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Use and Status of Marine Resources - A Complex System of Dependencies Between Man and Nature Case Studies from Tonga and Fiji, South Pacific
Abstract
This paper aims at investigating the effects of population pressure, westernisation- urbanisation and marine tenure systems on the status of reef finfish resources in two South Pacific countries. Finfish resource, total catch and per capita fresh fish consumption decreased with increasing westernisation-urbanisation, supporting a direct link between fishing and population pressure. Unconventionally, we suggest that in the communities surveyed the interest for fish consumption and fisheries diminishes with increased westernisation-urbanisation due to the available nutrition and income alternatives. Significant variations of fishing levels suggest that the level of exploitation is the predominant factor in structuring fish populations observed. Fishing pressure was found to initially affects biomass through size, and then density. Findings indicate a direct relationship between resource status and user level. Because marketing may be more influential than marine property systems, the final decision to which marine tenure systems add to urbanisation-westernisation influences to fishing pressure and thus status of reef fish needs further analysis.
... Prior to the Tongan constitution of 1875, fishing rights to nearshore marine areas were under control of community chiefs and belonged only to coastal people (Kronen et al., 2003). After 1875, there was an abolishment of exclusive fishing rights to particular marine areas and all people had the right to fish or gather marine resources (Kronen et al., 2003). ...
... Prior to the Tongan constitution of 1875, fishing rights to nearshore marine areas were under control of community chiefs and belonged only to coastal people (Kronen et al., 2003). After 1875, there was an abolishment of exclusive fishing rights to particular marine areas and all people had the right to fish or gather marine resources (Kronen et al., 2003). This system is still in place today, with the exception of fish fences, live rock extraction, aquaculture, and marine protected areas (Kronen et al., 2003). ...
... After 1875, there was an abolishment of exclusive fishing rights to particular marine areas and all people had the right to fish or gather marine resources (Kronen et al., 2003). This system is still in place today, with the exception of fish fences, live rock extraction, aquaculture, and marine protected areas (Kronen et al., 2003). ...
... Fresh pork and chicken and canned meat contribute significantly to diets. A transition to meat protein may be associated with over-exploitation of inshore fisheries, population growth, and monetisation of Tongan livelihoods (Gillett 2011;Kronen et al. 2003). Canned fish, an import, is also consumed in many households because it is often cheaper than local fresh fish. ...
... Fresh pork and chicken and canned meat contribute significantly to diets. A transition to meat protein may be associated with over-exploitation of inshore fisheries, population growth, and monetisation of Tongan livelihoods (Gillett 2011;Kronen et al. 2003). Canned fish, an import, is also consumed in many households because it is often cheaper than local fresh fish. ...
The living resources of the Pacific Ocean are part of the region's rich natural capital. Marine and coastal ecosystems provide benefits for all people in and beyond the region. These benefits are called ecosystem services and include a broad range of values linking the environment with development and human well-being. Yet, the natural capital of the ocean often remains invisible. Truly recognizing the value of such resources can help to highlight their importance and prevent their unnecessary loss. The MACBIO project provides technical support to the governments of Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu in identifying and highlighting the values of marine and coastal resources and their ecosystem services. Once values are more visible, governments and stakeholders can plan and manage resources more sustainably, and maintain economic and social benefits of marine and coastal biodiversity in the medium and long term. The MACBIO Project has undertaken economic assessments of Tonga's marine and coastal ecosystem services, and supports the integration of results into national policies and development planning. For a copy of all report and communication material please visit www.macbio.pacific.info.
... This lack of customary or local marine tenure system sets Tonga apart from much of the Pacific (Govan et al., 2009). Traditional fishing rights and tenure of marine waters previously existed under the control of community chiefs, but were abolished with the introduction of the Tongan constitution in 1875 (Kronen et al., 2003). Marine and coastal ecosystems are currently governed by the state through environment and fisheries legislation. ...
Community based and co-management approaches are increasingly used strategies for marine conservation and sustainable management in the tropical Pacific. However, our understanding of the effectiveness of co-management on marine resources and socio economic conditions is relatively limited, often due to insufficient resources to support monitoring based on ecological condition or catch landings data. Monitoring programmes based on the perceptions of resource users are often presented as a cost effective alternative to understanding the status and changes in resource and socio economic conditions. Ecological, catch landings and perception-based data, and their collection methods, have different benefits and limitations for community-based programmes. Here we present a study of the first community-based, co-managed area in the Kingdom of Tonga − the small island of ‘O’ua. We examine both perception-based data from interviews and catch landings data to describe fishing activities, catches and changes in resource status and socio economic conditions since the inception of co-management. Landings data were collected by the community over a five year period; perceptions of change and management performance were collected through structured interviews with fishers based on the same time period. The majority of fishing within the ‘O’ua co-managed area was by men, using hand spears in fibreglass vessels <5 m in length powered by an outboard engine. We found that catch per unit effort was high (especially the estimates generated from perception data) compared to other parts of the Pacific. Since the inception of co-management fishers reported improved socio economic conditions, a greater sense of stewardship over resources, active involvement in management and the effective exclusion of ‘outside’ fishers. We compared catch and catch-per-unit-effort estimates generated from landings and perception data. While fishers perceived that catches had improved since the inception of co-management, landings data suggested that catches were either stable or declining. These differences are important as they would suggest very different management responses. We discuss the trade-offs between the catch landings and perception data in terms of accuracy, precision, participation and cost for the purpose of guiding adjustments to co-management.
... Our study provides the first attempt to not only address the reserve of edible fish and its quantification but to progress towards a more holistic understanding of the interactions between complex fisheries systems (including human influence) and linkages to the resource conditions (Mahon et al., 2008). This first analysis at the regional scale thus moves beyond site specific, subsistence-oriented (Kuster et al., 2005) or pair-wise analysis of direct relationships between resource status and user exploitation level (Kronen et al., 2003). of the fishing communities. The degree to which the study sites represent the socio-economic and physical diversity at the country level varies given the wide range in land and population size, reef and lagoon areas, number of inhabited islands, habitat and fisheries systems across the region. ...
Highlights
► Reef fisheries is likely to be unsustainable in half of all (63 sites) South Pacific communities studied. ► Combined analysis of resource, fishery and socio-economic data revealed indicators for reef fisheries management. ► Hb/Cb ratio confirmed as resource indicator (high correlation with CPUE, total annual catch). ► Current catch rates correlate with 4 major potential indicators per fish family (Scaridae, Siganidae, Acanthuridae): reported average catch size; proportion in total catch; ratio between reported and maximum fish size; average biomass. ► Variation in catch composition across 63 sites is mostly explained by socio-economic, rather than resource drivers.
... Fisheries management in Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs) is faced with declining coastal resources caused by overfishing due to population and socio-economic growth (Adams, 2006;Hickey, 2008;Kronen et al., 2003;Pauly, 1994;Ruddle and Hickey, 2008;Sale et al., 2008;Zann and Vuki, 2000). It has been shown that low-level artisanal fishing can dramatically affect populations of slow-growing, late-maturing animals, deplete stocks (Jennings and Polunin, 1996), and degrade or cause the collapse of ecosystems (Bunce et al., 2008;Jackson et al., 2001; complexity of both types of factors requires a wide range of information on the structure and function of reef assemblages (Tsehaye and Nagelkerke, 2008) as well as a wide range of information to capture interactions due to fisheries-induced impact. ...
A reef finfishing pressure risk assessment model was developed to predict the status of reef and lagoon fisheries in terms of the current likelihood for sustainable or unsustainable finfishing for any given rural coastal community and its associated reef area in the Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs). The prediction model aimed at developing a robust system that allows planners to confidently classify any coastal rural site within PICTs with a minimum and relatively easy-to-obtain dataset as being exposed to four classes of low to high finfishing pressure. This model is a response to limitations on data regarding current resource and user status in PICTs that make it difficult to ascertain fish supply for food security and livelihood of coastal communities. The model is based on the latest reef productivity scenarios developed based on a global review of currently known landing data and ecological footprints, reported likelihood of reduced reef productivity in PICTs due to ecological and human factors, and the use of current finfish catch rates collected as a proxy for fishing pressure. The prediction model was developed on the basis of a regional dataset including 63 study sites in 17 PICTs using linear discriminant analysis. The smallest feasible model with a leave-one-out error rate of 14.3% demands nine input variables that can be easily obtained and require only a minimum survey effort. Statistically significant response of decreasing fish length in six fish families important to artisanal fisheries in PICTs (Acanthuridae, Lethrinidae, Mullidae, Scaridae, Serranidae and Siganidae) to increasing catch rates or increasing fishing pressure proxies was used as an independent external factor to validate our hypothesis and the model developed. The reported catch length for Acanthuridae, Scaridae and Serranidae was statistically significantly different between the four finfishing pressure risk groups defined. Due to the lack of data on the natural status and productivity of the coral reefs in question and their historic use, care should be taken in interpretation of current catch rate figures. Classification of sites at low current finfishing pressure risk may reflect catch rates that are adapted to low stocks, either caused by previous depletion or due to natural unfavorable conditions. At the same time, sites classified as being at potentially high finfishing pressure risk may indeed be subject to current overfishing, but may as well feature high natural stock and productivity assets that allow for higher catch rates than elsewhere.
Two fishing grounds were selected in each of the three archipelagos of Tonga, according to fishing pressure (high and low). In each ground, socioeconomic surveys provided an evaluation of fishing pressure. Reef fish stocks were assessed through underwater visual censuses along 241 transects and their habitat was described with a novative method (Medium Scale A p p r o a c h ) , better adapted to their life territories. The analysis of ecological and fishing data showed a variation between global fishing pressure at the archipelago level, which was responsible, in combination with ecological factors, for more differences than between the pair of sites within each archipelago. The fishing factor explains globally less variance of fish populations (1.6 to 5.7%) than factors acting at micro-scale (depth, hard substrate and live coral coverages, heterogeneity and topographic complexity) and at meso-scale (oceanic influence), that explain 23.3 to 34.3% of variance. The study confirmed fishing effects already known (such as reduction of fish populations average size, compensatory increase of density in the small size classes) and showed, at least for scarids, a “shifting dominance” phenomenon, based on the decrease of large-size target species, which benefits to small size species, less vulnerable to fishing. Clustering of species according to diet or life history traits revealed gradual changes of density and biomass in specific groups according to fishing pressure gradient. This result provides potential for setting up indicators of stock status for better management of reef fish resources.
While there might be differences in details, any definition of ‘sustainability’ must include an element that remains similar over time. For example, this applies to the catches of coral reef fisheries, which cannot be sustainable if exhibiting a strong ascending or descending trend. Thus, despite claims of the efficacy of ‘data-less’ management, at least time series of the catch of coral reef fisheries must be known for valid inferences on their status to be drawn. By contrasting the official and the ‘reconstructed’ coral reef catches of four small island states (Fiji and Tonga in the Pacific, and Jamaica and St Kitts & Nevis in the Caribbean), we show, however, that official catch data, as made available to and by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) not only strongly underestimate catches (from 4 to 17 times for 1950–2010), but also suggest increasing catch trends in 3 of 4 cases, that is, the very opposite of the trend resulting from the bottom-up catch reconstructions. Some implications of these findings, which we think have general currency, are presented.
This book is available for purchase, The 1993 version is available on the page at http://distancesampling.org/downloads/distancebook1993/index.html
Northern Atlantic fisheries have experienced a series of environmental shifts in recent decades, involving collapse or large fluctuations of the dominant fish assemblages. Over roughly the same period, many fisheries-dependent human communities have lost population, while their countries as a whole were growing. Population loss tends to increase with the degree of fisheries dependence, among communities and sub-national regions of Newfoundland, Iceland and Norway. A close look at Norway, where municipality-level data are most extensive, suggests that population declines reflect not only outmigration, but also changes in fishing-community birth rates. Multiple regression using 1990 and 1980 census data for 454 municipalities finds that fisheries dependence exerts a significant negative effect on population, even after controlling for six other predictors including unemployment and income. The general pattern of changes seen in northern Atlantic fishing communities resembles those identified by migration research elsewhere. Fishing communities are unusual among contemporary first-world societies, however, in that rapid and large-scale environmental shifts appear to be among the forces driving population change.
The customary tenure of reef areas in many parts of the South Pacific offers an obvious context within which fishery resources might be managed cooperatively between customary-rights owners and fisheries personnel in government, yet the local foundations for such co-management have received little critical attention. Seven customary fishing rights areas (CFRAs) in Fiji were the focus of the present study, the objective being to compare management of CFRAs subject to differing levels of fishing access and ascertain those factors most influential to local management practices. The intensity of access (‘access pressure’) was measured as the number of licences issued per CFRA and per unit area, while management was assessed as an index, based on evidence of five aspects of management (management structure, marshalling of information for management, approach to goodwill payments, management measures and patrolling and enforcement) derived from questionnaires. Management varied amongst the CFRAs, one of the seven being essentially unmanaged because of a breakdown in succession between chiefs. There was little evidence for management responding uniformly to access pressure; rather, two CFRAs evinced a certain management aptitude regardless of this pressure, and two other CFRAs evinced relatively little management although pressure was high. A simple survey technique can indicate useful contrasts amongst CFRAs in functional local management, and thus be useful for guiding decisions about where to make investments in local management or co-management.
Although customary marine tenure (CMT) systems for the management of local marine resources occur throughout the world, compared with other models of fisheries management they remain relatively little known. The Pacific Basin is especially rich in CMT systems, which play key roles in overall social, economic and cultural life of societies. Based on a Solomon Island example, we examine the organizational principles and potentials of CMT systems to provide sustainable yields and equitable access to resources, their resilience to external pressures, and mechanisms for ensuring local autonomy in resource control. Next we demonstrate that CMT systems are an expression of traditional ecological knowledge, and show the importance of such knowledge to scientific research and the planning of resource management. Finally, we suggest priorities for research on CMT systems.
Among fisheries management schemes, those based on sole ownership concepts have been relatively little studied. This concept has been most widely applied in the traditional fisheries management or sea tenure systems of the Pacific Basin, where, unlike the West, sole ownership resides in the community or other small social group. Information on Pacific Basin sea tenure systems remains largely anecdotal and unsynthesized. In a partial attempt to overcome that, this article defines and exemplifies six social principles common to many traditional systems of sea tenure in inshore fisheries management in the Pacific Basin, with reference to Oceanian islands, and based on an examination of the literature and supplementary field research. These principles are that: (1) sea rights depend on social status, (2) resource exploitation is governed by use rights, (3) resource territories are defined. (4) marine resources are controlled by traditional authorities, (5) conservation was traditionally widely practiced, and (6) sanctions and punishments are meted out for infringement of regulations. Most remaining systems are hybrids of traditional and modem components, with the latter becoming dominant. Interpretation of the literature without supplementary field verification is severely constrained by the use of the ''anthropological present'' tense.
Habitat characteristics of a reef were examined as potential influences on fish assemblage structure, using underwater visual census to estimate numbers and biomass of all fishes visible on 42 benthic transects and making quantitative measurements of 13 variables of the corresponding physical habitat and sessile biota. Fish assemblages in the diverse set of benthic habitats were grouped by detrended correspondence analysis, and associated with six major habitat types. Statistical differences were shown between a number of these habitat types for various ensemble variables of the fish assemblages. Overall, both for complete assemblages and for component major trophic and mobility guilds, these variables tended to have higher values where reef substratum was more structurally or topographically complex, and closer to reef edges. When study sites were separately divided into five depth strata, the deeper strata tended to have statistically higher values of ensemble variables for the fish assemblages. Patterns with depth varied among the various trophic and mobility guilds. Multiple linear regression models indicated that for the complete assemblages and for most trophic and mobility guilds, a large part of the variability for most ensemble variables was explained by measures of holes in the substratum, with important contributions from measured substratum rugosity and depth. A strong linear relationship found by regression of mean fish length on mean volume of holes in the reef surface emphasized the importance of shelter for fish assemblages. Results of this study may have practical applications in designing reserve areas as well as theoretical value in helping to explain the organization of reef fish assemblages.
Despite its wide use in terrestrial ecology, distance sampling is as yet rarely used in underwater visual censuses. The present study attempts to compare density estimators based on distance sampling and on strip transects. Three stations with increasing densities of Chaetodontidae and Pomacanthidae were sampled twice by two divers of unequal experience, using two different transect types. A total of 96 transects and 2970 records of Chaetodontidae and Pomacanthidae were analysed. Nine estimators based on distance sampling were calculated and only the best fit (DT estimator) was kept for comparison with other estimators. These were either based on the average distance of the fish to the transect (AD estimator), or a 3-m- or 5 m-wide strip transect estimator (FW3 and FW5, respectively). There were no significant differences between the means found by DT, AD and FW3. Lower density estimates were given by FW5 in all cases. FW3 and FW5 did not detect several significant differences between stations which were otherwise detected by DT or AD. The number of transects needed to detect a significant difference between stations was four to ten times higher with FW3 or FW5 than with DT or AD. Diver experience was found to be a significant factor in density estimates. However, this factor was less important than the choice of the density estimator Transect type or the day of sampling had no consequence for the estimates. The distance distributions of fish were divided into three different patterns which may be explained by a combination of detectability function and a behavioural component. (C) 1999 Ifremer/Cnrs/Inra/Ird/Cemagref/Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.
We use an approach based on phylogenetic comparisons to identify life history correlates of abundance trends in 18 intensively exploited fish stocks from the north-east Atlantic. After accounting for differences in fishing mortality, we show that those fishes that have decreased in abundance compared with their nearest relatives mature later, attain a larger maximum size, and exhibit significantly lower potential rates of population increase. Such trends were not evident in a more traditional cross-species analysis. This is the first phylogenetically independent evidence to link life histories with abundance trends, and provides a quantitative basis for assessing vulnerability of fish populations to exploitation. Our approach can be applied to the conservation and management of other exploited taxa.
By analysing data sets from different world regions we add evidence to documented changes in demersal fish community structure
that may be related to fishing. Changes are analysed by community properties that might be expected to capture relevant overall
changes – size spectra slopes and intercepts, Shannon-Wiener diversity, and dominance. Cross-system differences in the shape
of the integrated community size spectra appear to be related to ecosystem productivity. The slope of size spectra appears
to respond in a consistent way to changes in exploitation levels. In most areas studied, but particularly in high-latitude
regions, we observe a decreasing trend in the slope, reflecting changes in size composition toward a relative decline in larger
fish. The results from tropical regions are less conclusive, partly owing to the difficulty in obtaining consistent data series,
but probably also because the generally higher growth rates of the constituent species make the slope less sensitive to changes
in fishing. No evidence was found of any decline in species richness, while changes in diversity (richness and evenness) were
caused either by changes in patterns of dominance or by changes in the number of species identified resulting from improved
survey protocols.
Tropical reef fishes and corals exhibit highly predictable patterns of taxonomic composition across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Despite steep longitudinal and latitudinal gradients in total species richness, the composition of these key taxa is constrained within a remarkably narrow range of values. Regional-scale variation in reef biodiversity is best explained by large-scale patterns in the availability of shallow-water habitat. Once habitat area is accounted for, there is surprisingly little residual effect of latitude or longitude. Low-diversity regions are most vulnerable to human impacts such as global warming, underscoring the urgent need for integrated management at multinational scales.
We argue that all aspects of demographic change, including migration, impact on the social resilience of individuals and communities, as well as on the sustainability of the underlying resource base. Social resilience is the ability to cope with and adapt to environmental and social change mediated through appropriate institutions. We investigate one aspect of the relationship between demographic change, social resilience, and sustainable development in contemporary coastal Vietnam: the effects of migration and remittances on resource-dependent communities in population source areas. We find, using longitudinal data on livelihood sources, that emigration and remittances have offsetting effects on resilience within an evolving social and political context. Emigration is occurring concurrently with, not driving, the expansion of unsustainable coastal aquaculture. Increasing economic inequality also undermines social resilience. At the same time diversification and increasing income levels are beneficial for resilience.
We consider population dynamics and sustainable use and development of fishery resources in Moree, a small-scale fishing and coastal community of 20,000 people in the Central Region of Ghana near Cape Coast. Moree suggests that relationships between population dynamics and fishery resources are more complex than the concept of Malthusian overfishing implies. Reasons include changing biophysical characteristics of the upwelling system along the coast of West Africa; qualitative as well as quantitative changes in fishing activity throughout the year; the market nature of fishing activity and nonlocal demands for fish; regular fishery migration; and institutions regulating fishery resource access at home and at migration destinations. Population and resource relationships in Moree may be the effects of fishery resource and economic changes on migration rather than population pressure on fishery resources. Fisheries management policies must take into account processes that lie beyond the influence of local fishermen.
Green Imperialism is the first book to document the origins and early history of environmentalism, concentrating especially on its hitherto unexplained colonial and global aspects. It highlights the significance of Utopian, Physiocratic, and medical thinking in the history of environmentalist ideas. The book shows how the new critique of the colonial impact on the environment depended on the emergence of a coterie of professional scientists, and demonstrates both the importance of the oceanic island "Eden" as a vehicle for new conceptions of nature and the significance of colonial island environments in stimulating conservationist notions.
*&*: At several stages Glynnis Reynolds and ka Kheng Tan spent many laborious hours in helping me to formalise my ideas and actually put a book together.
Butterflyfish communities vary in richness longitudinally from highs of >30 species to lows of 2-3 species. We investigated this gradient because it provides an opportunity to address some basic questions relating to determinants of community structure, e.g., are richness and abundance functions of geography or of local conditions? How are richness and density of species populations related? Do community-level processes, such as competition, determine community structure? In a broader sense, to what extent are community properties internally deterministic as opposed to being functions of higher-level processes? From 1981 through 1997 we counted kinds and number of butterflyfishes on over 2000 10-min transects distributed from the eastern Caribbean to the western Indian Ocean and Red Sea. We grouped transects at the same site into stations, stations in the same local area into islands, and islands into 18 geographic regions, thus organizing the data into four spatial levels. For each station, extent of live coral cover and degree of open-ocean influence were estimated. Richness is highest in the Philippine-Bornean-New Guinean region and declines radially from that center. Total number of individual butterflyfish also declines over that gradient. On more local scales, increased open-ocean exposure and live-coral cover enhance both richness and numerical abundance. Because species richness declines more rapidly with distance from the richness center than does abundance, across the same gradient average abundance per benthivore species rises. In peripheral, species-poor reaches of the Indo-pacific, the Eastern Tropical Pacific, and the Caribbean the communities are dominated by one or a few very common species. Butterflyfishes respond to changing richness of their communities by adjusting the abundance of individual species. Use of space by individual species decreases with increasing richness. Global richness is determined chiefly,by geography; within local areas local factors are more important. Community structure is predominantly organized by richness, hence first by geography and then by habitat characteristics.
The scientific literature unequivocally supports the premise that fisheries affect an ecosystem by altering the flow of ecological capital. This article reviews the ecological rules that define this flow and discusses the consequences of current fishery practices on habitat integrity and fish production in marine systems. The impact of fishing is a function of its intensity and severity relative to other perturbations in the oceans. Its impact also has to be explained at appropriate temporal and spatial scales and, unfortunately, there is often a mismatch between fisheries data and many ecological processes. Groundfish, in particular, depend on the benthos for their shelter and sustenance, so feedback loops inevitably exist between fish production and the biological community within which fish are both predators and prey. The difficulty for fishery managers is to predict the direction, let alone the magnitude, of fishing-induced changes on these feedback mechanisms. The challenge for habitat researchers is to develop a quantitative predictive capability given a particular management protocol, but until this is accomplished, it is incumbent on managers and scientists alike to apply the precautionary approach to all management decisions by using current ecological theory to guide this process.
A simple field technique to obtain a gross estimate of the surface area of a quadrat on a coral reef is described. This measure, termed the substrate rugosity index, was determined, in conjunction with two other substrate variables (vertical relief and coral species richness), in a series of 4 quadrats (10 to 40 m depth) along 4 transects. The mean substrate rugosity and vertical relief of a quadrat were highly correlated. A correlation analysis was made of the substrate variables and several reef fish community parameters (species richness, number of fishes and diversity). Species richness was highly correlated with substrate rugosity. This relationship was tested in two experimental quadrats and the results were generally in accord with those predicted. Stratification of the fish communities by body size revealed that the correlation with substrate rugosity was scale-dependent. The fish community parameters were poorly correlated with percentage substrate cover by corals (ramose and glomerate) and by sand. A significant area effect was determined for two species of sand-dwelling goby.
This study examined the effect of fishing on the abundance and species richness of families of coral reef fish at two islands
(Sumilon and Apo) in the Philippines from 1983 to 1993. Natural fishing experiments occurred in marine reserves at each island,
where long term estimates of fishing intensity were available. Responses to fishing were interpreted in terms of life histories
of fish. The intensity of fishing and fish life histories were generally good predictors of the differential rates of decline
and recovery of abundance in response to fishing. Large predators had vulnerable life histories (low rates of natural mortality,
growth and recruitment) and were subjected to high intensity fishing. They declined significantly in density when fished and
increased significantly but slowly when protected from fishing. Caesionidae, a family with a life history resilient to fishing
(high rates of natural mortality, growth and recruitment) but fished intensively also declined rapidly in abundance when fished.
Thus, knowledge of life history alone was insufficient to predict response to fishing. Acanthuridae were fished relatively
hard and had a life history of intermediate vulnerability but displayed weak responses to fishing. Thus level of fishing intensity
alone was also not sufficient to predict response to fishing. For Chaetodontidae, effects of fishing conformed to expectations
based on life history and fishing intensity at one island but not the other. Three families with intermediate vulnerability
and subjected to intermediate to light fishing (F. Scaridae, Labridae and Mullidae) displayed predictably weak responses to
fishing, or counter-intuitive responses (e.g., increasing in abundance following fishing). These counter-intuitive responses
were unlikely to be secondary effects of increase in prey in response to declines of predators. Two lightly-fished families
with resilient life histories (F. Pomacentridae, Sub F. Anthiinae) predictably displayed weak numerical responses to fishing
except during a period of use of explosives and drive nets.
The chief aim of this paper is to examine the economic theory of natural resource utilization as it pertains to the fishing industry. It will appear, I hope, that most of the problems associated with the words “conservation” or “depletion” or “overexploitation” in the fishery are, in reality, manifestations of the fact that the natural resources of the sea yield no economic rent. Fishery resources are unusual in the fact of their common-property nature; but they are not unique, and similar problems are encountered in other cases of common-property resource industries, such as petroleum production, hunting and trapping, etc. Although the theory presented in the following pages is worked out in terms of the fishing industry, it is, I believe, applicable generally to all cases where natural resources are owned in common and exploited under conditions of individualistic competition.
This research focuses on coral reef health in the South Pacific region, an area of high global coral diversity. Coral reef health surrounding four island case studies in the Cook Islands and Fiji have been assessed in areas that have not been previously surveyed. This study compares four islands with barrier and fringing reefs that have different levels of economic development, population pressure, land-use practices, and marine management practices. This interdisciplinary research methodology includes both ecological and social data collection to further understanding of human environment interactions. In comparing the reefs with different socio-economic factors, this research shows that reefs with traditional systems of resources management are healthier, population pressure is not the main factor causing the demise of the reefs and agro-industry is the main industry causing the degradation of the reef in these four South Pacific Islands. In addition, researchers need to use a whole reef perspective to examine coral reef health.
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