengthening local coastal governance capacity to improve proactive responses for micro–macro development interactive synergy will also help reduce the impacts of development on reefs. Improving safety nets for coastal communities through skills enhancement and supplemental livelihood options that facilitate stewardship and reef recovery is an imperative. Transforming the lessons learned at village level actions to sustain municipal scale programs and institutional cooperation among stakeholders such as through marine protected area networks remain a challenge. Sharing forums and joint financing of coastal resource management remain to be realized through public and private partnerships and expansion of development for investments in social enterprises.     

Fishery livelihoods and (non-)compliance with fishery regulations—A case study in Ca Mau Province,Mekong Delta,Viet Nam

Fishery in Ca Mau, Viet Nam’s most southern province in the Mekong Delta, plays locally an important role for human nutrition and has great potentials for export earnings. The overexploitation of inshore fishing resources is a major problem in Viet Nam’s coastal areas along the Mekong Delta. As a result, the Catch per Unit of Effort of small-scale fishing enterprises has decreased, undermining the sustainability of livelihoods of fishing families. The paper focuses on livelihoods’ strategies and diversification in the context of overexploitation and exhaustion of near-shore resources in relation to fishery policies. The results show that overexploitation is unavoidable in near-shore waters because of the lack of enforcement of fishery regulations for offshore vessels and the limitation of alternative sources of income and opportunities for livelihood diversification for small-scale fishers. The present policies to prevent overexploitation need to be reconciled with livelihood sustainability and fishery management, resource conservation and socio-economic goals     

Small-scale marine fisheries policy in Vietnam

Vietnam's marine fisheries are considered to be small scale and are concentrated in coastal near-shore waters. This has resulted in heavy pressure on near-shore fisheries resources. Near-shore fisheries are considered by fishers and the government to be over-exploited, causing hardship for many coastal communities. This paper reviews and analyzes changes in policy towards small-scale fisheries in Vietnam over the last two decades. The primary issues facing the small-scale fisheries in Vietnam are to restructure the near-shore fisheries and to address over-capacity. Recommended actions include improved fisheries statistics, resources for provincial fisheries staff, and a coordinated and integrated approach involving a mixed strategy of resource management; resource restoration; economic and community development; and new governance arrangements.     

A new (old) approach to inshore resources management in Samoa

Increasing populations and development in many of the small Pacific Island nations have placed heavy pressures on coastal environments and on inshore fisheries. The population of Samoa, in the Southwestern Pacific, has increased 5–6-fold in the past 150 years. Wetlands, lagoons and coral reefs have been seriously degraded because of inappropriate land-use and fisheries practices and recent catastrophic cyclones, and many fish and invertebrate stocks have declined in the past 10–15 years. A research program was established in 1990 to determine the status of the coastal and inshore environments, to monitor inshore subsistence and commercial fisheries, to determine the status of stocks, and to identify potential management actions. An inventory of inshore resources was produced using aerial photography and ground and underwater surveys. Fisheries catch and effort were established through a national census, questionnaire surveys in households and schools, and creel and market surveys. A major aid program was commenced in 1995 by the Australian government (AusAID) to assist Samoa to establish an effective inshore fisheries and environment management program. A key strategy was the devolution of powers in inshore fisheries management back from the national government to the villages and local fishers. A culturally appropriate co-management model was developed and tested, and has now been adopted by many villages. An inshore fisheries extension capability was developed within Samoa's Fisheries Division to assist villagers to undertake their own environmental and fisheries surveys; identify major factors affecting fisheries; identify ways of reducing these factors; establish an agreed (between village council and national government) plan of management and regulations; and establish their own fisheries management bodies. By the end of 1997 the Inshore Fisheries Extension Service had been established and trained; 26 villages had entered the co-management program and established their own plans of management; and 20 fisheries reserves had been established. The techniques for inshore environmental and fisheries assessment and management developed for Samoa are applicable, with appropriate modification, to subsistence fishing communities elsewhere in the South Pacific.     

Is the catch quota management (CQM) mechanism attractive to fishers? A preliminary analysis of the Danish 2011 CQM trial project

There is a demand for a management mechanism that can reduce the discarding problems of EU fisheries. Catch quota management (CQM) seems to be a promising candidate for such a mechanism. Drawing on a principal–agent model, the objective of this study is to develop and test a method for investigating if the CQM mechanism is efficient in providing fishers with incentives for participating in CQM and complying with the rules. The study uses the 2011 Danish CQM trial project as its empirical basis. The results indicate that CQM fishers have a higher average gross income compared to fishers harvesting according to the conventional rules. Hence, there is an incentive for fishers to participate in the trial. However, with the possibility to cheat, CQM fishers may achieve even higher gross income. It is not obvious that the CQM mechanism׳s payoff structure (incentives) is attractive enough to ensure that the fishers comply with the rules. The empirical data illustrate that without discarding the CQM fishers achieve a lower average price for their catches. Therefore, to make the CQM mechanism sufficiently attractive to fishers, the participating fishers must be compensated.