Local Ecological Knowledge in Community-Based Management as Smart Management Options for Coastal Fisheries: A Review of the Sri Lanka Context

Neither bust nor boom: Institutional robustness in the beach seine fishery of southern Sri Lanka

For Pacific Island people, coastal fisheries are fundamental for supporting livelihoods, nutrition and health, cultures, and economies. However, only in the last 30 years has the region’s fisheries policy come to recognize the significant contributions of coastal fisheries and the need for national management strategies. This chapter tracks the evolving regional policy on coastal fisheries, including the challenges and opportunities for prospective regional and national policy formation and implementation. Regional policy first recognized the importance of management across coastal waters in 2003; since then, this recognition has increased through a series of directives and strategic frameworks. The need to accelerate the national implementation of coastal fisheries management has led fisheries agency staff and other science and civil society stakeholders to collectively develop, under the auspices of the Pacific Community (SPC), the “Pacific Framework for Action on Scaling up Community-based Fisheries Management: 2021–2025.” Regional policies are specifically targeted and prioritized for national needs and provide the most effective means of support delivery. The SSF Guidelines are supplementary, particularly in the areas of human rights, and their further integration through joint delivery at the national level will be important. Over 600 community-based fisheries management sites have been documented across the Pacific Islands, which in some countries includes most fishing communities. These sites represent almost the entirety of coastal marine protected areas, which are significant for achieving international conservation targets. However, in highly populated countries, substantial community coverage remains unlikely, suggesting that other aspects of the enabling environment need to be addressed. More crucially, implementation is challenged by limitations to national staffing and recurrent budgets. With increasing philanthropic interest in funding locally governed marine and coastal areas, it will be crucial that these efforts build on the substantial progress made and are guided by regional and national public policy. A critical consideration is ensuring substantially increased management budgets and administrative capacity of fisheries agencies.

Aim: To build an appropriate basis for inland and coastal fisheries co-management through the involvement of key government agencies, fishers, traders and relevant stakeholders.
 Study Design: Literature review of the community-based fisheries management projects in Bangladesh during 1995-2017 and examine fisher’s perceptions of co-management approaches from an inclusive cross-section of fishing households.
 Place and Duration of Study: The study sites are located in six riverine districts in Bangladesh, namely Bhola, Chandpur and Laxmipur within fish sanctuary areas and Barisal, Pirojpur and Jhalokathi outside fish sanctuary areas.
 Methodology: The study included community-based fisheries management project’s knowledge in different inland and coastal habitat types in Bangladesh. The study comprised on lessons learned from field activities, workshops on fisheries co-management with the public, NGOs, experts, civil society, fisher’s organizations, traders and related stakeholders, and reviews of several reports on other community-based fisheries management initiatives in Bangladesh. The study also examined stakeholder perceptions of co-management approaches from a cross-section of 1200 fishing households in 24 fishing villages.
 Results: Results indicated that performance of community-based fisheries management in Bangladesh varied widely to improve natural fish production, fish abundance and biodiversity and, with the nature of the community involved. These include the development capabilities of user groups through formation of village level Conservation Groups and fish landing center-based organizations, and capabilities of the key government agencies and law enforcing agencies for enhancing compliance.
 Conclusions: This paper proposes a co-management arrangement for fishery management along the fish sanctuary areas of the Padma-Meghna River systems in Bangladesh. These findings provided the scientific basis of community managed fisheries management and its applications.

The impact of community-based fisheries management (CBFM) on equity and sustainability of small-scale coastal fisheries in the Philippines

Although there have been significant efforts recently to improve fishery management laws and eliminate overfishing in the United States (e.g., Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Reauthorization in 2006), many of our stocks remain overfished or have not been assessed. New collaborative partnerships and innovative business models are sorely needed to bridge the divide among stakeholders and to reform our ailing fisheries. Fishers are subject to increasing regulatory measures and face dwindling revenues. There are still many examples of destructive fishing practices that have significant impacts on marine ecosystems, and our fisheries are not yet managed in a broader ecosystem context. The perceived lack of common ground between the fishing industry and environmental organizations impedes progress in moving toward more sustainable fisheries. This does not have to be our reality. This situation results from two key problems. First, our system of fisheries management relies principally on top-down management that is too complex, relies too little on the best available science, and is too often at the mercy of increasingly constrained state and federal budgets. Second, the high degree of polarization among fishery stakeholders impedes collaborative solutions. Competing interests weaken incentives for improved economic and biological stewardship, which has, in turn, led fishers to overcapitalize and overexploit the resource in a race for fish. Relationships among stakeholders, especially fishers and environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), are bitterly adversarial, and fishery managers find themselves paralyzed by their constituents’ extreme polarization. Entrenched positions taken by special interest groups and the threat of lawsuits often provide political cover for regulators to avoid hard decisions. The resulting mess can be termed “fish wars.” The casualties of the fish wars have been the consumer, the environment, coastal communities, and small-scale fishers. Although seafood demand in North America has increased in recent decades, many of our fisheries have experienced significant declines in landings. Americans are increasingly relying on imported fish (with unknown associated environmental and health impacts) and are unable to purchase local, sustainably caught seafood. As a result, we are exporting many of our fisheries management problems to other countries that have even less capacity to address them. Fishery managers have sought to solve the problem of too many boats chasing too few fish by trying to reduce fishing pressure through limiting the number of permit-holding fishers and, sometimes, by buying and retiring some permits to reduce effort. Nevertheless, the pendulum has swung hard in the other direction, fueling consolidation in the industry that favors large fishing corporations and pushes out small-scale fishers. Some fishers, strained by years of difficulty, leave the fishery permanently (and sometimes en masse), and barriers for small-boat fishers—such as the cost to purchase a permit to gain access to the fishery—make it difficult for new entrants to participate. Fishing communities are losing fishing-related jobs, access to the local resource, and infrastructure, and we all are losing a part of our maritime heritage that has existed for generations and helps to fuel coastal tourism. Furthermore, we are losing the knowledge held by those who have spent their lives on the water, as well as the energy and innovation new entrants and small businesses could bring to addressing our ailing fisheries. Many small-scale fishers are outcompeted by larger fishing operations, which is unfortunate because small businesses are likely a more sustainable scale of operation, are more nimble and adaptive, and are more likely to try innovative approaches to gain an edge. The lack of good working relationships among stakeholders represents one of the greatest challenges to effecting change in fisheries management. It often appears that managers and fishers have become insular and resistant to change, while environmental groups have become adept at pointing out problems and assigning blame. Fishing industries are often intransigent and incentivized for short-term profitability, not long-term stewardship of the public resource. If a fishery is depleted, the industry often moves on to the next profitable target. In addition, small-scale fishers and their communities are generally insufficiently organized or unified to influence the regulatory and political process necessary to protect local access to and stewardship of resources. Fishery managers have been hampered by lack of funding, capacity, innovation, and political will and instead have resorted to increasingly rigid and complicated regulation in reaction to lawsuits and stock declines. Fishery scientists struggle to assess even a small portion of the stocks and monitor some of the fishing effort, much less consider cumulative impacts of fishing or ecosystem-scale management of fisheries. Environmental NGOs—driven by concern about the threats fishing can pose, scientific uncertainties in fishery management, and the precautionary approach—have traditionally focused on gaining ecosystem protection and restricting fisheries through lawsuits, closed areas, or adversarial means rather than true collaboration. Each faction is focused only on their issues and lacks the resources or the will to consider the whole. In most fisheries long-term economic viability relies on healthy stocks and healthy marine habitats, which sets the stage for environmental NGOs and fishers to become natural partners in the design of truly innovative solutions around which all parties can rally. Together we must develop and test new fishery management models that will protect ecosystem benefits and preserve fishing opportunities. Fortunately, there are some emerging examples of new on-the-water partnerships and demonstration projects in which NGOs, managers, and fishers are stretching beyond their comfort zones to bridge the divide. Some NGOs are starting to get some “skin in the game” by acquiring fishing permits and, together with partners and the community, using those assets as platforms to test new approaches. These partnerships are accelerating the development of new and innovative fishing business models. In some cases NGOs and fishers are collaborating to create permit, license, or quota banks, which can secure access to adjacent fishing grounds and stocks, foster collaborative research and monitoring, and enable sharing of fishing assets and resources. Another approach involves cooperatives or community-based fishing associations, which would operate according to mutually agreed upon environmental and economic performance standards. These entities could hold fishing permits or quotas and provide medical benefits and other economies of scale for small-scale fishers. These ideas, and others, are being pioneered around North America and serve as crucial learning opportunities for both the industry and the environmental community. In New England the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fisherman's Association is a groundbreaking partnership between commercial fishers and coastal residents that is promoting healthier fish stocks and revitalizing the industry through more sustainable fishing practices. Local fishers, concerned about the issues outlined here, initiated outreach to the community to develop a solution. Together, they now play a key role in fishery reform. In addition to using less-damaging gear, such as hook and line and fish weirs, the association is pioneering the allocation of groundfish to sectors; acquiring groundfish, scallop, and lobster quotas for member fishermen; conducting collaborative research; and engaging in community-based management. On the western coast of British Columbia local groundfishers and Ecotrust Canada have designed and implemented a novel business model that not only seeks to improve the economic viability and sustainability of local fishermen, but also strives to make ownership of permits and quotas affordable to rural fishing communities. Ecotrust and others secured private financing and established a license bank—a corporation owned by the fishers that purchases and holds fishing assets in partnership with outside investors. The collaboration allows fishers with smaller operations to have a more substantive stake in the fishery and, by encouraging them to operate and deliver their products closer to home, helps keep the economic benefits within the community. On California's central coast The Nature Conservancy is collaborating with fishers and regulatory agencies to improve the economic performance of the groundfish fishery, rebuild fish stocks, and protect seafloor habitat. Together they are exploring the potential of transitioning some of the fishery's harvest effort away from bottom trawling, which has created significant environmental and regulatory problems for the fishery. On the basis of recommendations from the National Research Council on abating bottom trawling impacts to seafloor habitats, the Conservancy used private buyouts of trawl permits to leverage habitat protection, reduce trawl effort, and convert traditional trawl effort to more selective, less-damaging gear. By acquiring and assembling a trawl permit bank, the Conservancy is now able to lease its trawl permits to local fishers with legal conservation restrictions, transition trawl effort to hook and line, and test collective harvesting and monitoring approaches. Together the Conservancy and partners are also testing a prototype community-fishing association that could hold and manage permits or quotas and build a foundation for a more-sustainable local fishery. One of the greatest benefits of this project has been the new partnership among NGOs, fishers, and managers, who have agreed to work closely together to test new approaches and to learn from each other. Partnerships like these will also strengthen scientific understanding of fisheries in the broader context of marine ecosystem protection and better inform management approaches at ecologically relevant scales. Fishers crave better science to support fisheries management, and NGOs have the resources and expertise to help fill this gap. Although collaborative fisheries research is not new, it needs to be more strategic in bringing together the right partners to address the most important questions to promote more sustainable management. The Northeast Consortium (at the University of New Hampshire) in partnership with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is one example of an effort to bring local input and strategic vision to collaborative research programs. The partnership is also assessing the effectiveness of that research in informing management decisions, building trust and communication between fishers and scientists, and enhancing economic values. Although they may appear to be unlikely partners, fishers and conservationists have started to realize the potential of collaboration. In some cases it may behoove federal managers to step back and allow fishers, NGOs, and scientists to redesign and restructure a pilot fishery and then support these efforts via the regulatory process. When fishers are empowered and incentivized to better steward their local resources, it may well ease the regulatory burden. Creating opportunities to test collaborative management approaches is key to ultimately bringing about fisheries reform in the United States. To be successful we must look to our shared values—in healthy oceans, economic stability in coastal communities, and supplies of fresh local seafood—and actively encourage all stakeholders to work together. Fishery managers can foster and leverage uncommon partnerships to develop new approaches to fishery management. And NGOs can be more effective partners by admitting that they still have a lot to learn about fishery socioeconomics. In the end it may not be a lack of new ideas and resources that block our road toward fishery reform, but rather the unwillingness of key fishery stakeholders to work together. We must take real steps to avoid this outcome. We must stop the fish wars, stop assigning blame, meet each other halfway, and be willing to learn from each other. Only then will we be able to create a brighter future for our oceans, our coastal communities, and our seafood supply.

In developing countries where data and resources are lacking, the practical relevance of Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) to expand our understanding of the environment has been highlighted. The potential roles of the LEK varies from direct applications such as gathering environmental information to a more participative involvement of the community in the management of resources they depend on. Fishers’ LEK could therefore be useful in order to obtain information to advance management of coastal fisheries. Many targeted fish species migrate between habitats to feed, spawn or recruit, connecting important habitats within the seascape. LEK could help provide answers to questions related to this connectivity and the identification of fish habitat use and migrations for species and areas where such knowledge is scarce. Here we assess fishers’ LEK on connectivity between multiple habitats within a tropical seascape, investigate the differences in LEK among fisher groups and the coherence between LEK and conventional scientific knowledge (CSK). The study was conducted in Zanzibar, Tanzania, a tropical developing country, in 2017. One hundred and thirty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted in six different locations focusing on fish migrations, and matching photos of fish and habitats. Differences between fisher groups were found, where fishers travelling further, exposed to multiple habitats, and fish with multiple gears had a greater knowledge on connectivity patterns within the seascape than those that fish locally, in single habitats and with just one type of gear. A high degree of overlap in LEK and CSK was found, highlighting the potential benefits of collaboration between scientists and fishers and the use of LEK as complementary information in the management of small-scale fisheries.

Amidst the failures of fisheries across the globe and the perceived failure of scientific fisheries management, some recent scholarship has focused attention on the nature and collection of fishers’ knowledge, and on the potential utility of that knowledge to fisheries management. This chapter summarises the results of recent research on fish harvesters’ local ecological knowledge (LEK) and its interactions with fisheries science and management in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. We treat LEK, science and management as parallel, interacting socio-ecological knowledge systems that are internally complex and dynamic. We begin by characterising the dynamism of LEK in Newfoundland fisheries and then describe the rise of a linked fisheries science and management framework in Canada in the 1970s and 1980s that contributed to the marginalisation of fish harvesters’ LEK, particularly that of small boat fishers. We then explore the changing interactions between LEK, governance and science in Newfoundland, associated with a recently shifting international discourse that highlights the need for participation and the devolution of some responsibility and authority for fisheries management from centralised state bureaucracies and government-funded and controlled fisheries science to harvesters and other ‘stakeholder’ groups. Two case studies, comparing and contrasting the role of harvesters and LEK in the management of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and American lobster (Homarus americanus) fisheries in Newfoundland and Labrador since 1992, are then used as examples of the interactions between these actors and their knowledge systems in practice. We conclude with a discussion of some of the potential benefits and dangers associated with this emerging contemporary relationship between harvesters and their knowledge, fisheries science, participation and governance in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Coastal resource management, community empowerment and socio economic development are the cornerstones for uplifting the lives of coastal area inhabitants. Japan is one of country who succeed to empowered economy of coastal community by diversify coastal and fisheries livelihoods. This study aims; to explore Japanese experiences on coastal resources management, to assess the fishing activity in case study area of Hiroshima, and to describe livelihood strategy in coastal fishery of case study area of Hiroshima. Primary data were collected from representatives of shrimp-trawl fishermen, and key informants using structured and semi-structured questionnaires. Secondary data such as statistical data and reports and books from previous studies were used as preliminary information. The data were analyzed by using descriptive analysis and qualitative contents analysis. The results of the study showed that Japan has many years’ experiences to manage coastal fishery in effective and sustainable ways using community-based coastal fishery management and co-management approach. Meanwhile, Fisheries Cooperative Associations (FCAs) and Fisheries Management Organization (FMOs) are as institutional tools. In case study of coastal fishery activity, shrimp-trawl fishery in Akitsu has been manage by FCA, even the number of fishermen and their activity gradually decrease. However, the problems faced related to the sustainability of fishing activities in Akitsu is related to catch decreased, initial investment, regeneration of the fishing activities itself, and upwelling in the past. Increased a number of aging fishermen and no successors are another problems in sustainability of fisheries livelihoods. In fact, young people escape from the fishery communities to work in the cities and aging people remain in fishery community. This is occurred in shrimp-trawl fishery ( Sokobikiami ) in Akitsu. Therefore, local government as well as central government can expand the oyster culture by providing incentives or subsidies to attract young generation back to the area to pursue this business.

Social-ecological dimensions of Marine Protected Areas and coastal fishing: How fishermen's local ecological knowledge can inform fisheries management at the future “Taza” MPA (Algeria, SW Mediterranean)

The local ecological knowledge (LEK) of fishers may help to fill the knowledge gaps about migration of tropical fish. We investigated fishers’ LEK on migratory patterns of seven fish species along 550 km of the Tapajos River, in the Brazilian Amazon. We interviewed 270 fishers individually in four stretches of this river. The interviewed fishers indicated that three fish species do not migrate over long distances, while four fish species perform migrations, usually longitudinal migration from downstream to upstream reaches. Fishers also mentioned an increase in size of a large catfish species in the upstream stretches of the studied river, indicating the potential occurrence of spawning adults there. These results from fishers’ knowledge indicated that planned dams in the upstream reaches of the Tapajos River will threaten migratory fishes, small-scale fisheries and food security. Fishers’ LEK on fish migration contributed to raise testable biological hypotheses about fish spawning and feeding grounds, as well as the occurrence of distinct populations along the river. The analysis of the LEK of many fishers at several sites over a broad range is a cost-effective source of information on fish migration, supporting environmental impact assessment, fisheries management, and conservation in this and other tropical rivers.

More frequent and severe coastal disasters represent major threats to small-scale fisheries and challenge their viability and potential as an engine of sustainable development. Hurricanes and storm surges and alluviums and tsunamis, among other fast and unexpected events, often drive multiple and overlapping social and environmental impacts. They also influence changes to which fishing communities must respond and adapt, such as threats to life, material devastation, natural resource loss, and ecosystem transformations. Based on empirical case studies and secondary sources, this chapter examines the successes and failures of small-scale fishing communities in the central-southern Chile since the massive February 2010 earthquake and tsunami. This study draws lessons about the key factors of adaptive capacity among coastal resource user communities. The analysis reinforces the importance of social capital and networks, local ecological knowledge, and livelihood agility, as well as stresses several opportunities and drawbacks that need to be observed on the way to pursue more sustainable small-scale fisheries. A better understanding of what makes a difference for fishing communities in response to natural hazards and other external perturbations can inform the design of more equitable and effective fisheries and coastal management policies, along with strategies in Chile and elsewhere.

Coastal fisheries are the food basket of Pacific Islanders, and fishing is deeply rooted in Pacific Islands’ cultures and traditions. In Tonga, during the past century, marine resource management has been the sole responsibility of the government under the law. Although management measures aim to ensure the sustainability of small-scale fisheries, compliance is often a challenge. In 2002 and 2009, Tonga passed new fishery legislation that reformed access to marine resources for local fishers (particularly in lagoons and reef areas) with the introduction of its own community-based fishery management approach, known as the Special Management Area (SMA) program. The SMA program and supporting legislation allow coastal communities and local fishers, with assistance from the Ministry of Fisheries, to regulate adjacent marine areas through local fishery management plans that grant preferential access and assign stewardship duties to community members. Tonga has made a commitment to following the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines), with the SMA program representing an important step forward. This chapter explores the main venues and opportunities for Tonga to implement the SSF Guidelines while completing the SMA scaling-up process, in line with recent policy commitments made at a Pacific regional level, (In 2021, the members of the Pacific Community (SPC) adopted the Pacific Framework for Action on Scaling up Community-based Fisheries Management: 2021–2025.) to ultimately provide sustainable access for small-scale fishers to marine resources and markets (SDG 14b).

Seeing the whole elephant – How lobstermen's local ecological knowledge can inform fisheries management

Community-based Fisheries Management

INTRODUCTIONThe knowledge related to fish names is an integral part of being a fisherman and considered as a proof of competence within fishermen communities. This local knowledge is designated as folk taxonomy, and is in some ways predictably similar to the scientific (Linnaean) naming system (Berkes et al. 2001; Berlin 1992; Jernudd and Thuan 1984). Such knowledge is local in scope and thus highly variable by geographic region, language, and ethnic group depending on local culture, biodiversity patterns, and fishing practices. It is also assumed to vary in time. Due to widespread anthropogenic pressure causing the collapse of fishing stocks and local extinctions of species, young fishermen will have had little probability to meet as many species and in such numbers as have their predecessors. This folk taxonomy knowledge in its different dimensions is intimately associated with Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK), and its description is often a prerequisite to gather local biological and ecological knowledge (Berkes et al. 2001; Eugene Hunn 2011; Freire and Pauly 2003; Haggan et al. 2007). The relevance of ecological information is likely to be anecdotal if the accuracy of taxonomic identification is not guaranteed (Albuquerque et al. 2014). Local ecological knowledge has become an essential source of information for conservation ecology (Ruddle and Davis 2013), especially in data-poor ecosystems.Morocco presents an interesting case for examining variability in fish naming due to great diversity of species, as well as long and varied sociolinguistic traditions. Bordered by both Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines of Northwestern Africa, Morocco is the center of the transition zone between temperate and tropical waters, populated with diverse species communities (Masski and Tai 2014; Tai et al. 2013). For bony fish alone, FishBase (Froese and Pauly 2011) lists more than 766 species for Morocco. Fishing activity is widespread along the Moroccan coast, involving culturally diverse populations. Cultural diversity, an additional variable to consider, has its origin in the geopolitical situation of the country, which has always put indigenous people in close interaction with the people of Europe, Africa, and Arabia.What is considered by one as a diversity of local knowledge is seen by others as a variability in seafood labelling and represents a central issue in trade control and regulation, and in fisheries science and conservation (Fraser 2012; Leunda Urretabizkaia et al. 2009). In developing countries, where the adoption of a standard for naming fish is uncommon, vernacular (folk) and common names are also used in national fisheries statistics systems (Previero et al. 2013). Due to the high variability in folk taxonomy, the same fish species can be named differently in different regions, and one name can be attributed to different fish species (Berlin 1973, 1992). Furthermore, the use of fishery statistics databases for scientific purposes is therefore restricted to well-identified species, which impedes fisheries management procedures (Kifani et al. 2008). The usual answer to such a situation is the adoption of a standard, which is the goal of the Moroccan fisheries management agencies.The success of the targeted standardization is, in our opinion, dependent on the strength of reflection and research previously conducted. Thus, and far from wanting to carry out a comprehensive inventory of vernacular names, the present study aims to 1) build correspondence lists between folk and scientific names for a set of species in different locations along the Moroccan coast and, on this basis, 2) to analyze the structure and variability of the Moroccan folk taxonomic system. We hope that the results from our study will help to improve the use of folk taxonomy in formal management procedures, facilitate local ecological knowledge gatherings, and clarify the view for the ways to achieve a standardization process. …