Small Island Context Research Articles

The impact of offshore energy hub and hydrogen integration on the Faroe Island’s energy system

This study explores the integration of offshore wind energy and hydrogen production into the Faroe Islands’ energy system to support decarbonisation efforts, particularly focusing on the maritime sector. The EnergyPLAN model is used to simulate the impact of incorporating green hydrogen, produced via electrolysis, within a closed energy system. The study evaluates different configurations of hydrogen production and their feasibility focusing on electrolyser technologies and placement options (in-turbine, platform-based, and shoreline). The hydrogen produced is intended for ammonia production, replacing 11% of the fossil fuels used in maritime transport by 2030. Results indicate that integrating hydrogen with offshore wind energy can reduce fossil fuel reliance and carbon dioxide emissions. The in-turbine electrolyser setup offers the cost-effective placement option, while the platform setup is the most expensive. Among the three electrolyser technologies evaluated (alkaline, solid oxide and proton exchange membrane), the alkaline electrolyser results in the lowest overall system cost. The findings provide insights into the potential for renewable energy systems in a small island context and contribute to a broader understanding of green hydrogen’s role in energy transitions.

Understanding Multi-Hazard Interactions and Impacts on Small-Island Communities: Insights from the Active Volcano Island of Ternate, Indonesia

Drawing on a case study from Ternate Island, a densely populated volcanic island in Eastern Indonesia, this research illustrates how multi-hazards and extreme weather events are likely to compound and cascade, with serious consequences for sustainable development in small island context. At the heart of Ternate Island sits the active Gamalama volcano, posing a constant eruption threat. Its location within the Ring of Fire further exposes the island to the risks of tsunamis and earthquakes. Additionally, the island’s physical features make it highly susceptible to flooding, landslides, and windstorms. Rapid urbanization has led to significant coastal alterations, increasing exposure to hazards. Ternate’s small-island characteristics include limited resources, few evacuation options, vulnerable infrastructure, and inadequate resilience planning. Combining GIS multi-hazard mapping with a structured survey in 60 villages in Ternate, this case study investigates the multi-hazard exposure faced by the local population and land coverage. The findings suggest significant gaps between village chiefs’ perceptions of the types of hazards and the multi-hazard assessment in each village. Out of 60 village chiefs surveyed, 42 (70%) are aware of earthquake risks, 17 (28%) recognize tsunami threats, and 39 see volcanoes as a danger. GIS assessments show that earthquakes could impact all villages, tsunamis could affect 46 villages (77%), and volcanoes could threaten 39 villages. The hazard map indicates that 32 villages are at risk of flash floods and 37 are at risk of landslides, and extreme weather could affect all villages. Additionally, 42 coastal villages on Ternate Island face potential extreme wave and abrasion disasters, but only 18 chiefs acknowledge extreme weather as a threat. The paper argues that addressing the cognitive biases reflected in the perceptions of community leaders requires transdisciplinary dialogue and engagement.

Exploring the utility of the Enhanced Vegetation Index as rainfall and agricultural proxy in a Caribbean case study event

Highly fragile small island states experience disproportionate climate impacts given their limited capacity to implement cost‐effective tools for detecting emerging signals of drying conditions and monitoring systems for sensitive sectors such as agriculture, especially for uncertain, ‘creeping’ events such as droughts. Despite the existence of open‐source Google Earth Engine datasets, untapped potential remains for their full deployment in disaster management infrastructure. Given this gap, this paper explores the utility of the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) for detecting spatio‐temporal variations of Mid‐Summer Drought (MSD) impacts on vegetation in the small island of Jamaica, with emphasis on major historical drought events. Geospatial analyses of EVI datasets from the Terra Moderate‐Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) between 2000−2015 archived by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), were computed, and validated by station‐based precipitation and production data for selected parishes for historical case study MSD events. Results revealed highly asymmetrical drought impacts, with Jamaica's agriculturally intense Southern coastline displaying the most stressed vegetation (EVI < 0.5). North‐Western and North‐Eastern regions had the healthiest vegetation during the MSD (EVI > 0.6). A ‘fair’ to ‘moderate’ concurrent correlation was found between EVI and precipitation (R > 0.6), with lower correlations vis‐a‐vis agricultural production (R = 0.2–0.4). The results provide evidence of EVI's utility as a drought monitoring tool in a small island context.

Process evaluation of implementation of the early stages of a whole systems approach to obesity in a small Island.

The small Atlantic island of St Helena is a United Kingdom Overseas Territory (UKOT) with a high prevalence of childhood obesity (over a quarter of 4-5 and 10-11 year olds) and, anecdotally, adulthood obesity and its associated health detriments. St Helena have taken a whole systems approach to obesity (WSAO) to address the issue. A WSAO recognises the factors that impact obesity as a complex system and requires a 'health in all policies' approach. UK academic and public health technical support was provided to the local St Helena delivery team. This process evaluation sought to explore the early stages of the WSAO implementation and implications for the transferability of the approach to other small island developing states and UKOT. Data was collected via eight semi-structured interviews, paper based and online surveys, and document analysis. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The analysis identified three factors which aided the first phase of WSAO implementation: (1) senior leaders support for the approach; (2) the academic support provided to establish and develop the approach; and (3) effective adaptation of UK Government resources to suit the local context. Key challenges of early implementation included: maintaining and broadening stakeholder engagement; limited local workforce capacity and baseline knowledge related to obesity and systems thinking; and limited capacity for support from the UK-based academic team due to contract terms and COVID-19 restrictions. Early stages of implementation of a WSAO in a UKOT can be successful when using UK's resources as a guide and adapting them to a small island context. All participants recommended other small islands adopt this approach. Continued senior support, dedicated leadership, and comprehensive community engagement is needed to progress implementation and provide the foundation for long-term impact. Small island developing states considering adopting a WSAO should consider political will, senior level buy-in and support, funding, and local workforce knowledge and capacity to enable the best chances of successful and sustainable implementation.

Leveraging small island context to advance and disseminate environmental health and sustainable development knowledge through higher education

Higher education curricula can be designed to effectively leverage the context of small island states to enhance and deliver sustainable development and environmental health education, catering to workforce development, citizenry, and inclusivity. Small islands and developing states, in particular, are left behind in recognizing and promoting the linkages between environmentally sustainable development and the health of its people. This community case study highlights strategies of a Caribbean-based higher learning institution, leveraging the context of a small island state, to close this gap and create equitable access to integrated sustainable development and environmental health education. Tenets of Education for Sustainable Development theory underpin the pedagogical methodologies used in the delivery of the academic program. The curriculum draws on experiential learning, competency-based education, and diversity and inclusion, oriented to active student–student and student-practitioner engagements. Learning is facilitated through the effective dissemination of information, healthy interactions within a diverse community, professional engagements with multi-disciplinary practitioners, problem-solving, and formulation and presentation of perspectives and experiences relating to the Sustainable Development Agenda and Goals. Highly engaging and inclusive academic processes can accentuate students transitioning into the role of teachers, environmentally conscious leaders and citizens, and competent public health practitioners for the local and global workforces.

“Quite an Innocuous Thing”: The Select Committee on the Greater Use of Manx Gaelic and language revitalisation in the Isle of Man

Over the past several decades, Manx Gaelic, the indigenous language of the Isle of Man, a small island in the British Isles, has undergone a profound process of revitalisation and reintegration into the life of the community. At the forefront of this revitalisation process has been a dedicated group of language activists who saved the language following the death of the last native speakers. More recently, however, the Isle of Man government has supported the revitalisation of Manx, mainly through education planning and support for cultural programming. This article examines the Select Committee on the Greater Use of Manx Gaelic, a committee of the island’s parliament, Tynwald, the internal and external contexts that shaped its deliberations and recommendations and the role it played in signalling a change in the attitude of the government towards Manx in the mid-1980s. The Select Committee highlights the important connection between the political (governance) and social (identity) dimensions of islandness in the revitalisation of an Indigenous language in a small island context.

The environment and climate change as a primary stakeholder for accommodation suppliers: Stakeholder engagement for Koh Tao and Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

AbstractThis study investigates the potential recognition and engagement of the natural environment as an important factor in strategic investment decisions by accommodation suppliers in a small island context. The investigation, based on empirical data from two Thai islands, Koh Tao and Koh Phi Phi, contributes to the debate if the environment, by focusing on climate change, can be identified as a primary stakeholder for accommodation suppliers. The findings show that strategic investment decisions are influenced by impacts commonly associated with climate change, although a conscious recognition of climate change as a strategic stakeholder or important factor in strategic investment decisions could not be confirmed. Conversely, the element of unconsciousness in the process of recognising climate change in investment decisions sparks questions regarding the degree to which the recognition of business stakeholders requires being a conscious process and if the focus on investments could be another element for stakeholder identification frameworks for businesses.

Resilience-building in small island family-owned accommodation sector

This study aims to understand the crises experienced by family-owned accommodation businesses in small island contexts and how resilience is built alongside the development of their dynamic capabilities (sensing, seizing, and transforming) as they navigate through crises. The study uses a qualitative method and focuses on the experiences of tourism businesses operating in the islands of Boracay, Negros, and Siargao, which are among the top island destinations in the Philippines. Semi-structured interviews with 18 participants were conducted through 1-hour online video calls, phone calls, and written 2 interviews. Crises that affect tourism businesses are mostly due to external factors. Small islands are at high risk of natural hazards, but businesses do not consider typhoons and earthquakes as crises per se since they frequently experience these hazards. Family businesses have distinct strategies, such as knowledge transfer, maintenance of stable financial resources, infrastructure development, employee training, better marketing strategies, and a focus on sustainability to enhance their dynamic capabilities and build their resilience, thus making them more adaptive to future crises. However, government support for the local tourism industry is still needed to ensure a sustainable tourism industry. Dynamic capabilities and resilience are often linked with each other yet there is limited knowledge on how resilience is built specifically in the context of family-owned businesses in small island context. This study addresses this gap in the literature by using dynamic capabilities as a framework to understand resilience development. Resilience and dynamic capabilities are then adaptive strategies in crisis management.

Who benefits from international tourism in small Pacific islands? Value capture in the hotel industry in Hawaii

There is a consensus among small Pacific islands that the extent to which they benefit from international tourism largely depends on how much of the value created by tourism remains in the local economy. This study examines how the value created in the hotel industry is distributed among the key stakeholders in a small Pacific island context. We used aggregated income statements of full‐service and limited‐service hotels from the STR Inc., a hotel industry data company, to calculate the value distribution among the key stakeholders in the hotel industry of a small Pacific island. We found that labour and owners captured most of the value created, whereas hotel management companies and franchisors captured a small share of the value. Our results suggest that tourism workers' ability to take united action and hence to negotiate higher wages will result in higher value capture by local labour and less value leaking out of the local economy. Our results also reveal that foreign ownership in the hotel industry is the single largest cause of economic leakages. The study has several implications for the tourism‐based growth policies in small Pacific islands.

Can the Caribbean localize its food system?: Evidence from biomass flow accounting

AbstractSmall island economies are highly dependent on food imports. Self‐sufficiency through food localization is therefore often advocated. Can a small Caribbean island nation localize its food system? To answer this question, we conducted socio‐metabolic research on four Caribbean nations: Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, and Jamaica. Derived indicators from a diachronic biomass flow accounting from 1961 to 2019 suggest a declining trend in local food production for all cases. While in Barbados and Jamaica this decline already began in the 1960s, for Dominica and Grenada, this did not start until the late 1970s–1980s. The physical trade balance of biomass is similar across all cases: from net exporters at the start of the study period to net importers as countries developed, albeit at different time periods. By disaggregating biomass flow data to crop level, Barbados and Jamaica indicate a trend that is moving away from food localization, while Dominica and Grenada appear to be modestly moving toward localization in recent years. Given the many resource security challenges small island economies face, this study provides a biophysical perspective to the Caribbean's food security debate and questions the extent to which food localization is possible in a small island context, and whether other strategies are urgently needed.

An integrated assessment of environmental, economic, social and technological parameters of source separated and conventional sanitation concepts: A contribution to sustainability analysis

Resource recovery and reuse from domestic wastewater has become an important subject for the current development of sanitation technologies and infrastructures. Different technologies are available and combined into sanitation concepts, with different performances. This study provides a methodological approach to evaluate the sustainability of these sanitation concepts with focus on resource recovery and reuse. St. Eustatius, a small tropical island in the Caribbean, was used as a case study for the evaluation. Three source separation-community-on-site and two combined sewerage island-scale concepts were selected and compared in terms of environmental (net energy use, nutrient recovery/reuse, BOD/COD, pathogens, and GHG emission, land use), economic (CAPEX and OPEX), social cultural (acceptance, required competences and education), and technological (flexibility/adaptability, reliability/continuity of service) indicators. The best performing concept, is the application of Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Bed (UASB) and Trickling Filter (TF) at island level for combined domestic wastewater treatment with subsequent reuse in agriculture. Its overall average normalised score across the four categories (i.e., average of average per category) is about 15% (0.85) higher than the values of the remaining systems and with a score of 0.73 (conventional activated sludge – centralised level), 0.77 (UASB-septic tank (ST)), 0.76 (UASB-TF - community level), and 0.75 (ST - household level). The higher score of the UASB-TF at community level is mainly due to much better performance in the environmental and economic categories. In conclusion, the case study provides a methodological approach that can support urban planning and decision-making in selecting more sustainable sanitation concepts, allowing resource recovery and reuse in small island context or in other contexts.

Infrastructure Strategies for Achieving the Global Development Agendas in Small Islands

AbstractSmall island developing states face particular challenges to ensure their infrastructure promotes social, economic, and environmental well‐being. Closing the achievement gap for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) involves prioritization and coordination across multiple sectors. With an application to the country of Saint Lucia, this paper develops a stakeholder‐driven analysis framework integrating four interdependent infrastructure sectors (electricity, water, wastewater, and solid waste). Drawing on extensive consultation with decision‐makers in‐country—134 stakeholders from 18 government ministries, agencies, academia, or the private sector—the analysis identifies specific interventions that could be implemented over the next decades to meet future needs for sustainable infrastructure services. These interventions are congruent with the government's development plans. Long‐term, cross‐sectoral portfolios of investments and policies (“strategies”) are developed which demonstrably reach the targets of the SDGs and Saint Lucia's emissions reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement. The sequencing of these investments or policies is designed to optimize their efficiency and impact over time, identifying “quick wins” while ensuring that there is sufficient action to provide services in the long‐term sustainably. A comparison of costs associated with each strategy suggests that accounting for interdependencies and taking a long‐term perspective can save costs over the life of infrastructure investments. This process of infrastructure assessment is applicable beyond the small island context, allowing practitioners a means to undertake systematic assessment of a country's future infrastructure needs and to develop appropriate solutions aligned with its national objectives and international commitments.

Marine spatial planning on the Caribbean island of Montserrat: Lessons for data‐limited small islands

AbstractAs human use of the oceans increases, marine spatial planning (MSP) is being more widely adopted to achieve improved environmental, economic, and social outcomes. However, there is a lack of practical guidance for stakeholder driven, scientifically informed MSP processes in small island and data‐limited contexts. Here, we present an overview of MSP on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, with a focus on the scientific and technical input that helped inform the process. Montserrat presents an interesting case study of MSP in the small island context as it has ocean uses that are common to many islands, namely small‐scale fisheries and tourism, but the marine environment has been heavily impacted due to volcanic activity. We detail the methods for data collection and analysis and the decision‐making process that contributed to a marine spatial plan. We highlight aspects of the process that may be useful for other small islands embarking on MSP, and lessons learned regarding scientific support, including the need for on‐site scientific support and guidance throughout MSP, the importance of setting clear objectives, working within data limitations and making data accessible, and choosing and using appropriate decision support tools.

An integrated coastal vulnerability approach to small islands: The Azores case

Coastal development in small islands needs adapting to climate and ecosystem changes in the Anthropocene era. Understanding variability of coastal vulnerability along the entire coastline informs coastal planning and management at an island-wide scale as some coastal stretches are more appropriate for big-scale development, while others require additional coastal protection and/or ecosystem conservation. To date, few researches focused on developing macro-scale coastal vulnerability index at an island or archipelagic-scale. This paper fills a knowledge gap by developing an integrated coastal vulnerability index (ICVI) for nine small islands in the Azores archipelago. Considering that degree of vulnerability varies according to human-environment traits of each coastal stretch, this paper characterises integrated coastal vulnerability according to three broad attributes, i.e. exposure to external stressors, biophysical features and socioeconomic characteristics. Using field work, semi-quantitative analysis and GIS, ICVI is a simple and relatively quick approach that provides a broad overview of coastal vulnerability in small island context. A set of six accessible and representative parameters was employed as indicators for this vulnerability assessment, i.e. type of cliff; type of beach; coastal defences; exposure to swell/storm waves; outcrop flooded and land-use. The entire coastline of each island was divided into segments according to their geomorphic compartments and subsequently assigned with a relative ICVI value. Each segment was ranked into five classes ranging from very low to very high based on its relative degree of vulnerability. While majority of the coasts are of moderate relative vulnerability in the Azores, vulnerability varies broadly along the coast between low, moderate and high. The ICVI approach serves as a useful decision support tool to facilitate effective planning and management for the Azores small islands and the methodology has the flexibility of being scaled deep by adding more indicators where necessary and available or scaled out to other small islands.

Islands of democracy

From a comparative political perspective, island jurisdictions stand out as having exceptionally democratic regimes in comparison with mainland or continental polities. Irrespective of their geographical location, levels of economic development or constitutional status (sovereign or nonsovereign), with only a few exceptions, island jurisdictions around the world have democratic political institutions. While some scholars have explained this relationship on the basis of colonial history, international political dynamics or the geographical isolation and remoteness that stem from being an island, others have argued that the smallness of islands explains the correlation, meaning that size is actually the causal factor that explains the prevalence of democratic governance. In this paper, an original account of the relationship between islandness and democracy is provided, foregrounding the informal political dynamics that can be observed in island territories around the world. To do this, the specific nature, dynamics and varieties of democratic governance in island jurisdictions are examined. Most island nations have adopted the political‐institutional framework of former colonial powers or metropolitan states, and these have only rarely been modified to suit the (small) island context. Yet due to the greater social intimacy and interconnectedness of island societies, these formal institutional frameworks are likely to be complemented or overshadowed by a set of powerful informal political dynamics, which means that a large part of the political process is conducted outside of the official political channels. These informal politics have mixed effects on the quality of democratic governance, as face‐to‐face relations offer both opportunities and drawbacks for democratic transparency and accountability. The last analytical section of the paper examines the interaction between formal institutional structures and the prevalent informal political dynamics in island territories, and argues that this interplay perhaps provides the best explanation for the survival of democratic institutions in island territories.

Adaptive management for the sustainable exploitation of lagoon resources in remote islands: lessons from a massive El Niño-induced giant clam bleaching event in the Tuamotu atolls (French Polynesia)

SUMMARYSmall-scale mariculture of high-value species for trade in remote islands can offer valuable alternative livelihoods to local communities. The endangered giant clam speciesTridacna maximais naturally abundant in some atolls in French Polynesia (FP) and has been the focus of commercial mariculture activities since 2012. Shortly after spat collectors became operational in two atoll lagoons, FP rose to become one of the main exporters of giant clams for the aquarium trade. However, this activity has been threatened recently by a mass clam-bleaching event triggered by the 2015–2016 El Niño. This study reviews the roles that international (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and national regulatory frameworks play in the development of this activity in a small island context, and how they can indirectly promote better science and monitoring in order to inform adaptive management strategies. The links between the nine main groups of stakeholders show the necessary adaptation measures required to mitigate climate-driven mortalities. While this case study remains specific to giant clam farming in FP, general lessons are provided that could help in mitigating economic impacts from climate-related events on other islands.

Holocene environmental history of a small Mediterranean island in response to sea-level changes, climate and human impact

The aim of this study is to investigate human-climate-environment interactions in a small Mediterranean island. Comparison between palynological and palaeoentomological data from the Greco pond (Cavallo Island, southern Corsica) reveals that the island was first covered by a more-or-less open Erica arborea pasture-woodland from ca. 7000 to 6100cal.yrB.P. Grazing animals from 7000 to 6200cal.yrB.P., followed by a spreading of Ficus carica (marked by the bark beetle Hypoborus ficus) from ca. 6100 to 5750cal.yrB.P., suggest that human activities could be implicated in the E. arborea forest opening. From ca. 5500cal.yrB.P., a regional expansion of Q. ilex was recorded, but an open landscape with thermophilous and drought-tolerant plants locally took place from ca. 4700cal.yrB.P. onward. Pastoral and agricultural biomarkers (pollen, NPP and insect) together with archaeological evidence indicate that human activities were involved in the installation of a lasting open vegetation. Simultaneously, the effects of the Holocene relative sea-level rise on the coastal wetland are recorded: (1) freshwater conditions prevailed in the Greco pond since 7000cal.yrB.P. at least, (2) the first evidence of salt marsh development dates back to ca. 4500cal.yrB.P., (3) a strong increase of salinity with marine intrusions were recorded at ca. 3700cal.yrB.P. while a decline in aquatic insect diversity occurred and (4) a phase of sand dune formation was recorded from ca. 2000cal.yrB.P. onward. Our results suggest that if large-scale climatic trend such as the Holocene relative sea-level rise could affect coastal ecosystem, effects of human activities could play the leading role in vegetation and terrestrial beetle assemblage changes in a small island context.

Enclave tourism versus agritourism: the economic debate

The approaches to tourism development vary in different settings. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the conversation on the relative economic advantages of enclave and agritourism in a small island context. This study explicitly discusses these two forms of tourism in the island of Mauritius where tourism is a key pillar of the local economy. This study uses a novel format where stakeholder perspectives are reviewed based on a simulated debate between two sets of advocates. The debate arguments rely on a grounded methodology where in-depth interviews were conducted to gather the opinions of three substantial groups of stakeholders: notably, government officials, business interests and local community members. The multi-faceted arguments are built on the identified local concerns and perspectives and provide a forum for the voices of diverse participants from the tourism world of Mauritius. The format offers a rich, realistic set of arguments exploring the economic merits of both forms of tourism in a specific setting. Five main themes influence the economic support for tourism development: certainty of tourism income, scale of tourism development, employment, regional disparity and the challenge of change.

Assessment of nitrogen and phosphorus flows in agricultural and urban systems in a small island under limited data availability

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are two essential macronutrients required in agricultural production. The major share of this production relies on chemical fertilizer that requires energy and relies on limited resources (P). Since these nutrients are lost to the environment, there is a need to shift from this linear urban metabolism to a circular metabolism in which N and P from domestic waste and wastewater are reused in agriculture. A first step to facilitate a transition to more circular urban N and P management is to understand the flows of these resources in a coupled urban-agricultural system. For the first time this paper presents a Substance Flow Analysis (SFA) approach for the assessment of the coupled agricultural and urban systems under limited data availability in a small island. The developed SFA approach is used to identify intervention points that can provide N and P stocks for agricultural production. The island of St. Eustatius, a small island in the Caribbean, was used as a case study. The model developed in this study consists of eight sub-systems: agricultural and natural lands, urban lands, crop production, animal production, market, household consumption, soakage pit and open-dump landfill. A total of 26 flows were identified and quantified for a period of one year (2013). The results showed that the agricultural system is a significant source for N and P loss because of erosion/run-off and leaching. Moreover, urban sanitation systems contribute to deterioration of the island's ecosystem through N and P losses from domestic waste and wastewater by leaching and atmospheric emission. Proposed interventions are the treatment of blackwater and greywater for the recovery of N and P. In conclusion, this study allows for identification of potential N and P losses and proposes mitigation measures to improve nutrient management in a small island context.

Deconstructing the Reality of Community-Based Management of Marine Resources in a Small Island Context in Indonesia

This study offers a detailed analysis of community-based management (CBM) in a small island in Indonesia. In the study site, area-specific stewardship for a marine territory was informally institutionalized and, in addition to state rules, locally devised rules based on informal agreements have emerged. Using multiple methods for the analysis of the perceptions of the local community, this research examines the actual impact of the different rules on the fishing patterns in that sea territory, and illuminates the rationales of the local population to engage (or not) in the community-based approach to manage the marine resources. The study shows that the CBM initiative has to be seen as part of a convoluted regulatory system that impacts the fishing behavior in the sea territory. A lack of official authority to formally develop and especially to locally enforce rules represents a key challenges for the CBM initiative. This is further complicated by severe coordination problems between the local community and higher level state actors. The study further shows that the motivation of the community members to engage in the enforcement of the informal rules is strongly based on short-term economic considerations. For rules that are perceived to have a strong impact on the individual fishing yields, the fear of potential short-term economic losses constitutes a particular success factor of the local initiative since it motivates the members of the community to enforce local rules, especially when outside fishers break the rules. Yet, if rule-breaking is not perceived to decrease individual fishing yield, or if benefits of the generated yields are shared with the community as a compensation mechanism, the motivation of the community members to engage in rule enforcement ceases.