Territorial Use Rights In Fisheries Research Articles

Practice of Territorial Use Rights in Fisheries in Coastal Fishery Management in China: A Case Study of the Island Reefs Fishery Lease Policy from Shengsi County in Zhejiang Province

Coastal fisheries are vital for food supply, employment, and social stability. However, overfishing is a common problem, often attributed to open access. Territorial Use Rights in Fisheries (TURFs) have gained popularity as a tool to improve the sustainability of coastal fisheries, but research on TURFs in China is limited. This paper examines the island reef fishery lease policy implemented in Shengsi County, Zhejiang Province, within the Ma’an Islands National Marine Special Reserve. The policy leases the use of island reefs to a collective, aiming to address overfishing and resource degradation by establishing fishing area boundaries and limiting the number of users and usage time. Technically, it is an application of TURFs, and it represents a shift from traditional fishing licenses to collective compliance. This experience has disrupted the existing top–down fishery governance structure and signifies a transition to a rights-based fishery management system in China. Through a comprehensive investigation and analysis of the policy’s implementation, this research identifies the factors contributing to its flaws. These include the inadequate provision of national and local government policies, insufficient support for policy implementation from fishery management authorities, and the limited involvement of fishermen’s organizations. To enhance coastal fishery management, we propose that the Chinese government should build upon existing foundations by clarifying fishing rights through central and local laws and policies. Additionally, there is a need to strengthen data monitoring of coastal fisheries, conduct multidisciplinary research to improve the allocation mechanism of fishing rights, adopt diverse fishery management approaches to enhance supervision capabilities, establish a collaborative governance mechanism, and foster coordination and cooperation between grassroots fishermen’s organizations and government departments.

Does the harvest of the natural populations of the floating seaweed Durvillaea incurvata (Surh) Macaya affect its dispersal potential?

Dispersal of floating seaweeds contributes to the connectivity of marine communities. Little is known about the harvest of natural populations by fishermen on the dispersal capacity of these species. Harvesting decreases the available biomass and the size of individuals. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that the availability of floating specimens will be lower at sites with the highest harvesting intensity compared to sites with low intensity harvesting. Using the floating seaweed Durvillaea incurvata as a model, the relationship between the harvest of its benthic populations and the strandings on adjacent beaches was examined. Surveys were carried out during summer and winter from 2021 to 2023 at sites along the coast of Chile (33°S - 42°S) with different management administrative strategies and seaweed harvesting intensity: (a) Marine Protected Areas (MPA, low level), (b) Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries (TURF, intermediate level), and (c) Open Access Areas (OAA, high level). Measurements of biomasses, size structure, reproductive stage, potential buoyancy and floating times (using attached Lepas spp. as proxy) of the specimens from benthic populations and strandings on adjacent beaches were made. Benthic biomasses and sizes of D. incurvata specimens were higher in MPA compared to TURF and OAA, which were consistent with strandings on nearby beaches. Benthic and stranded biomasses, densities, lengths and percentages of reproductive individuals were higher in winter compared to summer. The presence and sizes of Lepas spp. indicated short floating times of stranded individuals. Significant relationships between biomasses, densities, and lengths of benthic and stranded D. incurvata specimens were observed, according to harvest intensity levels and seasons. Our results suggest that the harvest of benthic populations can affect the dispersal potential of D. incurvata. Exploitation of natural populations of floating seaweeds should consider their dispersal capacity, which may be useful for the recovery of over-exploited areas.

Fishing logbook as stewardship action within TURF management in Kepulauan Seribu Marine National Park, Indonesia

Stewardship, as a concept that relates to any action taken by a steward in favor of the sustainability of their environment, has attracted attention. However, research on stewardship action taken by fishers at the local level is particularly understudied. Our study was conducted in Kepulauan Seribu Marine National Park, where fishing logbook activity occurred as part of the introduction of Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries (TURF) management. Logbook writing is the local stewardship action in the center of interest of this study. We collected empirical data using the local environmental stewardship framework to analyze the main causes why the fishing logbook writing discontinued and determine the leverage strategies to relaunch the activity. Semi-structured interviews with fishers who did and did not submit the logbook reveal that the fisher's intrinsic motivation and agency are strongly intertwined with the social, cultural, and political contexts, which together provide a good understanding of why stewardship action stopped. Applying the framework demonstrates that the failure of the stewardship action is a result of a mismatch between the TURF approach and the fishers' understanding of how the problem should be managed and solved. Despite being granted exclusive management rights by the authorities, the fishers have little intrinsic motivation and a lack of agency, and they ask heavily for government action. Fishing logbooks are an example of stewardship action that integrates local and fishery biology knowledge for creating a basis to determine strategies to address local overfishing problems. We outline different leveraging strategies that could potentially relaunch the logbook activity in Kepulauan Seribu.

Limited effects of management and ecological subsidies on the size-spectra of kelp forest fish communities

Animal body size influences key ecological processes across biological hierarchies. For instance, densities (N) and community biomass (B) are allometric functions of body mass (M). Energetic equivalence predicts that density scales with body size as N ∝ M-0.75 and that biomass scales with body size as B ∝ M0.25. However, the way fish size-spectra are influenced by external processes, such as ecological subsidies (e.g. nutrients from upwelling zones) and fisheries management, is not well understood. We investigated the relationship of body size with density and biomass of reef fishes associated with subtidal kelp forests of Lessonia trabeculata that were influenced by the separate and interactive effects of management (Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries [TURF] or open access) and upwelling regimes (upwelling or non-upwelling zones). Fish densities and lengths were recorded using underwater visual censuses. Within each of 4 locations, paired TURF and open-access sites were surveyed. We surveyed 18 fish species, encompassing 1511 individuals ranging between 2 and 6639 g. We observed that fish size-spectra deviated from energetic equivalence, as N ∝ M-0.32 and B ∝ M2.2, indicating that the contribution of large-sized fishes to community density and biomass was greater than that predicted by energetic equivalence. Multi-model inference suggested that TURF and upwelling scenarios had weak effects on fish size-spectra. Results indicated that fish communities may have access to external food sources beyond local kelp forests. In addition, size-spectra may be a spatially persistent attribute of these fish communities.

Legitimate network governance in small-scale fisheries in northern Chile

ABSTRACT By introducing Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries (TURF), the Chilean government has devolved authority over the appropriation of benthic fisheries to local fishers’ organisations. Yet there is little evidence of how this local governance works for membership organisations. Drawing on the theory of lateral network governance, the role of legitimacy in governance outcomes is examined by conducting a comparative case study of two TURF networks in northern Chile. Counterintuitively, more effective governance outcomes were found in the TURF network characterised by a less favourable legitimacy structure of decision-making than the case with a better legitimacy structure. Considering context and network evolution, it is suggested that although organisational renewal and high membership turnover potentially fragment legitimacy, they also enable novel collective action and better governance outcomes. The observed divergence of actual legitimacy from formal governance structure underscores the need for dynamic analysis of collective resource governance beyond the formal chart.

Co-management of a high-value species with territorial use rights for fisheries: a spatial bioeconomic approach with environmental variability

Abalone is a high-value resource that is an important export market fishery of Mexico that is managed through territorial use rights for fisheries allocated to a coastal community. A specific age-structured spatial bioeconomic model was applied to this fishery to undertake stock recovery to target levels. The model incorporates uncertainty in the parameter k of a von Bertalanffy growth function with environmental variability. The risk of falling below and exceeding the target and bioeconomic limit reference points of the population with alternative fisheries management strategies was studied using a Monte Carlo analysis. The management strategy evaluation showed that Emin (minimum effort) and EmaxNPV (resource rent maximization effort) generated higher biomass levels and higher present value of resource rent than Emsy (effort in maximum sustainable yield) at the end of the simulation period, regardless of the bioeconomic reference points and assuming a reduction in fishing effort. Emin and EmaxNPV increased and maximized the present value of resource rent generated by the species while avoiding its overexploitation. The social consequences of the management strategies were considered with the participation of fishers of this co-managed fishery.

Territorial use rights for finfish fisheries: a case study in Baja California Sur, Mexico

Small-scale fisheries support millions of people around the world but they face a common issue of overcapacity which often leads to overexploitation of resources. One solution is to implement territorial use rights in fisheries (TURFs), which are a form of coastal property rights that permit fishing by specific individuals or groups within a designated area while excluding all others. In Corredor San Cosme–Punta Coyote (the Corredor), Baja California Sur, small-scale fishers target 11 main reef fish species, of which the Pacific red snapper (Lutjanus peru) is the most economically important. In an effort to maintain and secure their fishery resources, the Corredor fishers are interested in implementing additional management strategies to complement existing no-take reserves. Among the different fishery management tools, some locals have considered TURFs as an option to manage their fishing grounds. Using a spatial bioeconomic model, we explore the possible impacts of establishing TURFs in the Corredor to provide fishers with the knowledge necessary to make informed management decisions for their fisheries. Of the five scenarios tested, the three incorporating TURFs had a larger increase in fish abundance, catch, and fisher profit after 20 years in comparison to the status quo and scenarios without TURFs. Conditional on the development of collaborative strategies and effective enforcement among fishers, TURFs may be beneficial to Corredor fishers.

Management policies impact fishers’ income beyond tolerable limits: The case of the Chilean TURFs in Central Chile

Fish trade worldwide seeks sustainable fishery production which right-based-fisheries should provide. However, fisheries managed in TURF system (Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries), as occurs for loco (Concholepas concholepas) and kelp fisheries in central Chile, can turn out to be highly fluctuating. This can pose a challenge to fisher’s livelihood depending on the income variability this type of management produces. This work analyzes temporal variations of loco and kelp abundances and landings at increasing spatial scales, investigating which would be a TURF size that could dampen the influence of natural variations on fishers’ income enough for it to be tolerable. We analyzed loco and kelp abundance and landings data from hard bottom TURFs in Atacama (n = 22) and Coquimbo (n = 61) regions of Central Chile, which represent 81.4% of the total TURFs in these regions. Income variations less than 39% were considered tolerable, according to a study conducted by the National Consumer Service, where 61% of a person’s salary is necessary to cover essential needs in Chilean family. Loco and kelp landings variations exceeded that criterion at all analyzed spatial scales, suggesting that they cannot rely solely on those fisheries within a TURF. Even increasing the size of TURF including the coast of an entire region, does not dampen variability to a tolerable value. This explains the reason for former fisher migrations within these fisheries, something present regulations prevent, generating a complex situation which is necessary to revise in order not to maintain an incentive to side step regulations.

Sustaining small-scale fisheries through a nation-wide Territorial Use Rights in Fisheries system.

Territorial Use rights in Fisheries (TURFs) are used around the world to manage small-scale fisheries and they've shown varying levels of success. Our understanding of what leads to different performance levels is limited due to several reasons. Firstly, these systems are often present in areas with low monitoring capacity where data is scarce. Secondly, past research has centered on the analysis of successful cases, with little attention paid to entire systems. Thirdly, research has been ahistorical, disconnected from the development process of TURF systems. Fourthly, TURFs are often viewed as homogenous ignoring the socio-ecological conditions under which they develop. To address these gaps, the study focuses on Mexico as a case study and context. The research first presents a historical overview of the development of TURF systems in Mexico, including the institutional and legal frameworks that have shaped their evolution. The paper then presents a TURF database that maps all TURF systems in Mexico, including their geographical locations and characteristics. In addition, the study presents case studies based on identified archetypes that showcase the diversity of TURF systems in Mexico, highlighting the different types of systems and the challenges they face. By presenting a comprehensive map of all TURF systems in Mexico, this research paper aims to make an important addition to the case studies in the global literature on TURF systems and provide a valuable resource for marine resource management policymakers, researchers, and practitioners.

Can the territorial use rights in fisheries (TURF) stabilize the landings of a highly variable benthic resource? Reexamining the fishery of Concholepas concholepas in North-Central Chile

The fishery of the muricid gastropod Concholepas concholepas is iconic in the southeast Pacific Ocean, since several studies on the species served as basis for changing from an open access regime to territorial user rights in fisheries (TURFs), in the form of management and exploitation areas for benthic resources. This predatory gastropod can be abundant in exposed rocky shores, yet its landings are highly variable in space and time. A few years after new management was implemented, TURF areas exhibited stabilized landings at the national level. However, we have no clear understanding of the outcomes of this management over time at national level versus individual area level. We estimated landings trends using long-term data (18 years) on landings of C. concholepas in most TURF areas of north-central Chile. These temporal trends were estimated by quantifying the landings slopes for each area and their individual deviations from the population level estimates (overall slope minus individual slope). We found that nearly 20% of areas stopped harvesting in 2010, most areas exhibited declining landings over time, and nearly as many areas exhibited slopes above and below the mean overall slope. The change in the traditional way of fishing, the increase in illegal fishing, and the lack of adequate knowledge about the larval cycle of the species may have driven the failure of the TURF areas for C. concholepas. Since fishing is prohibited in the remaining open access areas but is poorly controlled, we suggest ending this prohibition in open access areas and maintaining existing TURF areas to assess actual landings of C. concholepas in Chile. This change may improve the protection of the species.

Coping with poachers in European stalked barnacle fisheries: Insights from a stakeholder workshop

In January 2020, a stakeholder workshop was organized as a knowledge sharing strategy among European stalked barnacle fisheries. Management of this fishery differs greatly among regions and ranges from less organized and governed at large scales (>100 km, coasts of SW Portugal and Brittany in France) to highly participatory systems which are co-managed at small spatial scales (10′s km and less, Galicia and Asturias). Discussions revealed that poaching is ubiquitous, hard to eradicate, and adapts to all types of management. The stakeholders identified some key management initiatives in the fight against poaching: granting professional harvesters with exclusive access to the resource, increasing social capital among harvesters through tenure systems (e.g. Territorial Use Rights in Fisheries) that empower them as stewards of their resource and intensification of surveillance with the active participation of the harvesters. Furthermore, increased cooperation between fishers associations and regional fisheries authorities, improved legal frameworks, adoption of new technologies and the implementation of market-based solutions can also help coping with this systemic problem.

Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries (TURF) in central-southern Chile: Their sustainability status from a transdisciplinary holistic approach

The Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries (TURF) system are a kind of marine property where user rights are assiged to collective entities of artisanal fishers’ organizations. But their effectivity continues to be limited, which demands a comprehensive evaluation of their social, economic, and ecological performance. Consequently, the practical integration and application of these aspects continue to be a significant challenge for their management. The “RAPFISH” multidimensional scaling technique was applied to assess the sustainability status of 19 TURFs of the Biobio Region (Chile), using 51 transdisciplinary attributes relating to ecological, economic, social, among other dimensions. The results obtained in the two-dimensional arrangement presented a sustainability gradient, due to the marked variations among the different TURFs, and only four cases had very weak sustainability scores. Broadly speaking, this study determined that the social dimension (score: 61.37%) had a “high” influence on the best performance of the TURF system, while the ecological, ethical, and institutional dimensions were rated from ‘regular’ to ‘bad’. Overall, results indicate an average performance in the “medium” sustainability range (score: 54.68%), and these results generated questions about the TURFs’ viability, mainly in those that have not reached their sustainability objectives. Therefore, more local studies are needed on the social dimension of this system, in order to define the effective participatory tools and social management plans in TURFs, which will contribute to improve their performance.

Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries (TURF) and self-regulation of behaviour: Experimental evidence from the Colombian Pacific coast

This paper presents findings from an experimental study on the harvesting behaviour of a set of fishers on Colombia’s Pacific coast under both the presence and absence of Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries (TURF). The experiments are common-pool resource (CPR)-games where participants undertake harvesting decisions under a baseline scenario and two subsequent treatments (communication and self-regulation). The data are analysed using different statistical models. We find that fishers under TURF tend to coordinate their efforts when no treatments are introduced into the experiment. However, once treatments are introduced, we observe that self-regulation outperforms communication in reducing harvest levels. This situation can be viewed as a consequence of the internal struggles between TURF fishers, highlighting the need for regulation. We conclude that a TURF designation on its own is not sufficient to shape the preferences of the users of a CPR and needs to be accompanied by regulation to encourage coordination among players.

The interplay of natural variability, productivity and management of the benthic ecosystem in the Humboldt Current System: Twenty years of assessment of Concholepas concholepas fishery under a TURF management system

Areas with controlled access, as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries (TURF), are conceived as tools to contribute to the ecosystem conservation and fisheries sustainability. Management and Exploitation Areas for Benthic Resources (MEABR), a TURF system implemented in Chile, offers the opportunity to test this hypothesis. The management in these areas is based mainly on the assessment of the resources population status, with low or no consideration of the ecological - environmental effects that condition their productivity. In this study, we evaluate ecological trophic dynamics of the rocky subtidal community configuration in four periods along 20 years of the highly productive Choros Island MEABR – MPA, including one pre-implementation period. In this TURF, the carnivore gastropod Concholepas concholepas (locally known as “loco”) is the main targeted resource. The performance of ecosystem indexes of this TURF increased during the MEABR regime as compared with the pre MEABR implementation. Nevertheless, the most conspicuous increase occurred in 2013, primarily in response to changes in environmental conditions and their direct and indirect effects on community interactions. The analysis of interactions between guilds indicated that the main drivers were the interaction between the primary productivity, prey abundance and the top predator loco. This produces a long-term dynamic of the system modulated by the interplay of environmental variability, which at benthic community level increases prey populations thus sustaining increased loco productivity. In turn, intensified predation of loco reduces its prey. This produces natural productivity fluctuations, which counteract the expected outcome of management actions, impeding to achieve stable landings in the long term.

Can a Territorial Use Right for Fisheries management make a difference for fishing communities?

Territorial use rights in fisheries (TURFs) is a model used worldwide, in which the management of resources is carried out jointly by the administration and the users. In Chile, a TURF system named Management and Exploitation Areas for Benthic Resources (MEABR) was established during the nineties. The principal goal of the MEABR is the conservation of benthic resources, aiming for the sustainability of benthic fishing. Two decades after its enactment, doubts persist regarding the economic impacts generated by this regime. The present work uses a quasi-experimental method to evaluate the socio-economic impacts of this TURF system. A total of 2722 artisanal-vessel owners, separated into two groups, members, and non-members of a MEABR, were evaluated. We use data from a ten-year span from the beginning of the actual implementation of the MEABR to assess its impact. Results show that being a member of a MEABR increases income by 20%, on average.

Co-Management of Small-Scale Fisheries in Chile From a Network Governance Perspective

We examine decision-making, shared authority, and pluralism as key characteristics for the effective co-management of natural resources. Drawing on the concept of network governance, we complement this approach by studying localized practices of governance that support existing and compensate for missing aspects in the regulation. The regime of territorial use rights for fisheries (TURF) in Chile is a recognized example of large-scale co-management that has given rise to local organizations that manage and exploit benthic resources. Based on multi-sited qualitative fieldwork across five regions, we analyze practices with respect to two governance objects: the deterrence of illegal fishing and the periodic assessment of the fisheries’ biology fields. Our analysis shows that local fisher organizations have institutionalized informal practices of surveillance and monitoring to fill in the gaps of existing regulations. Although fisher organizations and consultants—the so-called management and exploitation areas for benthic resources (AMERB)—have managed to operate the TURF regime, they depend on the government to enforce regulations and receive public subsidies to cover the costs of delegated governance tasks. We suggest that governance effectiveness could benefit from delegating additional authority to the local level. This would enhance the supervision of productive areas and better adaptation of national co-management regulations to the specific geographical context.

Social-ecological vulnerability to climate change in small-scale fisheries managed under spatial property rights systems

Small-scale fisheries (SSFs), which provide an important source of livelihood for many coastal communities, are at risk from climate change. Benthic organisms are likely to be particularly affected by the impacts of climate change due to their low spatial mobility, which limits their capacity for adaptation. Therefore, SSFs that target sedentary resources (“S-fisheries”) will potentially be among the most impacted types of fishery. The pathways of such impacts can be studied in an integrated approach by means of social-ecological vulnerability assessment. The stalked barnacle (Pollicipes pollicipes) fishery, one of the most important S-fisheries in Galicia (NW Spain), represents a complex social-ecological system rooted within the culture of the region. Along Galician coast, this benthic resource is co-managed by the territorial use rights in fisheries (TURFs) scheme. The vulnerability assessment involves ranking TURF systems according to the exposure of the resource to climate hazards, the sensitivity of dependent people and the capacity of the system to adapt to the impacts. After analyzing 26 stalked barnacle TURFs (79% of all Galician TURFs), we identified the most vulnerable zones (Muxía and O Pindo), as indicated by high levels of ecological vulnerability and social sensitivity and low adaptive capacity. We discuss different ways of increasing the adaptive capacity of TURFs based on local knowledge and literature reviews. Vulnerability assessment represents a powerful tool that can be used to help policy-makers develop adaptation strategies needed at different time scales, ultimately contributing towards better informed, sustainable and efficient fisheries management.

Sustainability Analysis of the Benthic Fisheries Managed in the TURF System in Chile

Territorial use rights in fisheries (TURF) are considered to aid to the sustainability of small-scale fisheries, because they remove the perverse incentives, which sustain the tragedy of the commons. Nevertheless, a comprehensive evaluation of the implementation of TURFs is lacking. Chile offers a unique opportunity, because an extensive system for benthic fisheries has been implemented, with at present hundreds of TURFs along the coast. This study analyzes the sustainability of all the TURFs (109) along a stretch of 800 Km of coast, using population, productive, economic, social and institutional indicators. The information was obtained from the technical reports and monitoring each TURF has to prepare for the authority each year, databases the authority has and interviews with artisanal fishermen. Three states of TURFs were identified: unsustainable, poorly sustainable and sustainable. The resources exploited in the analyzed TURFs are the chilean abalon or “loco” (Concholepas concholepas), the key hole limpets “lapa negra” (Fissurella latimarginata), and “lapa rosada” (Fissurella cumingi), the kelps “huiro negro” (Lessonia berteroana), and “huiro palo” (Lessonia trabeculata), the surf clam “Macha” (Mesodesma donacium), the scallop “ostion del norte” (Argopecten purpuratus) and the seaurchin “erizo rojo” (Loxechinus albus). Results show general low performance for population, production and economic indicators, but good performance for social and institutional indicators. Overall the system shows a poor sustainability, which principally means unstable populations, landings and income in most of the TURFs. This result, which differs from most published analyses of the system, is explained mainly by the impossibility to reach a stable fishery through management of so small areas, given the natural variability of the species and the general environment. The good performance of some TURFs cannot be explained by a single factor, which is consistent with the complexity of the system, which makes it little amenable for proper management.

Evidence of illegal catch in the benthic artisanal fisheries of central Chile: patterns across species and management regimes

Non-compliance with fishing regulations is a widespread phenomenon in fisheries worldwide, jeopardizing the recovery of stocks and ecosystem services. There is an urgent need to fill the gaps in our understanding of the scale and nature of illegal fishing in artisanal fisheries, balancing the advances made in industrial fisheries. We explored patterns of fisher compliance with the existing minimum legal size (MLS) regulation in the small-scale benthic fisheries of central Chile. We focus on two of the most conspicuous species (loco Concholepas concholepas and keyhole limpets Fissurella spp.) and comparing two management regimes: management areas (MAs; local name for territorial use rights for fisheries) and open access areas (OAAs; no spatial entry restrictions). We also evaluated the effect of the spatial distribution of MAs, which determines the availability of OAAs on compliance. For both species, we measured the size of individuals in the catch in two consecutive years. We developed an index that accounts for the availability of open access areas per fisher. We found that a) the number of undersized individuals in the catch in OAAs is enormous, b) management regime influences both the median size and fraction of the undersized catch, and c) as the availability of OAAs per fisher decreases, illegal fishing increases, demonstrating the need to manage the levels of effort displacement in designing area-based instruments for management and conservation. Our findings also highlight the need to a) analyze the benefits of area-based instruments at the seascape scale, and b) develop and adapt instruments to prevent illegal fishing.

Transforming traditional management into contemporary territorial-based fisheries management rights for small-scale fisheries in Indonesia

Fisheries management rights (FMRs), such as territorial use rights in fisheries (TURFs), are a promising approach for fisheries management that, if implemented on larger geographic scales, may be able to reduce the risk of fisheries decline, particularly for small-scale fisheries (SSF). SSF are significant throughout Asia, Africa and South America for millions of fishers and supporting the livelihoods of coastal communities. This research evaluates the potential of TURFs as a management tool in Indonesia and develops this into a concept of contemporary FMRs. In Indonesia, the adat communities, i.e. those communities where customary tenurial claims are still practiced, acknowledged under law and respected by migrant communities, have been able to implement TURFs. In Maluku and West Papua regions, TURFs (≈customary marine tenure or petuanan laut) are possible because tenure rights are recognized and confer the essential TURFs elements of exclusivity and security. We investigate the potential for scaling up TURFs by transforming petuanan laut that has enabled the successful implementation of sasi laut, a traditional measure to regulate the utilization of marine resources, into modern FMRs, especially for SSF. Elements of policy reform, the use of science-based fisheries management principles, and data-limited stock assessment methods to inform adaptive management are also considered. We discuss the adoption of FMRs into relevant law to allow the scaling up of TURFs throughout Indonesia. The FMRs are conceived as a privilege granted by government to an entity or group that comes with resource stewardship responsibilities and should be revocable if they are breached.