Understanding influences in policy landscapes for sustainable coastal livelihoods

Ensuring sustainability of livelihoods for communities residing in coastal environments of the Global South has gained considerable attention across policy making, practice and research fields. Livelihood enhancement programs commonly strategize around developing people's resilience by diversification of income and subsistence activities, but are criticised for inadequate appreciation of local contexts. This in part results from the application of theoretical approaches in practice which are informed disproportionately by dominant science-based narratives and utilised by actors in higher level political arenas. This leads to the prioritization of objectives that do not necessarily reflect local livelihood conditions. There is an urgent need to address the multiple challenges that limit the possibility for sustainable livelihoods in spatially and temporally dynamic environments. This paper presents an analysis of the policy landscape in which intervention strategies for sustainable coastal livelihoods emerge. It examines how livelihood improvement approaches take shape in the context of conservation, rural development, and regional resource governance. Drawing from analyses of broader regional policies and an extensive literature review, a conceptual framework is presented. It details various influences that can flow up or down multi-scaled governance structures to affect policy and management - from agenda-setting narratives of policy makers to the dynamic and changeable nature of livelihoods. Case studies from the Arafura and Timor Seas region are introduced to illustrate some of these trends. The discussion highlights challenges encountered in the pursuit of sustainability for coastal and marine-based livelihoods, and suggests directions for more effective long term policy, management and strategic interventions.     

Category, narrative, and value in the governance of small-scale fisheries

Since the 1970s, small-scale fisheries have had an important place in fisheries social science and in fisheries management. While there has been substantial discussion of what constitutes the category of small-scale fisheries, its considerable ambiguity is nevertheless often passed over. This paper argues that while the category of scale fisheries can be best understood in terms of scale, the underlying reason for the power of the category lies in the values of social justice and ecological sustainability that it has come to represent in response to dominant high modern narratives of change. Fisheries governance may better be served by prioritising these values rather than by making a fetish out of small-scale fisheries.     

Vulnerability to impacts of climate change on marine fisheries and food security

Assessment of fisheries vulnerability to climate change is an important step for enhancing the understanding and decision-making to reduce such vulnerability. This study aimed to provide an analysis of country level vulnerability focusing on food security implications of climatic disturbances on marine fisheries. The comparative magnitude and distribution of potential food security impacts of climatic disturbances on marine fisheries were assessed for 109 countries by scoring and ranking countries against a set of vulnerability criteria including metrics of national exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity, highlighting the contribution of marine fisheries to national food and nutrition security. Results showed that developing countries in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Latin America appeared to be most vulnerable, and the key sources of vulnerability differed considerably among the countries. For countries most vulnerable to climate-induced effects on marine fisheries, more than two-thirds of them depended on domestic marine fisheries as a main source of fish supply. Developing appropriate adaptation policies and management plans to reduce the impacts of changing climate is of great importance to sustain food security in these highly vulnerable and heavy marine fisheries-dependent countries.     

Working up an appetite for lionfish: A market-based approach to manage the invasion of Pterois volitans in Belize

Located on the Caribbean coast of Central America and flanked by the second longest barrier reef in the world, Belize is a nation reliant upon marine resources. Each year, the country’s predominantly small-scale fisheries generate an estimated US$22 million in revenue – 1.8%of GDP – and employ 3000 people. However, the nation’s fishing communities are facing an unprecedented challenge. Existing threats posed by declining fish stocks have been exacerbated by the introduction of the invasive alien red lionfish Pterois volitans in 2008. This Indo-Pacific predator has the potential to cause significant losses to the recruitment of native fish, in turn disrupting coral reef community dynamics in the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Howefver, targeted lionfish fishing may offer a cost effective means to control the invasion, while also creating an alternative livelihood solution and improving food security among Belize's coastal fishing communities. This study summarises the recent history of the lionfish invasion in Belize, describes the multi-sector approach being used to address the invasion, and presents preliminary research summarising the characteristics of invasive alien lionfish in Belize. Data from Belize's nascent ‘lionfishery’ are also presented, demonstrating that demand for lionfish is outweighing supply – largely as a result of awareness-raising initiatives – and highlighting the strong potential for replication of this approach elsewhere in the Caribbean. The study concludes by discussing the barriers and potential solutions to this market-based approach to invasive species management.     

Small-scale fisheries and food security strategies in countries in the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) region: Angola,Namibia and South Africa

This paper provides an overview of the small-scale fisheries sector in countries within the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME), one of the most productive large marine ecosystems in the world. The study revealed that Angola, Namibia and South Africa have very different legal and policy frameworks, show different levels of compliance with international and regional agreements to protect the livelihoods and food security of small-scale fishers, as well as of integration of fisheries into food security objectives. Angolan law recognises and protects small-scale fishers through legal and institutional mechanisms. In Namibia, this sector of fishers is not legally recognised, while in South Africa traditional fishers have been largely excluded from the new fisheries management framework. Trends in national and regional fish consumption and in the extent of export orientation in fisheries are explored, as well as the potential threats to small-scale producers and food security in the region posed by ongoing drives to incorporate fisheries in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements.     

Subsistence and small-scale fisheries in South Africa: A ten-year review

The Marine Living Resources Act (1998), legally recognised subsistence fishers and made provision for the declaration of coastal areas for their exclusive use. In 2001, a limited commercial fisheries sector was created. These changes indicated government's commitment to addressing the historical marginalisation of small-scale fishers.     

Coastal livelihood vulnerability to marine resource degradation: A review of the Indonesian national coastal and marine policy framework

In rapidly developing countries, where large sections of the population are highly dependent on marine resources, coastal livelihoods are vulnerable to sudden shocks and long-term change. National policy can attempt to mitigate this vulnerability within a multi-level framework by addressing the three aspects of vulnerability (exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity) through well-documented interventions. This article reviews the Indonesian policy framework for coastal and marine policy interventions that either directly or indirectly address different dimensions of coastal livelihood vulnerability. The findings show that the policy environment for addressing coastal livelihood vulnerability is heavily based on developing adaptive capacity and to a certain extent sensitivity without adequately addressing exposure, the initial cause of vulnerability. In addition, the complexities and inconsistencies within the Indonesian governmental structures, as well as more general issues of funding gaps and poor coordination, mean that policies created at national level rarely filter down to provide the intended benefits to coastal communities. It is recommended that practitioners and policymakers engage in a more cohesive and balanced approach to addressing livelihood vulnerability in coastal management by focusing more on the causes of the disease, exposure, rather than healing just the symptoms.     

Foregone harvests and neoliberal policies: Creating opportunities for rural,small-scale,community-based fisheries in southern Alaskan coastal villages

Neoliberal policies of effort limitation and privatization have reduced commercial salmon and other fishing opportunities available to the coastal, predominantly Alaska Native, villages of southern Alaska. However, there are a variety of circumstances, including the manner in which the current commercial fishery is prosecuted, that lead to surpluses of unharvested salmon, and potentially other species, available in certain areas. This paper will define the concept of “foregone harvests”, discuss the environmental and managerial conditions that lead to “foregone harvests” and describe the possibilities such conditions create for the development of small-scale, local and community-based fisheries. Case studies of possible Huna Tlingit (Hoonah) and Kaigani Haida (Hydaburg) salmon fisheries will be presented. Alternative arrangements of salmon fisheries and institutions in southeast Alaska are presented through case studies of the villages of Yakutat and Metlakatla. These examples demonstrate how such fisheries could be built on local and traditional knowledge, as well as currently used subsistence technologies resulting in new economic opportunities compatible with local cultural patterns and interests and buttressing local identities and commitments.     

Sport fisheries: Opportunities and challenges for diversifying coastal livelihoods in the Pacific

High population growth rates and poverty are likely to elevate the vulnerability of many coastal communities in the Pacific region to climate change. Alternative livelihood strategies which can generate income and simultaneously conserve fish stocks and their habitats are a priority. This paper investigates the feasibility of ‘sport fishing’ (recreational catch and release angling for particular species of predatory game fish) as such a strategy. The limited research of sport fisheries in developing countries is augmented with a review of community-based ecotourism, integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs) and common property management literature to propose design principles. Five pre-requisite principles for the success of sport fishery enterprises are suggested. First, adequate local capacity must be available to manage a tourism business and facilities, supported by cross-scale co-management amongst stakeholders. Second, appropriate governance arrangements must be in place to ensure the equitable dispersal of benefits to all members of the local community, and conflict resolution. Third, resource-ownership boundaries and rights must be clearly delineated before the enterprise begins in order to minimise the potential for future conflict. Fourth, social, biodiversity and ecosystem service co-benefits should result from the enterprise. These should include improvements in income, health, education, food security, the status of the target and non-target species and their habitat and non-fishery ecosystem services. Fifth, monitoring and evaluation of these principles is required within an adaptive co-management framework which takes a social–ecological systems approach and includes all stakeholders in social learning and power-sharing. Through this, broader impacts of the enterprise may emerge which go beyond the standard assessment of ecotourism and ICDP success in financial or biodiversity terms. These principles now need to be tested by researching the experiences of case studies of sport fishing enterprises in the Pacific.     

Property relations and the co-management of small-scale fisheries in Costa Rica: Lessons from Marine Areas for Responsible Fishing in the Gulf of Nicoya

Marine fisheries in Costa Rica have become characterized by overexploitation, ineffective centralized management and increased conflict among fishing sectors. Despite high economic and socio-cultural importance of small-scale fisheries, no formal mechanisms existed until recently to facilitate the participation of fishers in management. Marine Areas for Responsible Fishing (Áreas Marinas para la Pesca Responsable, AMPR) were legally recognized in 2009 as a co-management approach, enabling the designation of spatial management areas to be implemented collaboratively by artisanal fishers and government agencies. In this paper, we examine property and access relations shaping this emerging participatory management model using case studies primarily from the Gulf of Nicoya region. The policy demonstrably improves upon some aspects of management, for instance, by allowing artisanal fishers to determine gear restrictions within designated areas. However, the model lacks other attributes of more successful co-management scenarios, particularly exclusive access. The fugitive nature of resources further complicates property relations over these fisheries. The cases explored also illustrate broader institutional and systemic issues that preclude effective participatory management. Lessons from the region are used to propose significant shifts to the management of small-scale fisheries in Costa Rica.     

Insights from the users to improve fisheries performance: Fishers’ knowledge and attitudes on fisheries policies in Bahía de Kino,Gulf of California,Mexico

This study investigated the interpretation and level of support of government regulations in Bahía de Kino, Sonora, one of the most important fishing communities in terms of diving extraction of benthic resources in the Northern Gulf of California. Research was conducted from April to August 2007, focusing on the small-scale fisheries sector of commercial divers. Information on fishers’ awareness of current policies, fishers’ attitudes concerning different aspects of fisheries regulation, and fishers' suggestions on how their fisheries should be managed, was gathered through structured interviews (including open and closed-ended questions), informal talks and participant observation. Results provide further evidence supporting the need for formally recognizing the fishers as key stakeholders in local fisheries, and for working cooperatively towards the design of management strategies and regulations that provide better stimulus for resource stewardship and discourage overfishing. Very importantly, this study suggests that there is strong support from resource users for implementing regulatory measures for local fisheries. Results could be used as a preliminary baseline to initiate the discussion among fishery stakeholders towards the development of species-specific management plans for the area, as required by the recently enacted fisheries act in Mexico, the “Ley General de Pesca y Acuacultura Sustentables”.     

An indicator-based adaptive management framework and its development for data-limited fisheries in Belize

Decisions regarding the selection and implementation of management strategies that constrain fishing pressure can be among the most difficult choices that fisheries managers and stakeholders must make. These types of decisions often need to be confronted in a data-limited context, where few if any management measures are currently in place or fisheries are managed independent of adequate scientific advice. This situation can sometimes create a high risk of overfishing and potential loss of economic and social benefits. To address this situation, simple model-free indicator-based frameworks have the potential to be effective decision-making platforms for fisheries where quantitative estimates of biomass and fishing mortality based reference points are lacking. In this paper, a multi-indicator framework is developed that enables decision-makers to proceed with management decisions in data-limited situations. Model-free indicators are calculated using trends in observed data, rather than stock assessment derived estimates of biomass and fishing mortality. The framework developed is adaptive so that adjustments to catch or effort are recursive and can respond to changing environments, socioeconomic conditions, and fishing practices. Using stakeholder-defined objectives as a foundation, indicators and reference points of fishery performance are chosen that can be evaluated easily by undertaking analyses of available data. Indicators from multiple data streams are used so that uncertainty in one indicator can be hedged through careful interpretation and corroboration of information from alternative indicators. During the adaptive management cycle, managers and stakeholders evaluate each indicator against the associated reference points to determine performance measures, interpret the results using scientific and local knowledge, and adjust fishery management tactics accordingly using pre-defined harvest control rules. The framework facilitates the interpretation of situations in which performance measures suggest divergent stock abundance or productivity levels. A case study is presented on this framework's development for conch and lobster fisheries of Belize.     

海南省现代海洋渔业发展现状与对策建议

为促进海南省海洋渔业经济高质量发展,本文分析了海南省现代海洋渔业发展现状、存在的主要问题,在此基础上提出相应的对策建议。研究结果表明：海南省海洋捕捞业趋于稳定、海水养殖进入转型关键期、苗种业已成为区域优势产业、水产品加工业面临较大压力、休闲渔业迅速兴起,目前主要在生产方式、基础设施、产业实体、技术创新和资金配套等方面存在不足。本文提出了优化养殖空间布局、打造产业综合发展平台、夯实科技创新支撑能力、扶持培育领军企业、推进苗种品牌建设、提高融资服务水平等对策建议。     

Using normative evaluations to plan for and manage shellfish aquaculture development in Rhode Island coastal waters

As shellfish aquaculture activities grow in the US, researchers, practitioners, resource users, and others have questioned how much development can be accommodated by natural and social systems. In a unique application of the normative evaluation approach to shellfish aquaculture development, this study uses data from a mail survey to (1) examine Rhode Islanders’ support for aquaculture in general and in RI waters; (2) investigate how different features of an aquaculture farm influence normative evaluations; and (3) explore areas of agreement and disagreement among stakeholder groups for social carrying capacities associated with aquaculture in RI coastal waters. Findings demonstrate that respondents do not strictly support or oppose aquaculture development; instead support depends on the waterbody where the aquaculture is occurring, the amount of area used for aquaculture, and ways in which aquaculture is conducted. Social norm curves show that levels of acceptabilities for shellfish aquaculture development in two RI waterbodies decline with increasing levels of aquaculture activities. Comparisons among sub-sets of respondents highlight disagreement among groups on the level beyond which shellfish aquaculture development is no longer acceptable (social carrying capacity). Results from normative evaluation studies can be used in combination with physical, ecological, and biological carrying capacities; management goals and objectives; other resource uses and values; and desired social and ecological conditions to inform policy discussions about shellfish aquaculture development in coastal waters.     

夜光藻赤潮发生视角下平潭岛近岸海域生态安全与旅游经济协同发展评价研究

根据近十年平潭海域生态环境调查资料与旅游经济产业发展数据,结合夜光藻赤潮观测资料,通过构建海洋生态-旅游经济复合系统协同发展评价体系,运用耦合、协同、脱钩评价方法对平潭海洋生态-旅游经济复合系统协同发展水平进行测度评价,从时间层面上分析海洋生态环境安全与旅游经济发展的协同强度和发展态势。研究结果表明：（1） 2009-2019年,平潭旅游经济呈线性上升趋势,而海洋生态系统演化呈较为平缓的波动上升趋势,海洋生态-旅游经济复合系统逐渐向高水平耦合阶段演化;（2）平潭海洋生态-旅游经济复合系统发展在研究期间处于非协同或低协同状态,但发展态势和协同程度有所上升;（3）废水排放入海量、废水中COD排放量、废水中氨氮排放量与平潭旅游经济发展呈较为理想的脱钩状态,废水中的有机污染物排放浓度逐年降低;（4）夜光藻赤潮持续天数与平潭旅游经济增长的脱钩指数波动较大,营养盐水平与夜光藻赤潮发生频次的相关性并不明显。基于以上研究结果,本文提出引入具有协同效应的巨涨落机制等对策建议,以期实现平潭海洋生态-旅游经济复合系统的提质升级。     

Sex‐specific affinity for redox‐active metals influences antioxidant responses of Callinectes amnicola (blue crab) populations in littoral and open water habitats of a tropical coastal lagoon

The critical role of ecological preferences and opportunity in determining contaminant uptake and adaptive responses of sexes in the wild is still poorly understood. This ecological relationship was investigated by measuring metal bioaccumulation and antioxidant activity in male and female blue crab populations from open water habitat and the littoral/inter‐tidal zone of the Lagos Lagoon. A total of 741 samples of blue crab (littoral zone: 263 females, 137 males; open water zone, 230 females, 111 males) was collected monthly over 24 months (January 2010–January 2012) from each site and the measurements of morphometric features (wet weight, carapace length, carapace width) were recorded; condition index, metal (redox active: Cu, Zn, redox inactive: Pb, Cd) concentration in tissues (gills, hepatopancreas, gonads and muscle) and antioxidant activity (superoxide dismutase, reduced glutathione, glutathione peroxidase, catalase and malondialdehyde) were measured for each sex. Monthly sediment samples for both habitats were also analysed for metals using standard methods. Female crabs were significantly larger (p < .05) with a better condition index than the male crabs across sites and seasons, while higher oxidative damage was recorded in male crabs in the littoral zone compared to the open water zone. The results show that there was a negative association between antioxidant activity and lipid peroxidation; a negative relationship between concentrations of redox‐inactive metals (Pb and Cd) and antioxidant activity in male crab tissues; and a positive relationship between uptake of a redox‐active metal (Cu) and antioxidant activity in female crab tissues. Although these trends suggest sex‐specific toxicity, they also associate redox‐inactive metals with the downregulation of antioxidant activity and oxidative stress. Furthermore, the higher condition index of females corroborates the possibility of sex‐specific toxicity, while the larger‐sized females compared to males suggests size‐sexual dimorphism in the blue crab populations. The site‐specific oxidative damage between sexes may be attributed to the different complexity of both habitats, which affords different ecological opportunities for the sexes.