Toward institutions for community-based management of inshore marine resources in the Western Indian Ocean

This paper examines the frameworks being developed to co-manage coral reefs in Kenya and Madagascar. The historical and social context, flexibility of rule-making, monitoring and enforcement, and how community-based organizations are nested within other organizations is described. A comparison of the degree to which these two frameworks contain 10 key design principles thought to be important for successful commons institutions is presented. Finally, recommendations are made for improving co-management in these countries. A principal finding is that both co-management frameworks were developed for other systems (terrestrial and lakes), which creates misfits for how marine systems can be managed.     

Genetic improvement of New Zealand aquaculture species: programmes,progress and prospects

Aquaculture, like terrestrial farming, cannot achieve economic and sustainable production without high performing genetic stocks tailored to the conditions under which they are grown. It is essential, therefore, that aquaculture investment includes genetics and biotechnology to adapt marine livestock to the novel conditions of intensive aquaculture and to the demanding markets into which they are sold. The return on investment in well-structured breeding programmes can be very high, and significant performance and economic gains have been demonstrated in multiple species. Many factors must be considered in designing a genetic improvement programme, including the reproductive biology of the species and the identification of realistic and commercially relevant breeding goals based on the resources and facilities available. This paper reviews the options available to aquaculturists and provides examples of how these are being applied to six aquaculture species in New Zealand: king salmon, hāpuku, kingfish, Greenshell^TM mussels, Pacific oysters and pāua (abalone).     

Looking beyond the fisheries crisis: Cumulative learning from small-scale fisheries through diagnostic approaches

The common scientific and media narrative in fisheries is one of failure: poor governance, collapsed stocks, and vanishing livelihoods. Yet, there are successful fisheries – instances where governments and/or communities have maintained or rebuilt stocks, where fishers have robust livelihoods, and where institutions are strong. Scientists and managers alike are becoming increasingly interested in moving beyond the doom-and-gloom stories of fisheries failures toward cumulative knowledge for making fisheries governance more successful. Recent literature has attempted to determine what separates the successes from the failures and better understand how lessons learned for effective fisheries governance can be cumulatively compiled. In this special issue, we present a range of fisheries studies from around the world – Latin America, The Pacific, and East Africa. The studies look at varying fisheries outcomes, including sustainability, cooperation, self-governance, and sustaining livelihoods. The contributions in this special issue all tackle the challenge of exploring, testing, and refining the Diagnostic Framework for Analyzing Social-Ecological Systems developed by Elinor Ostrom as a way to cumulate knowledge on the potential conditions that could be causing a problem or creating a benefit in the governance of small-scale marine fisheries. These articles successfully explore the applicability and contributions of the framework while providing important theoretical refinements for small-scale fisheries.     

北山柳园地区中志留世埃达克质花岗岩类及其地质意义

北山柳园地区发育的埃达克质片麻状花岗闪长岩为钙碱性岩浆系列,具有较高SiO₂ (>56%),Al₂O₃ (>15%)和较低的MgO (<3%)含量,Na₂O>K₂O; 并且具有高的Sr含量(>400×10^-6)和Sr/Y比值; 样品轻重稀土强烈分异(La/Yb)_N ＝18~86,强烈亏损重稀土Yb与Y,具有不明显的Eu异常(δEu＝0.90~0.95); 富集LREE和大离子亲石元素(LILE),而亏损HREE、高场强元素(HFSE: Nb、Ta),与世界上典型的俯冲洋壳熔融形成的埃达克岩相似。然而样品具有相对高的(⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr)_I (0.70635~0.70636)和相对低的ε_Nd(t) (-0.8~-0.9),以及锆石具有相对较低的ε_Hf (t) (-0.8~+2.7)同位素特征,比典型的俯冲洋壳熔融形成埃达克岩具有更多的放射成因,推测可能是源区加入了地壳物质/沉积物/或特殊的洋壳(OIB/E-MORB)熔融,以及侵位过程中地壳物质的混染所造成的。埃达克质片麻状黑云母花岗岩锆石LA-ICPMS年龄为424±4Ma,代表了花岗岩埃达克花岗岩的结晶年龄。花牛山岛弧带在中晚志留世时期具有较高的地热梯度,发育了大面积高ε_Nd(t)钙碱性花岗岩和区域围岩发生了高温变质作用。因此,柳园埃达克岩是由于热的洋壳向花牛山岛弧地体俯冲过程中熔融形成的,俯冲洋壳熔融是本地区早古生代大规模地壳增生的重要方式之一。     

Transitions toward co-management: The process of marine resource management devolution in three east African countries

Communities are increasingly empowered with the ability and responsibility of working with national governments to make decisions about marine resources in decentralized co-management arrangements. This transition toward decentralized management represents a changing governance landscape. This paper explores the transition to decentralisation in marine resource management systems in three East African countries. The paper draws upon expert opinion and literature from both political science and linked social-ecological systems fields to guide exploration of five key governance transition concepts in each country: (1) drivers of change; (2) institutional arrangements; (3) institutional fit; (4) actor interactions; and (5) adaptive management. Key findings are that decentralized management in the region was largely donor-driven and only partly transferred power to local stakeholders. However, increased accountability created a degree of democracy in regards to natural resource governance that was not previously present. Additionally, increased local-level adaptive management has emerged in most systems and, to date, this experimental management has helped to change resource user's views from metaphysical to more scientific cause-and-effect attribution of changes to resource conditions.     

Hierarchical livelihood outcomes among co-managed fisheries

Collaborative management arrangements are increasingly being used in fisheries, yet critical questions remain about the conditions under which these are most successful. Here, we conduct one of the first comprehensive tests of Elinor Ostrom's diagnostic framework for analyzing social–ecological systems to examine how 16 socioeconomic and institutional conditions are related the livelihood outcomes in 42 co-management arrangements in five countries across the Indo-Pacific. We combine recent developments in both theory and modeling to address three key challenges among comparative studies of social–ecological systems: the presence of a large number of explanatory mechanisms, variables operating at multiple scales, and the potential for interactions among socio-economic and institutional factors. We find that resource users were more likely to perceive benefits from co-management when they are more involved in decisions, were aware that humans are causal agents of change in marine systems, were wealthier, were not migrants, were in villages with smaller populations and older co-management arrangements, and had clearly established boundaries. Critically, we quantify a number of key interactions between: wealth, dependence on marine resources, involvement in decision-making, and population size that have strong implications for co-management success in terms of livelihood benefits. This study demonstrates that context plays a critical but identifiable role in co-management success.     

Differences in livelihoods,socioeconomic characteristics,and knowledge about the sea between fishers and non-fishers living near and far from marine parks on the Kenyan coast

The socioeconomic conditions in nine communities of the Kenyan coast were examined to test the hypotheses that socioeconomic characteristics and knowledge about the sea differ for: (1) fishers compared to non-fishers; and (2) fishers living adjacent to parks compared to fishers living away from parks. Compared to non-fishers, fishers were poorer, had higher occupational diversity, more participation in community decision-making, and higher scores on six dimensions of knowledge about marine resources. Fishers living adjacent parks had lower occupational diversity, higher fortnightly expenditures, greater knowledge of the effects of land-based pollutants and market demands than non-park fishers. These relationships may, however, be a result of urbanization near Kenya's marine parks, rather than the marine parks’ effect on fishers’ knowledge and livelihoods. Consistent with studies from other parts of the world, this study finds that there are aspects of Kenyan fishers’ socioeconomic conditions and knowledge about the sea that characterize them as distinct from non-fishers. Initiatives designed to improve the socioeconomic conditions of fishers or to manage fishery stocks need to understand and account for these differences.     

Governing large-scale marine commons: Contextual challenges in the Coral Triangle

Environment and development agendas are increasingly being characterised by regional-scale initiatives. This trend is in part motivated by recognition of the need to account for global drivers of change (e.g., climate change, migration, and globalisation), the aspirations of achieving large-scale ecological goals (such as maintaining ecosystem processes), and reconciling potentially conflicting priorities in multi-use planning. However, regional-scale governance is challenging and there is little theoretical guidance or empirical evidence to suggest how it can be achieved. This paper uses the Institutional Analysis and Development framework to highlight the diverse contextual factors that challenge governance of a large-scale marine common, using an example of the Coral Triangle Initiative. The analysis points to the need for a critical, reflexive approach to the Coral Triangle Initiative if it is to effectively navigate diverse contexts and reconcile multiple objectives in the region. Recognising the heterogeneous, multi-scale and interlinked nature of large-scale marine systems is critical. Coping with contextual complexity will require innovative approaches that strive to be inclusive of varied perspectives and actors, enable and support effective collective-choice arrangements at lower levels of organisation, and organise and link diverse institutional arrangements at multiple scales. Large-scale marine governance will also involve a great deal of experimentation and regular adjustments to governance arrangements to account for the dynamic nature of regional commons.     

Winners and Losers in Marine Conservation: Fishers' Displacement and Livelihood Benefits from Marine Reserves

Marine reserves can create both benefits and costs to fishers. This article explores the perceptions of fishers in Kenya and Seychelles about displacement, spillover, and overall impacts of local marine reserves on their livelihoods. We test whether these perceptions are different among fishers from different geographic and socioeconomic conditions. Sixty-six percent of fishers had been displaced from marine reserves or coastal development and 90% believed they had caught fishes that spilled over from marine reserves. Poorer fishers in Kenya were both displaced from, and also felt like they benefited from, marine reserves. This highlights how people's experiences with marine reserves, both positive and negative, are affected by a range of social considerations that may not be incorporated in typical evaluations of ecological and economic marine reserve success.