Abstract
Invertebrate gleaning (walking) fisheries are common within intertidal seagrass meadows globally, contributing to the food supply of hundreds of millions of people, but understanding of these fisheries and their ecological drivers are extremely limited. The present study provides a unique analysis of these fisheries using a combined social and ecological approach. Catches contained 34 species and were dominated by Bivalves, Urchins and Gastropods. CPUE in all sites varied from 0.05 to 3 kg gleaner−1 hr−1, respectively, with the majority of fishers being women and children. Landings were of major significance for local food supply and livelihoods at all sites. Local ecological knowledge suggests seagrass meadows are declining in line with other regional trends. Increasing seagrass density significantly and positively correlated with CPUE of the invertebrate gleaning (r = 0.830) highlighting the importance of conserving these threatened habitats. Understanding the complexities of these fisheries, their supporting habitats and their sustainability is important for the support of sustainable coastal livelihoods.
Highlights
Seagrasses are flowering plants that form ecologically important meadows supporting high biodiversity (Short et al 2007)
Profiles of invertebrate gleaning were constructed based on field surveys, questionnaires and informal interviews with gleaners
This study provides novel correlative evidence supported by Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) that increasing seagrass density and condition supports a more
Summary
Seagrasses are flowering plants that form ecologically important meadows supporting high biodiversity (Short et al 2007). As a result of the high animal abundance and diversity they support, these seagrass meadows create globally important fishing habitats (Nordlund et al 2018). Coastal seagrass meadows create excellent fishing habitat because they are generally easy to access, areas that are intertidal (Unsworth and Cullen 2010), and as such these ecosystems are highly exploited by potentially many millions of people globally. Their soft sediment habitat requires limited gear to exploit, such as small metal tools and buckets
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