Combining participatory and socioeconomic approaches to map fishing effort in small-scale fisheries.

Lauric Thiault,Stefan Gelcich,Antoine Collin,Frédérique Chlous,Joachim Claudet,Sebastian C A Ferse

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0176862

Abstract

Mapping the spatial allocation of fishing effort while including key stakeholders in the decision making process is essential for effective fisheries management but is difficult to implement in complex small-scale fisheries that are diffuse, informal and multifaceted. Here we present a standardized but flexible approach that combines participatory mapping approaches (fishers’ spatial preference for fishing grounds, or fishing suitability) with socioeconomic approaches (spatial extrapolation of social surrogates, or fishing capacity) to generate a comprehensive map of predicted fishing effort. Using a real world case study, in Moorea, French Polynesia, we showed that high predicted fishing effort is not simply located in front of, or close to, main fishing villages with high dependence on marine resources; it also occurs where resource dependency is moderate and generally in near-shore areas and reef passages. The integrated approach we developed can contribute to addressing the recurrent lack of fishing effort spatial data through key stakeholders' (i.e., resource users) participation. It can be tailored to a wide range of social, ecological and data availability contexts, and should help improve place-based management of natural resources.

Highlights

Small-scale fisheries, which have been defined at those “traditional fisheries involving fishing households, using relatively small amounts of capital and energy, relatively small fishing vessels, making short fishing trips, close to shore, mainly for local consumption” [1], provide an iconic example of the intricate links between people and nature
General patterns regarding fishing ground selection were successfully described despite the great diversity of fishing practices and fishers’ profiles
The dependency on marine resources island-wide is variable among the 69 districts (Fig 3B) with district-level levels of dependency varying from 0 (Temae, where no household had members engaged in fishing) up to 0.23 (Maatea), 0.25 (Taotaha) and 0.28 (Putoa)

Summary

Introduction

Small-scale fisheries, which have been defined at those “traditional fisheries involving fishing households (as opposed to commercial companies), using relatively small amounts of capital and energy, relatively small fishing vessels (if any), making short fishing trips, close to shore, mainly for local consumption” [1], provide an iconic example of the intricate links between people and nature. Food and capital accumulation through fishing and selling of marine products are important for food security and poverty alleviation, especially in developing countries [2,3,4]. Less tangible benefits such as well-being, and individual and collective cultural identity make small-scale fishing strongly embedded in the lifestyle of many fishing communities [5–. Integrated approach to map fishing effort in small-scale fisheries interest and a brief description on how the data will be used. Future interested researchers will be able to access these data using the same methods at http://observatoire.criobe.pf/wiki/tikiindex.php?page=Combining+participatory+and +socioeconomic+approaches+to+map+fishing +effort+in+small-scale+fisheries

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion