Abstract
Fishing strategies, effort and harvests of small-scale fishers are important to understand for effective planning of regulatory measures and development programs. Gender differences in fishing can highlight inequities deserving transformative solutions, but might mask other important factors. We examined fishing modes, fishing frequency, catch-per-unit effort (CPUE), resource preferences and perceptions of fishery stock among artisanal gastropod (trochus) fishers in Samoa using structured questionnaires and mixed effects models. The fishery has an extremely modest carbon footprint of 20.4 tonnes of CO2 p.a., as few fishers used motorised boats. Trochus (Rochia nilotica), an introduced gastropod, was the second-most harvested resource, after fish, despite populations only being established in the past decade. Daily catch volume varied according to gender and villages (n = 34), and was also affected by fishing effort, experience, assets (boat), and fishing costs of fishers. Boat users had much higher CPUE than fishers without a boat. Fishers who practiced both gleaning and diving caught a greater diversity of marine resources; effects that explained otherwise seeming gender disparities. Trochus tended to be ranked more important (by catch volume) by women than men, and rank importance varied greatly among villages. Local ecological knowledge of fishers informed the historical colonisation of trochus around Samoa and current trends in population abundance. Fishing efficiency, catch diversity and perspectives about stocks were similar between fishermen and fisherwomen, when accounting for other explanatory variables. Greater importance of these shellfish to women, and gender similarities in many of the fishing responses, underscore the need to ensure equal representation of women in the decision making in small-scale fisheries.
Highlights
Small-Scale Invertebrate FisheriesThe importance of small-scale fisheries (SSFs) to employment and livelihoods has underpinned the rising interest in this sector among researchers, NGOs and resource managers (Berkes et al, 2000; Chuenpagdee et al, 2006; Batista et al, 2014; Purcell and Pomeroy, 2015)
Our study corroborates national market surveys indicating that the trochus fishery in Samoa commenced soon after the stock translocations in 2003–2004, made through foreign-aid funding, and has expanded exponentially over the past decade
The initial slow incorporation of fishers to the fishery might be partly attributed to some socio-cultural factors, such as consumption preferences, but most probably suggests that stocks can take years to develop abundant, fishable populations
Summary
The importance of small-scale fisheries (SSFs) to employment and livelihoods has underpinned the rising interest in this sector among researchers, NGOs and resource managers (Berkes et al, 2000; Chuenpagdee et al, 2006; Batista et al, 2014; Purcell and Pomeroy, 2015). Women are especially active in artisanal invertebrate fisheries, often for subsistence purposes (Lambeth et al, 2002; Crawford et al, 2010; Harper et al, 2013) They can differ from men in fishing, such as in terms of access or use of fishing grounds (Harper et al, 2013; Fröcklin et al, 2014), catch rates (see Kleiber et al, 2015), catch volumes (Harper et al, 2013), and species targeted (Lambeth et al, 2002). The Samoan Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries started finding large numbers of trochus being sold in markets and roadside stalls from about 2009, and the resource quickly became a popular local seafood (Tiitii and Aiafi, 2015)
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