Fishers' choice of alternative management scenarios: A case study in the Danajon Bank, Central Philippines

Abstract

The lack of general understanding that fisheries is an integral part of a larger and dynamic ecosystem can lead more to highlighting the conflicts, rather than realizing the real interaction between the economic, social, and ecological objectives of fisheries management. Furthermore, the poor grasp for the motivations underlying the fishers' behavior in their response to fisheries issues, policies, and regulations may have contributed to many failed fisheries management endeavors. This paper presents the results of a stated preference survey administered to 422 small-scale fishers in the coastal municipality of Talibon, Bohol of the Danajon Bank, Central Philippines, whereby fisheries management was likened to a commodity or good that satisfies the fishers' needs. The study tested specific attributes representing the economic, social, and ecological objectives of fisheries management that are likely to influence the fishers' attitudes toward a management strategy. The attitudes were elicited from the fishers' preference for a particular hypothetical management scenario over another in a series of choice games. A logistic model demonstrated high probabilities of choice when a management strategy promotes the increase in effort of fishing gear types perceived to be least harmful to the marine ecosystem, increases overall fisheries harvest, secures employment security for the majority, and increases the abundance of blue crabs – an important fisheries commodity in the Danajon Bank area. Key socio-economic and socio-civic characteristics of the fishers and their general knowledge, attitudes to, and perceptions of fisheries ecology concepts and fisheries management issues were likewise identified as probable determinants of choice and therefore behavior – such as acceptance or support – toward actual fisheries management policies.