Co-management of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) fisheries

The countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have a relatively poor record of fisheries management and the need to reform fisheries governance is urgent. There is now increasing interest in getting fishers and other stakeholders more involved in management through co-management and community-based management approaches. The purpose of this paper is to examine the potentials of co-management as an alternative fisheries management strategy for the countries in the CARICOM region. Co-management is found to have potential but there will need to be capacity-building and institutional strengthening of fisheries departments, fishers and NGOs to participate in co-management. Pilot projects should be initiated to gain practical experience in co-management.     

Building capacity for integrated coastal management in developing countries

The need for building human and institutional capacity has been identified in Agenda 21 of the UNCED conference as well as by a number of international environmental institutions as essential for integrated coastal management (ICM) and sustainable development in developing coastal states. There is a growing need for coastal management practitioners and organizations with expertise in planning and implementation for ICM. The application of strategies for institutional development and building human capacity in coastal management and other fields shows that short-term intensive training efforts and long-term institutional strengthening programs are appropriate to address the issues and needs of ICM. An overview of the experience of the URI/USAID International Coastal Resources Management Program in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Ecuador presents lessons learned for strengthening ICM efforts in developing countries.     

Applying the large marine ecosystem (LME) governance framework in the Wider Caribbean Region

The large marine ecosystem (LME) governance framework was developed to address the complexity inherent within the Wider Caribbean Region with respect to the region's shared living marine resources. The framework is adaptable to all multi-scale living marine resource situations and provides a basis for incremental implementation of interventions. Parts of the overall governance framework can be targeted for sub-framework development and strengthening through institutional reforms and capacity building. Three examples, the Eastern Caribbean flyingfish fishery, marine protected area (MPA) management and the Eastern Caribbean tuna fishery, are used to illustrate the application of the framework in facilitating and assessing governance effectiveness in the Caribbean. In each case, the purpose is to show the different governance questions that must be addressed at policy, strategy and action levels to make up a complete governance arrangement and how these are distributed among several levels on the institutional scale that typically occur in regional marine resource governance.     

Marine biodiversity in the Caribbean UK overseas territories: Perceived threats and constraints to environmental management

Islands are often considered to be a priority for conservation, because of their relatively high levels of biodiversity and their vulnerability to a range of natural and anthropogenic threats. However, the capacity of islands to conserve and manage biodiversity may depend upon their governance structures. Many island states are affiliated to other countries through an ‘overseas territory’ status, which may provide them with access to resources and support mechanisms, but which may also influence the capacity for local-scale management of environmental issues. The United Kingdom has 12 island Overseas Territories (UKOTs), most of which support biodiversity of high conservation concern. This study investigates perceptions of current and future threats to marine ecosystems and constraints to environmental protection on the six Caribbean UKOTs, through semi-structured interviews with officials from UK and UKOT government departments and non-governmental organisations. Coastal development, pollution and over-fishing were perceived as threats of most concern for the next decade, but climate change was perceived as by far the greatest future threat to the islands' marine ecosystems. However, a series of common institutional limitations that currently constrain mitigation and conservation efforts were also identified, including insufficient personnel and financial support, a lack of long-term, sustainable projects for persistent environmental problems and inadequate environmental legislation. These findings highlight the need for regional cooperation and capacity-building throughout the Caribbean and a more concerted approach to an UKOT environmental management by the UK and UKOTs' governments.     

Beginning integrated coastal management efforts in Madagascar

Integrated coastal management (ICM) is an emerging approach in East Africa for the solution of various coastal issues. This paper is intended to provide an update on the current practical aspects concerning the ICM process and related policies and strategies in Madagascar. Efforts are being made in Madagascar for the mutual integration of numerous coastal projects and activities within the Environment Program of the National Environmental Action Plan. The foundations for an ICM program, built during an ICM workshop, which took place at the end of 1996 upon existing activities, are being expanded presently. These developments concern, above all, the institutional aspects related to the formulation of an ICM program. Therefore, the actual situation sees an overgrowing collaboration of the national and international agencies involved in the implementation of coastal projects, in an expandingly integrating way, within an institutional framework that grows progressively stronger. The case of Madagascar suggests reflections on how ICM can mitigate potential sectoral conflicts as well as on, how the sometimes complex nature of the social and cultural issues may influence the development of an ICM program. The need for monitoring ICM is stressed and the role of outside partners clarified.     

Governance fit for climate change in a Caribbean coastal-marine context

Coastal-marine systems in small island developing states of the Caribbean are highly vulnerable to both current and future climate change. Societies navigate these changes in part through processes of governance and the institutions through which governance takes place. The concept of institutional adaptive capacity is used to explore how governance processes and institutional arrangements can be adapted to match the scale and extent of climate change in a case study of the Soufriere Marine Management Area, St. Lucia. Institutional adaptive capacity is analyzed based on the following factors: institutional variety, analytical deliberation and nesting and networks. The analysis is based on 36 semi-structured interviews conducted with key informants from NGOs, cooperatives, management authorities and government agencies. The findings suggest that governance to address climate change in the case study is contingent upon developing holistic, integrated management systems, improving flexibility in existing collaborative decision making processes, augmenting the capacity of local management authorities with support from higher-level government, exploring opportunities for private–social partnerships, and developing adequate social–environmental monitoring programs. These findings have potential implications and lessons for similar settings throughout the Caribbean.     

The institutional framework for regional cooperation in ocean and coastal management in the South Pacific

Constrained by physical and economic factors, the States and Territories in the central and southwestern Pacific region (the Pacific Island States and Territories) have utilized regional cooperation in addressing many of the coastal and marine resources development issues facing the region. Regional cooperation in dealing with coastal and marine issues has been facilitated largely through the establishment of a number of regional organizations. This article discusses the institutional frameworks for regional cooperation in coastal and marine resources and environmental management by the Pacific Island States and Territories. The article also highlights efforts being made to achieve better harmonization of the roles and responsibilities of the various organizations.     

Policy implications and reconstruction of marine institutional architectures: the regional indigenous organization (RIO) option

Global marine policy-making and related institutional architectures have been within the domain of the United Nations system in general and its specialized agencies (FAO, IMO, UNESCO/IOC, UNEP) in particular. At the regional and country levels there are a large number of organizations and agencies that are involved in various marine issues in the programme areas of Regional Indigenous Organizations (ASEAN, CARICOM, SPF., organizations belonging to these regions). The paper reveals that the United Nations system represents a top-down policy making and institutional approach, whereas a combination of nation-state and their regional indigenous organizations represents a bottom-up approach. The paper outlines some inefficiencies of the United Nations system and provides an option for improving the effectiveness of regional indigenous organizations.     

Co-management in Japanese coastal fisheries: institutional features and transaction costs

This paper presents the institutional history and features of Japanese coastal fishery management, including the past decade's major legislative developments. In Japan, local resource users have been the principal decision makers in fishery resource management. Under the current Fishery Law, resource conservation is an integral part of resource use. Coordination of fisheries’ issues, such as rights/license distribution and local regulations, is achieved by multilevel coordinating organizations. Government and/or research institutes provide support with planning, scientific advice, etc. A brief analysis of Kanagawa Prefecture suggests that the fisheries transaction costs, especially the monitoring, enforcement and compliance costs, are remarkably low.     

The cooperative framework for ocean and coastal management in the Pacific Islands: Effectiveness,constraints and future direction

The framework for management of the ocean and coasts of the Pacific Islands region has been evolving since the early 1970s when Pacific Island countries played a significant role in the negotiations leading to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Commencing with a summary of the provisions of relevant international instruments, this paper presents a broad overview of regional arrangements for ocean and coastal management in the Pacific Islands region. It considers the work of the various regional intergovernmental organizations with active programmes in ocean research and governance and the consultative arrangements that support coordination and collaboration. Consultative arrangements involving other stakeholders, such as local, regional and international nongovernmental organizations are summarised. To improve environmental governance and address increasing environmental threats, particularly in relation to coastal area management, consultative arrangements need strengthening. This applies equally to national and regional level consultation. The institutional and policy framework for the management and conservation of oceanic fish stocks that Pacific Island countries have been refining over a period of 25 years is suggested as providing useful lessons for strengthening coastal management processes and strategies in the region.     

Examination of policies and MEAs commitment by SIDS for sustainable management of the Caribbean Sea

The Caribbean Sea hosts twenty-seven small island developing states (SIDS), some of which utilise their marine resources found in the Caribbean Sea for economic gains. Many of the economic activities such as tourism, shipping and industrial development are currently incompatible with a healthy and sustainable marine environment. Sewage, agricultural effluents and hydrocarbon pollution resulting from these economic activities have led to degradation of this large marine ecosystem. In an effort to address these issues; policies, programmes and multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) were initiated in order to regionalise the response efforts. These include efforts such the Cartagena Convention, the integrated watershed and coastal area management (IWCAM) initiative and pollution assessment among others. This paper reviews the regional responses by the SIDS and other agencies in dealing with pollution from land and marine-based activities and biodiversity loss via these initiatives.     

Moving beyond a top-down fisheries management approach in the northwestern Mediterranean: Some lessons from the Philippines

The management of fisheries resources in the northwestern Mediterranean is traditionally centralized and developed within the framework of coastal states and European Union common policies. In general, it has not been sufficiently effective in reversing the declining situation of fisheries resources and fishers in this region. This paper discusses the feasibility of moving away from a top-down approach in fisheries management towards a more participative and convergent mode of governance in the region. More specifically, the study focuses on MPAs as a fisheries management tool and evaluates their current establishment and management system in the French Mediterranean as a case study for the region. A brief review of the experiences on fisheries and MPA management in the Philippines is also presented to obtain insights on bottom-up and collaborative management approaches. Finally, possible opportunities for adopting a more decentralized and coordinated approach in fisheries management within the French socio-political system, and possibly in the northwestern Mediterranean region, are discussed. These include the existence of fishing community organizations in the region, such as the prud'homies in France and cofradias in Spain, starting with management strategies that are simpler to enforce and more acceptable to direct users, e.g., fishery reserves, and exploring co-management arrangements to manage fisheries at ecologically meaningful but operationally manageable scales as has been proposed by some development organizations. However, effective changes in the system would require major national policy and institutional reforms, social preparation and organizational strengthening which would take time and resources.     

Participatory research supporting community-based fishery management

This paper reports on a project to engage researchers and fishers together in adapting social science approaches to the purposes and the constraints of community-based fisher organizations. The work was carried out in the Scotia–Fundy Region of Atlantic Canada (the Bay of Fundy and Scotian Shelf). Its rationale reflects arguments that (1) effective community-based management requires that managers are able to pose and address social science questions, (2) participatory research, involving true cooperation in all stages, can support this process, and (3) there is a need to overcome practical and methodological barriers faced in developing participatory research protocols, to serve the needs of community-based management while not demanding excessive transaction costs. In this paper, we report on work with fisher organizations, both aboriginal and non-aboriginal, in which social science priorities were set by each organization, and small-scale research projects designed and carried out to meet these needs. This work identified interests among fishers in research on three different levels of meaning: (1) practical livelihood concerns, including what, when and where to fish, and with what intensity of effort, (2) social, economic and political issues (e.g., on institutional structures, politics of access and allocation, overlap and conflict between regulatory regimes), and (3) values and ethics that implicitly or explicitly guide policy development and implementation. Several research themes proved crucial, including those of power sharing, defining boundaries of a community-based group, access and equity, designing effective management plans, enforcement, and scaling up for effective regional and ecosystem-wide management. The research results demonstrate the effectiveness of extending participatory methods to challenge traditional scientific notions of the research process.     

Responses of the fishing sector to transitional constraints: From reactive to proactive change,Yucatan fisheries in Mexico

Most fisheries management studies have concentrated on understanding resource dynamics and have paid less attention to understanding the dynamics of those who use the resources. This situation limits the knowledge about the fisheries system as a whole and specifically about the viability of management schemes. It is vital to understand how the actors within the fishing sector (fishing firm owners/managers, fishers, fisheries managers, and traders) may respond to changes in fishing resources trends, market dynamics, and fisheries policies before they are implemented. These issues are explored in this paper by applying a longitudinal analysis of the Yucatan Mexico's fishing industry. The analysis is presented within the framework of the theory of change and coping strategies. The study primarily involved interviews during 2008 with the main owners of companies in the fishing industry and with fisheries managers and other stakeholders. Time-series catch data on the main fishing resources are also reviewed to evaluate changes across three historical periods and describe how the actors have perceived and responded to those changes. Given conditions of uncertainty in resource availability, changes in market demand and changes in institutional arrangements, the viability of traditional business and resource management practices are discussed. The analysis presents different kind of triggers that have modified the conditions of the fishing sector and had had impacts on the socio-economic–ecological system in which fisheries are embedded. The need for adaptive strategies in the whole chain of the fisheries business and resource management is stressed, given the current changes and conditions of fisheries. The discussion states a series of actions that could improve the relationships between business practices and fisheries management.     

Terms of reference towards an integrated management policy in the coastal zone of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean

The ecological and socioeconomic importance of the Mexican coastal zone of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean is analyzed and its main problems of pollution and environmental impact are described. Also, the legal, institutional, and technical framework that is applied to the coastal management of the region is analyzed. Finally, the definition and implementation of a Program of Integrated Management for the Coastal Zone of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, a Law for the Coastal Zone of the country, and adjustments to the main instruments of national environmental policy applied to the coastal zone of the region are proposed.     

Institutional designs of customary fisheries management arrangements in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Mexico

There are considerable efforts by governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and academia to integrate marine conservation initiatives and customary practices, such as taboos that limit resource use. However, these efforts are often pursued without a fundamental understanding of customary institutions. This paper examines the operational rules in use and the presence of institutional design principles in long-enduring and dynamic customary fisheries management institutions in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and Mexico. Rather than a “blue print” for devising long-enduring institutions, this study relies on the design principles as a starting point to organize an inquiry into the institutional diversity found in customary governance regimes. Three important trends emerged from this comparative analysis: (1) despite it being notoriously difficult to define boundaries around marine resources, almost 3/4 of the cases in this study had clearly defined boundaries and membership; (2) all of the customary institutions were able to make and change rules, indicating a critical degree of flexibility and autonomy that may be necessary for adaptive management; (3) the customary institutions examined generally lacked key interactions with organizations operating at larger scales, suggesting that they may lack the institutional embeddedness required to confront some common pool resources (CPR) challenges from the broader socioeconomic, institutional and political settings in which they are embedded. Future research will be necessary to better understand how specific institutional designs are related to social and ecological outcomes in commons property institutions.     

Context and differentiation: Comparative analysis of two community-based fishers’ organizations

There has evolved, as of late, a strong interest in decentralized modes of governance over fisheries and other marine resources, particularly that of community-based resource management (CBRM). However, analysis of this institutional model is hindered by simplistic, typological depictions of CBRM. We use organizational theory to argue how, within the broad category of CBRM, there exists a rich variation of institutional forms. We illustrate the analysis by showing how two ostensibly similar fishers’ organizations in Batangas, Philippines, differ in important ways and, furthermore, how these differences respond to particular challenges and opportunities found in their respective contexts. We also discuss implications of this research for program evaluation.     

Co-management of sea turtle fisheries: Biogeography versus geopolitics

Co-management between local communities and government agencies is promoted as a strategy to improve fisheries management. This paper considers the potential for co-management of sea turtle fisheries within four UK Overseas Territories (OTs) in the Caribbean, and for co-ordinated management among those territories. We focus on fisher incentives for engaging in co-management and on the potential to scale up co-management to a regional level. This paper presents data from Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, and Turks and Caicos Islands, where 110 turtle fishers participated in a socio-economic survey undertaken as part of the ‘Turtles in the UK Overseas Territories in the Caribbean’ project. Based on three established criteria for co-management (perceived crisis in stock, willingness to participate and community cohesion), results suggest that fisher support for co-management exists within each OT, but the extent of support for and views of specific management interventions varies among OTs. The implications of results for co-management in each territory, and for establishing co-ordinated management regimes in the region, are discussed in the context of current debates about the nature of resources and scalar (mis)matches between resource and management regimes.     

Stakeholder participation in ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management: A synthesis from European research projects

In this synthesis article, we claim that institutional innovation is required for ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management (EBAFM), and that such innovation can best be achieved by engaging in a delicate process of societal decision making. Current instances of participation in fisheries shed light on the societal processes required for such institutional innovation. We apply the IBEFish analytical frame to examine findings from recent European research on participation in fisheries management at different jurisdictional levels. We distil several issues of major concern for institutional innovation towards EBAFM. These concern information management, legitimacy, social dynamics and costs, as well as aspects of cross-scale and cross-sector integration of fisheries governance.     

Ocean and coastal issues and policy responses in the Caribbean

The Paper presents the regional perspective on the conditions and efforts for the integrated coastal management (ICM) that exist in the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR).The Caribbean Action Plan was adopted in 1981 with an initial workplan of activities of evaluation and control of marine pollution, evaluation of impacts on the coastal area, fishing studies, watershed management, evaluation of natural hazard effects, energy accounting systems studies, urbanisation of the coastal area, building capacity and training. The Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the WCR is the only regional legal framework for the protection and sustainable development of marine resources.The Paper describes some region-wide ICM-related programme initiated or supported by the CEP as well as actions at the national level. Other ICM-related general activities and training programmes of CEP are also presented.Trends in national policies in ICM and current developments and issues are also highlighted and recommendations made.