Abstract
High demand and prices in global markets for luxury seafood fished by coastal communities in low-income contexts causes overfishing. There are few alternatives for fishers to earn money, most institutions for controlling effort are weak, and markets are beyond the control of fishing states. The mismatch between desires for development and governance measures to enable that development is shared across many high-value low-income contexts. Using the sea cucumber fishery of Papua New Guinea as an example, this paper illustrates how the interactive governance framework provides a holistic approach to revealing governability limits and opportunities. Analysis of the system to be governed demonstrates that development for coastal communities is fundamental to the fishery as a motivating force and as a principle legitimising actions within the fishery and its management. This analysis highlights the fact that fisheries management is based on the assumption that an open fishery will lead to development, due to its economic value. However, money does not equal development. For this and other similar fisheries to increase development in coastal communities, issues not usually considered within the purview of the management of fisheries must be addressed, including gendered and intergenerational decision-making and income distribution, financial planning and government provision of infrastructure and services.
Highlights
As global fishery trade expands (Gephart and Pace 2015), one of the problems facing fisheries management is how to effectively manage high-value fisheries in low-income contexts
This paper examines the governability of one such fishery: sea cucumbers in Papua New Guinea (PNG)
Our research shows that for the PNG sea cucumber fishery the key questions are: How is food security best promoted within the mix of cash income and seasonal subsistence production? How do communities manage gender and intergenerational relations to resolve disputes over the distribution and use of BDM income? How do they ensure some income goes to long-term investments in community wellbeing? How can governments provide the infrastructure and services to support community development? The following section examines the extent to which these questions were addressed in the PNG sea cucumber fishery governing system
Summary
As global fishery trade expands (Gephart and Pace 2015), one of the problems facing fisheries management is how to effectively manage high-value fisheries in low-income contexts. The system to be governed may be conceptualised as the fishery itself, and the ‘fish chain’: the supply chain from the ecosystem to consumers This is important for high-value fisheries in low-income contexts, as the drivers for overfishing occur outside the jurisdiction of the fishery. The goals of interactive governance are broader than fisheries management goals They include environmental sustainability, food security, economic livelihood viability and social justice (Bavinck et al 2013; Kooiman et al 2005), with a fifth concern about community wellbeing emerging in later work This paper addresses the governability of high-value fisheries in low-income contexts using a case study of the PNG sea cucumber fish chain. In 2018, the second year after reopening, 1109 t of BDM with a total value of US$25.5 million were exported from PNG
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