Fishery management in Japan

There are few legal marine protected areas in Japan rather than fishing-ban areas. Fishers did not seek legal fishing-ban areas but they did establish fishing-ban areas by autonomous bases. We briefly introduce the institutional history and features of Japanese coastal fishery management, including the past decade’s major legislative developments. Japan still has a decentralized co-management system involving fishers and the government, and ca. 98% of Japanese fishers are artisanal. There are several successful cases of coastal fisheries management in Japan. However, offshore industrial fisheries have problems in Japan. We compare coastal fisheries co-management between Japan and Chile. We finally discuss the possibility of improvement for Japanese fisheries.     

Adaptive Co-Management and Grizzly Bear-Human Conflicts in Two Northern Canadian Aboriginal Communities

It has been postulated that the emergence of adaptive co-management can be driven by crises that transform social-ecological systems with low resilience. We compared two concurrent case studies of grizzly bear-human conflicts in northern Canada to assess whether such crises could effect such transformations in bear-human systems. We conclude that they can, evaluate the outcomes, and identify conditions that may explain these observations. For remote communities, horizontal and vertical institutional connections are important for facilitating learning and the integration of information in wildlife management, yet they can be difficult to establish. Events in Baker Lake, Nunavut, showed that without such connections local peoples’ substantial ecological knowledge may not be integrated effectively into decision processes. In the Inuvialuit Settlement Region the quota system for grizzly bear harvests has been able to successfully incorporate both scientific and traditional ecological knowledge, largely because of its cross-scale institutional network. The leadership provided by individual champions was also an important determinant of both case studies’ outcomes.     

The human side of reef management: a case study analysis of the socioeconomic framework of Montego Bay Marine Park

 This study furthers our understanding of the role of socioeconomics in coral reef management by demonstrating the importance, as well as means, of incorporating socioeconomic information into coral reef management. A case study analysis was made of the socioeconomic context of the three primary user groups in Montego Bay Marine Park, Jamaica: fishers, hoteliers and watersports operators. The primary means of data collection were document analysis, interviews with individuals representative of user groups, focus groups and participant observation. The results regarding user’s awareness, user groups’ relations with the managing agency, relations among and within user groups, resource use patterns, and sociocultural values demonstrate the need to: increase public awareness of the benefits of the Park, increase user awareness of Park management activities, increase user involvement in Park management, and develop intersectoral coordination. These findings provide useful guidance for future Park management and, in a more general context, illustrate the importance of socioeconomic assessments for reef management. Accepted: 20 July 1999     

Indigenous Common Property Resource Management in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia

A better understanding of common property resource management systems and institutions is important for conservation and development, as fortress-based approaches towards conservation are increasingly questioned. This paper examines how an indigenous resource management system has operated and supported the protection of an Afro-alpine area in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia. The community was mainly concerned to regulate their own use of natural resources, including collection of firewood and thatch, and grazing by livestock. The original common property resource management system operated under a previously undescribed indigenous institution known as the Qero system, which was enforced through sanctions and punishments imposed by the community. The Qero system was suspended following the Agrarian Reform in 1975, which resulted in the breakdown of the traditional land tenure and land rights systems within Ethiopia. In the Central Highlands, user rights and management responsibility shifted to include formerly marginalized groups. Nevertheless, the common property management system has shown sufficient resilience to withstand these changes and pressures, and is still functioning with defined user groups and byelaws to regulate resource use and manage the area. Nevertheless, attitudes to current and future management are polarized between former and present managers of the common property regime.     

A Public Sentiment Index for Ecosystem Management

Although ecosystem-based management can lead to sustainable resource use, its successful implementation depends on stakeholders’ acceptance. A framework to integrate scientific knowledge about the ecosystems with stakeholders’ preferences is therefore needed. We propose here a ‘Public Sentiment Index,’ or PSI, as an integration framework that combines an ecosystem model (Ecopath with Ecosim; EwE) with a public choice model (the damage schedule). Using Chesapeake Bay as a case study, we demonstrate the development of the PSI, based on judgments of Bay stakeholders, including ‘watermen’ (commercial fishers), seafood wholesalers and retailers, recreational fishers, representatives from non-governmental organizations, scientists and managers on a range of Bay ecosystems. The high PSI for Chesapeake Bay suggests a consensus amongst Bay stakeholders who, understanding the need for restoring the Bay ecosystem, may accept difficult policy choices and support their implementation.     

Hunting with Polar Bears: Problems with the Passive Properties of the Commons

Inuit in Canada’s Arctic conceptualize both human hunters and their polar bear prey as active participants in the hunt and as part of a larger socio-economic system requiring the involvement of both humans and animals. Although often treated through the lens of common-pool resource theory, the Inuit viewpoint conflicts with Western wildlife management systems that typically treat animals, and nature in general, as passive. When polar bears are understood as active participants in the hunt, the rights associated with common property regimes and assumptions about collective-choice decisions in common-pool resource management require significant revision. In this paper we argue that common-pool resource theories which assume natural resources are inherently passive cannot adequately account for the system of active relationships operating among Inuit in Arctic Canada. The co-management system of Nunavut Territory, Canada, uses a flexible quota approach, which, while following conservation guidelines, allows some space for the traditional Inuit-polar bear system to operate. This example shows how common-pool resources may be managed sustainably without the attendant assumption that natural resources exist passively outside of common-pool resource regimes.     

Discursive Shifts in Dutch River Management: ‘Deep’ Institutional Change or Adaptation Strategy?

This paper argues that a discursive shift is taking place in Dutch water policy, from ‘a battle against water’ to ‘living with water’ or ‘accommodating water’. Yet we ask ourselves whether this shift is just an adaptation strategy of the existing elite group of water managers, who pay lip-service to new management approaches in order to maintain their vested interests, as some authors claim, or whether it implies ‘deep’ institutional change, e.g. in terms of the emergence of new water institutions, power relations and procedures. While investigating this question, we make use of the ‘policy arrangement approach’, which pays attention to institutional and discursive aspects of policy making alike. Our conclusion is that we are currently observing institutional changes beyond ‘policy talk’, particularly in terms of new legislation and procedures. However, it is too early to speak of ‘deep’ institutional change in Dutch water management, because the former water institutions are still maintaining their power positions, despite the availability of additional resources for policy and research as well as the emergence of several new modes of governance.     

More than One Bag for the World Fishery Crisis and Keys for Co-management Successes in Selected Artisanal Latin American Shellfisheries

Global concerns about the depletion of marine stocks have been widely documented in industrial fisheries. However, small-scale artisanal fisheries constitute a second component for the world fishery crisis, normally ignored or erroneously lumped into the industrial component. In this paper we first present a brief comparison between industrial and artisanal fisheries, highlighting the differences between them and the differential feasibility for implementing management options. We propose that industrial and artisanal fishery problems have to be treated separately and thus cannot be lumped into a single “fishing bag”. Among artisanal fisheries, we focus on coastal benthic shellfisheries, highlighting that their sedentary or sessile nature make them amenable to implement spatially-explicit management tools such as rotation of areas and territorial user rights (TURFs). Then, using long-term catch trends and selected examples, we demonstrate the power and validity of co-management for some Latin American shellfisheries, notably in Chile and Mexico, and stress the need to institutionalize the existent fishery knowledge. Several idiosyncratic properties of co-management in our Latin American examples have been useful to sustain the resources over time, including: (a) allocations of TURFs, (b) Community Fishery Quotas, which may be sub-allocated to families, (c) community-based and family-oriented sociological and organizational context of co-management, which may drive short and long-term market forces.     

Composition of the Aboriginal harvest of fisheries resources in coastal New South Wales,Australia

A key aspect of equitable management of the world’s fishery resources is the provision of traditional fishing access for Indigenous peoples. In Australia, increased recognition of the importance of fisheries to Indigenous culture and livelihoods over recent years has created a need for information on the species targeted to support policy and management. In the State of New South Wales (NSW), research on Indigenous fisheries catch composition is limited to two major studies. Here, we compare and combine data on Indigenous catch composition from these two studies to produce a comprehensive synthesis of current knowledge of Indigenous fisheries in NSW. The species harvested include more than 150 species of finfish and invertebrates, over 90 % of which are also harvested by commercial and recreational fishers. Our findings provide an empirical basis for future development of policy and management initiatives to meet the needs of Indigenous fishers and other stakeholders, as well as the principles of sustainable fisheries harvest.     

Local ecological knowledge of shellfish collectors in an extractivist reserve,Northeast Brazil: implications for co-management

The Local Ecological Knowledge of shellfish harvesters in a Northern Brazil estuary was recorded to provide socio-ecological information for the development of a co-management system. The research was carried out in the community of Acaú, Paraiba state, from January to October 2015, and involved 120 shellfish harvesters (average age 44 years). Participant observations, interviews, questionnaires, free lists, and participatory mapping were used. Shellfishes were mostly collected by women as their main source of income. Most shellfish extraction sites were closest to the community and provided easy access to the resource. Twelve species of mollusks are collected, with Anomalocardia flexuosa being the most targeted species, with the highest Cognitive Salience Index—it stood out due to its relevance in terms of economic and cultural importance. The fishers stated that their main difficulties were transporting shellfish, health problems, low price and lack of buyers during winter. They would like to see the implementation of a fishery closure subsidized by unemployment insurance. We suggest that implementing management measures in conjunction with fishers’ input would be more effective than decisions based on scientific evidence alone.

     

Distribution and abundance of marine turtles in the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

To establish baseline data on the distribution, abundance and threats to marine turtles in Viet Nam we conducted surveys with local fishers, community members and provincial Ministry of Fisheries staff from 17 of Viet Nam’s 29 coastal provinces. These data indicate that five species of marine turtle reside in Viet Nam’s waters (loggerhead, olive ridley, leatherback, green and hawksbill turtles), and four species nest on Viet Nam’s beaches (all of the above except the loggerhead turtle). It is evident from these data that significant declines have occurred in both foraging and nesting populations of all five marine turtle species found in Viet Nam. The greatest current threats to marine turtle populations in Viet Nam are habitat degradation, the accidental and opportunistic of turtles capture by fishers and the direct take of nesting females and their eggs. Successful conservation efforts have been made in recent years through collaboration between international Non Government Organisations and several Vietnamese Government Ministries. Continued success of these projects and the development and implementation of marine conservation policy will depend upon building awareness among Government employees, fishers and the general public about marine turtle biology, ecology, and the need to protect them.     

Patches and pulses as fundamental characteristics for matching ecological and cultural diversity: the Baltic Sea archipelago

Focusing on the Baltic archipelago, we address the questions: to what extent are the rhythms of natural and social systems compatible and under which criteria can we make them coincide? Existing mismatches between resource availability and human demand are identified as well as human attempts to dampen ecosystem fluctuations. By means of examples from forestry and fisheries, we illustrate how changes in property rights and technology have altered the diversity and resilience of the archipelago system. Our results suggest that intermediate scale processes of years up to a century are most critical for bringing natural and cultural systems in concordance. The time frame relevant to management and policy in the archipelago seems to correlate with eutrophication processes and the regrowth of forests. In fisheries, a shift from traditional to recreational fisheries has created fishery patterns badly adapted to the dynamics of the coastal ecosystem in disregard of traditional ecological knowledge. A multipurpose and adaptive management of natural resources is advocated as the most appropriate approach for promoting ecological and cultural diversity in the Baltic archipelago. Existing mismatches between the two have to be addressed by governing institutions at many hierarchical levels.     

A Case of Greenlandic Fisheries Co-Politics: Power and Participation in Total Allowable Catch Policy-Making

Greenlandic governance institutions have been criticised for their colonial heritage of centralisation and lack of democratic participation. In the same manner, Greenlandic fisheries management is notorious in the academic literature for its centralised and locally illegitimate character. While recognising the lack of localised co-management fisheries governance institutions in Greenland, we argue that something has yet to be said about power and user participation in the centralised institutions that have developed. From a symbolic interactionist perspective we dissect the centralised institutions in terms of a differentiated cast of actors and their interaction and argue that participation and power come in many institutional guises as the complex cast of actors within the centralised system represent themselves and others. If we are to understand power and participation in Greenlandic fisheries governance, we need to understand the creation of alliances of the subject-positions that seek control of the self-rule fisheries governance decision-making.     

Marine reserves with ecological uncertainty

To help manage the fluctuations inherent in fish populations scientists have argued for both an ecosystem approach to management and the greater use of marine reserves. Support for reserves includes empirical evidence that they can raise the spawning biomass and mean size of exploited populations, increase the abundance of species and, relative to reference sites, raise population density, biomass, fish size and diversity. By contrast, fishers often oppose the establishment and expansion of marine reserves and claim that reserves provide few, if any, economic payoffs. Using a stochastic optimal control model with two forms of ecological uncertainty we demonstrate that reserves create a resilience effect that allows for the population to recover faster, and can also raise the harvest immediately following a negative shock. The tradeoff of a larger reserve is a reduced harvest in the absence of a negative shock such that a reserve will never encompass the entire population if the goal is to maximize the economic returns from harvesting, and fishing is profitable. Under a wide range of parameter values with ecological uncertainty, and in the ‘worst case’ scenario for a reserve, we show that a marine reserve can increase the economic payoff to fishers even when the harvested population is not initially overexploited, harvesting is economically optimal and the population is persistent. Moreover, we show that the benefits of a reserve cannot be achieved by existing effort or output controls. Our results demonstrate that, in many cases, there is no tradeoff between the economic payoff of fishers and ecological benefits when a reserve is established at equal to, or less than, its optimum size.     

Participatory Management, Popular Knowledge, and Community Empowerment: The Case of Sea Urchin Harvesting in the Vieux-Fort Area of St. Lucia

Participatory management approaches are increasingly recognized as an effective strategy for enabling the sustainable use of natural resources. The southeast coast of St. Lucia is one of the sites where a particular form of participatory management, a co-management regime, was recently developed to control the sea urchin fishery. The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI), a NGO based in Vieux-Fort, St. Lucia, played a key role in the development of this co-management arrangement. This case study of the sea urchin fishery in Vieux-Fort examines the extent of the devolution of authority to locally-based sea urchin harvesters, explores the potential contribution of local knowledge to the understanding of sea urchin behavior, and points to elements of a strategy aimed at strengthening the organizational capacity of the core group of sea urchin harvesters. The study addresses both present practice and future possibilities in response to concrete questions raised by participants in the study.     

Caught Between Mediation and Local Dependence: Understanding the Role of Non-government Organisations in Co-management of Coastal Resources in Eastern Indonesia

Resolving contestations over resource management rights around coastal villages remains a focal challenge for co-management initiatives in remote coastal zones. Contemporary socio-political settings increasingly see local people having to negotiate between local long-standing (horizontal) relationships and new emerging (vertical) relationships which involve collaborations with outside actors who try to assume neutral mediating positions. Using two conflicts, this article examines the rise and fall of a participatory coastal resource management program in eastern Indonesia involving a fishing community engaged in a co-management arrangement with a conservation non-government organisation (NGO). An actor-oriented approach is applied to analyse how these conflicts shape, drive and direct collaborations across the community–NGO interface. We discuss how these impact the implementation of the conservation ethics and sustainable natural resource management practices, and show how particular mediating capacities of an NGO may overcome, and even build forth on, conflict in some contexts but fall short in others. We argue that local resource user groups and conservation teams operate according to strong local relationships that are entrenched in cultural–historical hierarchies of power. We moreover note that these local relationships significantly influence the extent of neutrality of external groups in their mediating, coordinating and technical advisory roles. The effectiveness of co-management partnerships hinges on the ability to balance actors’ mediating capacity with their local dependence for operation.     

Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Swiss Alpine Farmers and their Resilience to Socioecological Change

The cultural landscape of the European Alps was formed over centuries through human agricultural activities. Smallholder family farms, made famous in the cultural ecological literature by Robert Netting (1993), are still the predominant socioeconomic unit of agriculture. This study assesses the resilience of farm households in relation to climate change in the village of Vals, Switzerland. Using ethnographic methods, farming households’ resilience to environmental change was investigated from two perspectives: 1) an assessment of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in the household and its social networks; and 2) the assets of the various livelihood strategies of the farms. TEK was found to be of vital significance for management of the local environment, despite its reduced integrity due to contraction of farmland holdings, mechanization of certain tasks, and fragmentation of the agricultural ecosystem into different jurisdictions. Today the strongest and most critical areas of TEK are centered on production of agricultural goods and hazard management. Households’ TEK, in combination with their flexible structure, gives them a high degree of adaptive capacity that nevertheless must be viewed in the context of an environment including not only significant natural constraints and variability, but also local and non-local sociopolitical factors, including state subsidies, which constitute a significant share of farmers’ income, and political directives to maintain biodiversity. TEK must also be responsive to these constraints and the premises of biodiversity conservation and landscape and livelihood maintenance that underlie them.