Deconstructing the Reality of Community-Based Management of Marine Resources in a Small Island Context in Indonesia

Philipp Gorris

doi:10.3389/fmars.2016.00120

Abstract

This study offers a detailed analysis of community-based management (CBM) in a small island in Indonesia. In the study site, area-specific stewardship for a marine territory was informally institutionalized and, in addition to state rules, locally devised rules based on informal agreements have emerged. Using multiple methods for the analysis of the perceptions of the local community, this research examines the actual impact of the different rules on the fishing patterns in that sea territory, and illuminates the rationales of the local population to engage (or not) in the community-based approach to manage the marine resources. The study shows that the CBM initiative has to be seen as part of a convoluted regulatory system that impacts the fishing behavior in the sea territory. A lack of official authority to formally develop and especially to locally enforce rules represents a key challenges for the CBM initiative. This is further complicated by severe coordination problems between the local community and higher level state actors. The study further shows that the motivation of the community members to engage in the enforcement of the informal rules is strongly based on short-term economic considerations. For rules that are perceived to have a strong impact on the individual fishing yields, the fear of potential short-term economic losses constitutes a particular success factor of the local initiative since it motivates the members of the community to enforce local rules, especially when outside fishers break the rules. Yet, if rule-breaking is not perceived to decrease individual fishing yield, or if benefits of the generated yields are shared with the community as a compensation mechanism, the motivation of the community members to engage in rule enforcement ceases.

Highlights

Concerns about the world’s oceans and coasts are rapidly growing (Rockström et al, 2009; Burke et al, 2011; Visbeck et al, 2013; Zondervan et al, 2013)
This study focuses on Langkai Island, a small island located at the outer margins of the Spermonde Archipelago, South Sulawesi
The continuous importance of the hand-line fishery is due to the high abundance of economically valuable species in the area that can be caught by hand-line, and especially the occurrence of the Narrow-Barred Spanish Mackerel in the sea area surrounding Langkai Island

Summary

Introduction

Concerns about the world’s oceans and coasts are rapidly growing (Rockström et al, 2009; Burke et al, 2011; Visbeck et al, 2013; Zondervan et al, 2013). Marine territoriality implies area-specific stewardship coupled with legitimate rights to generate effective means based on formal and/or informal authority that steer human behavior in a specified sea area (Jones, 2014) In this regard, the concept of Common Pool Resource Regimes (CPRR) offers a useful point of departure (Ostrom, 1990; Young, 2006). The third category is the “communal CPRR” which has attracted particular attention over the past decades (cf Dearden et al, 2005; Berkes, 2007b) Such a community-based management (CBM) approach describes a management system of a clearly defined group of people for a set of natural resources or a particular area (Berkes, 2010). The quintessence of CBM is that management authority for a defined territory or set of resources is transferred to, or rests with, a clearly defined group at a local level, which shares certain common characteristics (e.g., ethnicity) or commonly resides in a geographical area (Armitage, 2005)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion