Papers by Annette Breckwoldt
ICES Journal of Marine Science, 2025
Fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) are critical events in the life cycle of many commercially and ... more Fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) are critical events in the life cycle of many commercially and ecologically important species, yet FSAs are often exploited and highly vulnerable to fishing due to their predictability in time and space. Although FSAs are increasingly recognized as a conservation and management priority, monitoring these ephemeral dynamic events remains challenging. Here, we assessed the ability of remote underwater video (RUV) to monitor reef FSAs, using blacksaddled coral grouper (Plectropomus laevis) as a case study. We deployed RUV systems monthly on a year-round basis in a reef channel of the New Caledonian barrier reef where P. laevis was assumed to form spawning aggregations. Specifically, we investigated whether RUV could both track spatiotemporal changes in fish abundance and detect spawning signs to validate the purpose of potential gatherings. Our analysis revealed strong seasonal changes in P. laevis abundance, characterized by a 5-fold increase between October and February, and marked variations among sampled habitats. The probability of occurrence of males in courtship colouration showed spatiotemporal patterns fairly similar to those in abundance. Finally, we recorded clear courtship behaviours between November and April, providing evidence that P. laevis aggregate monthly to spawn during a protracted reproductive season. This study advances our understanding of the spawning aggregation dynamics of this understudied grouper, and highlights the potential of RUV to monitor and ultimately inform management of reef FSAs.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Dec 31, 2022
npj Ocean Sustainability, Dec 8, 2023
Ocean sustainability initiativesin research, policy, management and developmentwill be more effec... more Ocean sustainability initiativesin research, policy, management and developmentwill be more effective in delivering comprehensive benefits when they proactively engage with, invest in and use social knowledge. We synthesize five intervention areas for social engagement and collaboration with marine social scientists, and in doing so we appeal to all ocean science disciplines and non-academics working in ocean initiatives in industry, government, funding agencies and civil society. The five social intervention areas are: (1) Using ethics to guide decision-making, (2) Improving governance, (3) Aligning human behavior with goals and values, (4) Addressing impacts on people, and (5) Building transdisciplinary partnerships and co-producing sustainability transformation pathways. These focal areas can guide the four phases of most ocean sustainability initiatives (Intention, Design, Implementation, Evaluation) to improve social benefits and avoid harm. Early integration of social knowledge from the five areas during intention setting and design phases offers the deepest potential for delivering benefits. Later stage collaborations can leverage opportunities in existing projects to reflect and learn while improving impact assessments, transparency and reporting for future activities.
npj Ocean Sustainability, 2023
Ocean sustainability initiativesin research, policy, management and developmentwill be more effec... more Ocean sustainability initiativesin research, policy, management and developmentwill be more effective in delivering comprehensive benefits when they proactively engage with, invest in and use social knowledge. We synthesize five intervention areas for social engagement and collaboration with marine social scientists, and in doing so we appeal to all ocean science disciplines and non-academics working in ocean initiatives in industry, government, funding agencies and civil society. The five social intervention areas are: (1) Using ethics to guide decision-making, (2) Improving governance, (3) Aligning human behavior with goals and values, (4) Addressing impacts on people, and (5) Building transdisciplinary partnerships and co-producing sustainability transformation pathways. These focal areas can guide the four phases of most ocean sustainability initiatives (Intention, Design, Implementation, Evaluation) to improve social benefits and avoid harm. Early integration of social knowledge from the five areas during intention setting and design phases offers the deepest potential for delivering benefits. Later stage collaborations can leverage opportunities in existing projects to reflect and learn while improving impact assessments, transparency and reporting for future activities.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Jul 5, 2017
Anthropological Forum, 2023
Fiji’s iTaukei (Indigenous) women contribute significantly to small-scale
coastal fisheries, and ... more Fiji’s iTaukei (Indigenous) women contribute significantly to small-scale
coastal fisheries, and are therefore integral to successful fisheries (co-)management, yet their role still remains underestimated. This paper explores an original pathway to highlight iTaukei women’s role in Fiji’s small-scale coastal fisheries; a pathway that, through a ‘dwelling perspective’, emphasises the socialities that are inseparable from this role. It is based on data collected during two distinct fieldwork periods,
2003–2004 and 2016–2018, in a village located on Gau, Fiji’s fifth biggest island, in Lomaiviti Province. An overview of the fishing practices of the iTaukei women living in this village shows that fishing can be seen as both a gender-differentiated and a more-than-human, dynamic field of sociality. Furthermore, we argue that fishing is these women’s main mode of active engagement with their marine environment, conceived as inseparable from land, and all its sentient constituents. This mode of engagement
reflects the relational ontology inherent in the iTaukei all-encompassing
concept of vanua, which includes a sense of environmental responsibility and stewardship. This mode of engagement and its ‘procurement’ dimension are adjusted over time through ‘friction’ with conservation regulations and ideas that are both internal and external to the fishing community. These conservation regulations and ideas are related to
community-based marine resource initiatives, as well as to national fisheries management concerns and measures (including species-specific fishing bans). They give a supplemental dimension to women’s interactions and engagement with the sea and its sentient constituents, far from reducing those to a mere divide between ‘nature’ and society/sociality.
Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 2023
Conceptualizing South Pacific fisheries as embedded in ‘a sea of connections’ allows to highlight... more Conceptualizing South Pacific fisheries as embedded in ‘a sea of connections’ allows to highlight the multiple meanings, dimensions and expressions of ocean connectivity from/in Oceania. Between May 2018 and October 2022, the SOCPacific (SOC for Sea Of Connections) project explored the large web of socio-cultural, policy and geopolitical connections within which fishing and fisheries management practices occur in the South Pacific region. Fiji, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu were the core geographical focus of this interdisciplinary, multi-level and multi-stakeholder research. Here, we offer an overview of the contexts and networks in which the project developed and unfolded, as well as of its main results, most of which have now been published in international peer-reviewed journals. This overview is intended to disseminate the results of this recent research as widely as possible among researchers and other actors with an interest in Oceania.
Frontiers in Marine Science, Dec 5, 2022
Fisherwomen in Fiji play a vital role in the daily sustenance of their families and they use thei... more Fisherwomen in Fiji play a vital role in the daily sustenance of their families and they use their Indigenous and local knowledge to harvest resources. Marine and freshwater resources harvested by fisherwomen contribute to the primary protein intake of their families, particularly for those who have limited or no access to other animal products or plant proteins. Over a span of three decades, Fiji experienced an influx in the documentation of women's contribution and need for fisherwomen's recognition in the fisheries sector; in areas of cultural and/or socioeconomic , resource management and decision-making processes. This study examines the Indigenous and local knowledge which fisherwomen utilize to identify their targeted marine and freshwater resources and gauge the population health of their resources. Furthermore, fisherwomen's perceptions on the conservation status of their resources is used to provide the basis for improved management of culturally, economically and ecologically valuable species. The results of this study compiles Indigenous taxonomic classifications and associated species knowledge which fisherwomen from 11 communities use to help them in identifying and capturing resources. Moreover, the fishing methods, ecological knowledge and perceptions on environmental changes over thirty years provides temporal background on the fisherwomen's knowledge. The results address knowledge gap between fisherwomen's Indigenous and local knowledge and science by marrying the well-developed knowledge systems. Finally, this study provides recommendations on how the Indigenous and local knowledge of women can contribute to practical and efficient resource management for localized challenges in Fiji.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2022
Section 3.3, Chapter 3: Ocean case studies with socio-economic relevance. Statement of main outco... more Section 3.3, Chapter 3: Ocean case studies with socio-economic relevance. Statement of main outcome: The ocean is an integral part for the three pillars of sustainable development: environment, society and economy. Pressures on the ocean from climate change, pollution, and over exploitation have increased over the past decades, posing unprecedented challenges, particularly for vulnerable communities such as the Large Ocean Island States, and these pressures need to be monitored. This study analyses the time series of Essential Ocean Variables sea surface temperature and chlorophyll-a in coastal reefs of two pilot regions in Fiji and New Caledonia. In situ measurements represent true local conditions, with a necessarily limited coverage in time and space. Remote sensing data have a broad coverage but are necessarily limited in terms of resolution and accuracy in the coastal zone. Our analysis points to the advantage in using these complementary data types for the same geographical areas at small spatial scales close to the coast, and in particular, for high frequencies and extreme events. We discuss the way forward for a co-coconstructed monitoring framework, drawing on ongoing initiatives in Oceania, and advocate a methodology for the use of ocean data to support society and economy. Co-construction with stakeholder involvement is paramount for this framework, including policy- and decision-makers, industry, scientists, local and indigenous, governmental and non-governmental organisations, all of whom need sound, multi-disciplinary science advice, targeted expertise, and reliable evidence-based information to make informed timely decisions for the right timescale. Such transdisciplinarity combines scientific, traditional, administrative, technical, and legal knowledge repertories.
Frontiers in Marine Science, 2022
Fisherwomen in Fiji play a vital role in the daily sustenance of their families and they use thei... more Fisherwomen in Fiji play a vital role in the daily sustenance of their families and they use their Indigenous and local knowledge to harvest resources. Marine and freshwater resources harvested by fisherwomen contribute to the primary protein intake of their families, particularly for those who have limited or no access to other animal products or plant proteins. Over a span of three decades, Fiji experienced an influx in the documentation of women’s contribution and need for fisherwomen's recognition in the fisheries sector; in areas of cultural and/or socio-economic, resource management and decision-making processes. This study examines the Indigenous and local knowledge which fisherwomen utilize to identify their targeted marine and freshwater resources and gauge the population health of their resources. Furthermore, fisherwomen’s perceptions on the conservation status of their
resources is used to provide the basis for improved management of culturally, economically and ecologically valuable species. The results of this study compiles Indigenous taxonomic classifications and associated species knowledge which fisherwomen from 11 communities use to help them in identifying and capturing resources. Moreover, the fishing methods, ecological knowledge and perceptions on environmental changes over thirty years provides temporal background on the fisherwomen’s knowledge. The results address knowledge gap between fisherwomen's Indigenous and local knowledge and science by marrying the well-developed knowledge systems. Finally, this study provides recommendations on how the Indigenous and local knowledge of women can contribute to practical and efficient resource management for localized challenges in Fiji.
Ambio, 2022
Introduces the notion of ‘a sea of connections’ and how it is dealt with in the following contrib... more Introduces the notion of ‘a sea of connections’ and how it is dealt with in the following contributions, where inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to ocean connectivity are highlighted.
Journal of Operational Oceanography, 2022
Section 3.3, Chapter 3: Ocean case studies with socio-economic relevance.
Statement of main outc... more Section 3.3, Chapter 3: Ocean case studies with socio-economic relevance.
Statement of main outcome: The ocean is an integral part for the three pillars of sustainable development: environment, society and economy. Pressures on the ocean from climate change, pollution, and over exploitation have increased over the past decades, posing unprecedented challenges, particularly for vulnerable communities such as the Large Ocean Island States, and these pressures need to be monitored. This study analyses the time series of Essential Ocean Variables sea surface temperature and chlorophyll-a in coastal reefs of two pilot regions in Fiji and New Caledonia. In situ measurements represent true local conditions,
with a necessarily limited coverage in time and space. Remote sensing data have a broad coverage but are necessarily limited in terms of resolution and accuracy in the coastal zone. Our analysis points to the advantage in using these complementary data types for the same geographical areas at small spatial scales close to the coast, and in particular, for high frequencies and extreme events. We discuss the way forward for a co-coconstructed monitoring framework, drawing on ongoing initiatives in Oceania, and advocate a methodology for the use of ocean data to support society and economy. Co-construction with stakeholder involvement is paramount for this framework, including policy- and decision-makers, industry, scientists, local and indigenous, governmental and non-governmental organisations, all of whom need sound, multi-disciplinary science advice, targeted expertise, and reliable evidence-based information to make informed timely decisions for the right timescale. Such transdisciplinarity combines scientific, traditional, administrative, technical, and legal knowledge repertories.
Ambio, 2022
Recognition of the multiple types of value of marine resources is crucial to help design locally ... more Recognition of the multiple types of value of marine resources is crucial to help design locally meaningful and sustainable management approaches for marine and coastal habitats. There is a lack of information on the amount of living marine resources harvested by coastal communities in many Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs), as well as on their economic and noneconomic value. This paper explores the monetary, subsistence, and sociocultural value of selected marine resources (finfish and invertebrates) in Kadavu province, Fiji, based on a household survey and semi-structured interviews conducted in 2019 within one specific district. The paper provides estimates of the annual catch and monetary value of marine resources harvested by local communities at both the district and provincial levels, derived from catch and effort information collected from fishers and gleaners in situ. It also highlights the importance of integrating the sociocultural significance of marine resources into future value assessments.
Human Ecology, 2022
the academia (Roussel & Guitard, 2021). Some also invite research participants, adults or childre... more the academia (Roussel & Guitard, 2021). Some also invite research participants, adults or children, to make a drawing, for instance in order to explore local representations of specific features of their surroundings (e.g., an underwater volcano: Calandra, 2013), places (e.g., "the place where you live": Duarte Olson, 2013), spatial relationships (e.g., a radial frame of reference: Bennardo, 2002a), or connections between the latter and social relationships (e.g., among an above/below axis and hierarchical relations: Toren, 1990). Such drawing activities not only "provide a window into people's mind" (Bennardo, 2002b, 174), but can also be seen as a vector capable of "connecting lives otherwise separated by time and space" (Mizen & Ofosu-Kusi, 2010, 256). In particular, children's drawings made in the context of ethnoecological research open up a general interaction space between science and society, both in the countries where the drawings are made and in those of the researchers, should these be different. In addition, three concrete spaces are created for dialogue (Sabinot & Carrière, 2015): (1) between researchers working in various disciplinary fields; (2) between researchers, children and their families, school principals and teachers, and possibly other local stakeholders; and (3) between researchers and citizens invested with an official role of teaching, mediation, or decision.
Ambio, 2022
In the South Pacific region, marine territories and resources play a crucial role for local commu... more In the South Pacific region, marine territories and resources play a crucial role for local communities. Children engage with these territories and resources from an early age onwards. As the next ocean stewards, they are a stakeholder group whose understandings of ocean connectivity and fisheries should be given serious consideration in decision-making processes towards the sustainable use and management of coastal seas. This paper analyses 290 children's drawings from Fiji and New Caledonia, created in 2019 in spontaneous response to the instruction: ''Draw the sea and what you and others do in the sea''. Exploring the webs of connections with and within the sea revealed by these children's drawings and their own interpretations leads us to discuss children's representations of the sea: (1) beyond a land-sea compartmentation, (2) as a locus of both exploitation and conservation of marine life, and (3) as a 'place-full' space connecting human and more-than-human realms.
Ambio, 2022
Healthy and protected coral reefs help island systems in the tropics thrive and survive. Reef pas... more Healthy and protected coral reefs help island systems in the tropics thrive and survive. Reef passages link the open ocean to lagoon and coastal areas in these ecosystems and are home to an exceptionally diverse and abundant marine life, hosting emblematic species and fish spawning aggregations. Their multiple benefits for the islands and their peoples (e.g., for transport, fishing, socio-cultural aspects) remain yet understudied. Drawing from qualitative interviews with fishers, scuba divers, and surfers along the coast of Grande Terre in New Caledonia, this study highlights the multi-faceted importance of these keystone places. It shows that reef passages are locally deemed ‘communication zones’ between coastal and oceanic spaces and species, and have significant un(der)explored ecological and socio-cultural roles. Understanding and protecting these ecological and cultural keystone places will strengthen both the reef ecosystems and the people dependent on them.
Frontiers in Marine Science, 2021
The time-tested Indigenous fishing knowledge (IFK) of Fiji and the Pacific Islands is seriously t... more The time-tested Indigenous fishing knowledge (IFK) of Fiji and the Pacific Islands is seriously threatened due to the commercialization of fishing, breakdown of traditional communal leadership and oral knowledge transmission systems, modern education, and the movement of the younger generations to urban areas for work and/or study. Consequently, IFK, which has been orally transmitted for generations, has either been lost, not learned by the current generation, or remains undocumented. This study focuses on the critical need to conserve and include IFK as a basis for assessing the conservation status of ecologically and culturally keystone fisheries species as a basis for planning site-specific management of marine and freshwater fisheries in Fiji and the Pacific Islands. The study reviews studies of the last two and a half centuries on IFK from Fiji and elsewhere in the small oceanic islands of the Pacific, as a basis for the conservation, documentation and intergenerational transfe...
Frontiers in Marine Science, 2017
= 10.1 kg boatday −1) while the most diverse group was the fish family Serranidae, with Plectropo... more = 10.1 kg boatday −1) while the most diverse group was the fish family Serranidae, with Plectropomus leopardus being the main target species. In conclusion, boat tracking combined with interviews and catch surveys has proven a useful tool to reduce uncertainty in information on spatial resource use, while allowing a high level of participation by fishermen.
Frontiers in Marine Science, Mar 30, 2022
Coral reefs host exceptionally diverse and abundant marine life. Connecting coasts and sheltered ... more Coral reefs host exceptionally diverse and abundant marine life. Connecting coasts and sheltered lagoons to the open ocean, reef passages are important yet poorly studied components of these ecosystems. Abiotic and biotic elements 'pass' through these reef passages, supporting critical ecological processes (e.g. fish spawning). Reef passages provide multiple social and ecological benefits for islands and their peoples, but are so far neither characterized nor recognized for their multifaceted significance. This study investigated 113 reef passages across nine Pacific islands (Fiji, New Caledonia, Vanuatu). GIS-based visual interpretations of satellite imagery were used to develop criteria to define three distinct types, mainly based on distance to coastline and presence/ absence of an enclosed water body. The discussion identifies ways to refine and augment this preliminary typology as part of a research agenda for reef passages. With these next steps, this typology will be extendable to other regions to better document reef passages and their various roles, supporting biodiversity conservation and sustainable fisheries management.
Uploads
Papers by Annette Breckwoldt
coastal fisheries, and are therefore integral to successful fisheries (co-)management, yet their role still remains underestimated. This paper explores an original pathway to highlight iTaukei women’s role in Fiji’s small-scale coastal fisheries; a pathway that, through a ‘dwelling perspective’, emphasises the socialities that are inseparable from this role. It is based on data collected during two distinct fieldwork periods,
2003–2004 and 2016–2018, in a village located on Gau, Fiji’s fifth biggest island, in Lomaiviti Province. An overview of the fishing practices of the iTaukei women living in this village shows that fishing can be seen as both a gender-differentiated and a more-than-human, dynamic field of sociality. Furthermore, we argue that fishing is these women’s main mode of active engagement with their marine environment, conceived as inseparable from land, and all its sentient constituents. This mode of engagement
reflects the relational ontology inherent in the iTaukei all-encompassing
concept of vanua, which includes a sense of environmental responsibility and stewardship. This mode of engagement and its ‘procurement’ dimension are adjusted over time through ‘friction’ with conservation regulations and ideas that are both internal and external to the fishing community. These conservation regulations and ideas are related to
community-based marine resource initiatives, as well as to national fisheries management concerns and measures (including species-specific fishing bans). They give a supplemental dimension to women’s interactions and engagement with the sea and its sentient constituents, far from reducing those to a mere divide between ‘nature’ and society/sociality.
resources is used to provide the basis for improved management of culturally, economically and ecologically valuable species. The results of this study compiles Indigenous taxonomic classifications and associated species knowledge which fisherwomen from 11 communities use to help them in identifying and capturing resources. Moreover, the fishing methods, ecological knowledge and perceptions on environmental changes over thirty years provides temporal background on the fisherwomen’s knowledge. The results address knowledge gap between fisherwomen's Indigenous and local knowledge and science by marrying the well-developed knowledge systems. Finally, this study provides recommendations on how the Indigenous and local knowledge of women can contribute to practical and efficient resource management for localized challenges in Fiji.
Statement of main outcome: The ocean is an integral part for the three pillars of sustainable development: environment, society and economy. Pressures on the ocean from climate change, pollution, and over exploitation have increased over the past decades, posing unprecedented challenges, particularly for vulnerable communities such as the Large Ocean Island States, and these pressures need to be monitored. This study analyses the time series of Essential Ocean Variables sea surface temperature and chlorophyll-a in coastal reefs of two pilot regions in Fiji and New Caledonia. In situ measurements represent true local conditions,
with a necessarily limited coverage in time and space. Remote sensing data have a broad coverage but are necessarily limited in terms of resolution and accuracy in the coastal zone. Our analysis points to the advantage in using these complementary data types for the same geographical areas at small spatial scales close to the coast, and in particular, for high frequencies and extreme events. We discuss the way forward for a co-coconstructed monitoring framework, drawing on ongoing initiatives in Oceania, and advocate a methodology for the use of ocean data to support society and economy. Co-construction with stakeholder involvement is paramount for this framework, including policy- and decision-makers, industry, scientists, local and indigenous, governmental and non-governmental organisations, all of whom need sound, multi-disciplinary science advice, targeted expertise, and reliable evidence-based information to make informed timely decisions for the right timescale. Such transdisciplinarity combines scientific, traditional, administrative, technical, and legal knowledge repertories.
coastal fisheries, and are therefore integral to successful fisheries (co-)management, yet their role still remains underestimated. This paper explores an original pathway to highlight iTaukei women’s role in Fiji’s small-scale coastal fisheries; a pathway that, through a ‘dwelling perspective’, emphasises the socialities that are inseparable from this role. It is based on data collected during two distinct fieldwork periods,
2003–2004 and 2016–2018, in a village located on Gau, Fiji’s fifth biggest island, in Lomaiviti Province. An overview of the fishing practices of the iTaukei women living in this village shows that fishing can be seen as both a gender-differentiated and a more-than-human, dynamic field of sociality. Furthermore, we argue that fishing is these women’s main mode of active engagement with their marine environment, conceived as inseparable from land, and all its sentient constituents. This mode of engagement
reflects the relational ontology inherent in the iTaukei all-encompassing
concept of vanua, which includes a sense of environmental responsibility and stewardship. This mode of engagement and its ‘procurement’ dimension are adjusted over time through ‘friction’ with conservation regulations and ideas that are both internal and external to the fishing community. These conservation regulations and ideas are related to
community-based marine resource initiatives, as well as to national fisheries management concerns and measures (including species-specific fishing bans). They give a supplemental dimension to women’s interactions and engagement with the sea and its sentient constituents, far from reducing those to a mere divide between ‘nature’ and society/sociality.
resources is used to provide the basis for improved management of culturally, economically and ecologically valuable species. The results of this study compiles Indigenous taxonomic classifications and associated species knowledge which fisherwomen from 11 communities use to help them in identifying and capturing resources. Moreover, the fishing methods, ecological knowledge and perceptions on environmental changes over thirty years provides temporal background on the fisherwomen’s knowledge. The results address knowledge gap between fisherwomen's Indigenous and local knowledge and science by marrying the well-developed knowledge systems. Finally, this study provides recommendations on how the Indigenous and local knowledge of women can contribute to practical and efficient resource management for localized challenges in Fiji.
Statement of main outcome: The ocean is an integral part for the three pillars of sustainable development: environment, society and economy. Pressures on the ocean from climate change, pollution, and over exploitation have increased over the past decades, posing unprecedented challenges, particularly for vulnerable communities such as the Large Ocean Island States, and these pressures need to be monitored. This study analyses the time series of Essential Ocean Variables sea surface temperature and chlorophyll-a in coastal reefs of two pilot regions in Fiji and New Caledonia. In situ measurements represent true local conditions,
with a necessarily limited coverage in time and space. Remote sensing data have a broad coverage but are necessarily limited in terms of resolution and accuracy in the coastal zone. Our analysis points to the advantage in using these complementary data types for the same geographical areas at small spatial scales close to the coast, and in particular, for high frequencies and extreme events. We discuss the way forward for a co-coconstructed monitoring framework, drawing on ongoing initiatives in Oceania, and advocate a methodology for the use of ocean data to support society and economy. Co-construction with stakeholder involvement is paramount for this framework, including policy- and decision-makers, industry, scientists, local and indigenous, governmental and non-governmental organisations, all of whom need sound, multi-disciplinary science advice, targeted expertise, and reliable evidence-based information to make informed timely decisions for the right timescale. Such transdisciplinarity combines scientific, traditional, administrative, technical, and legal knowledge repertories.
, not on the many and complex systems around the world where wild bivalves are harvested. Marine bivalves can represent important opportunities for economic activity and social cohesion in coastal rural
areas, providing many jobs in those areas that are often otherwise economically depressed. Provided for a good governance set-up, the culturing community thereby contributes to the wellbeing of all its members – which in turn is defined as the willingness of members of a society to cooperate with each other in order to survive
and prosper. Due to its ocean-bound nature, marine bivalve aquaculture could also provide an occupational alternative for displaced fishermen. Its development can preserve the character and ambience of seaside fishing communities, utilize the local acquired knowledge and skills of the coastal folk, and allow the local denizens to remain economically and culturally tied to the marine environment. The consideration on the socio-economics of culturing communities should, however, neither stop at the local level, nor at the border of each country. On a national level, main considerations must stress small-scale units which, due to their size, pose fewer management problems and function with more flexibility. These projects must have a privileged status on domestic markets particularly in developing countries. From then onwards, they hold the potential, via well-developed and sustainable markets and trade pathways, also to extrapolate internationally.
Chapter 17 in: A. C. Smaal et al. (eds.), Goods and Services of Marine Bivalves, 2019, Springer
driven standpoints on the individual as well as the decision-makers’ levels. Consequently, the analysis of perceptions has developed not only as part of philosophy and psychology but also of environmental science, anthropology and human geography. It encompasses intuitions, values,
attitudes, thoughts, mind-sets, place attachments and sense of place. All of these influence human behavior and action, and are collected or are available within the respective marine resource use system, which may support the livelihood of a large part of the local population. Management and governance are not only about mediating between resource use conflicts or establishing marine protected areas, they deal with people and their ideas and perceptions. Understanding the related decision-making processes on multiple scales and levels hence means much more than economically assessing the available marine resources or existing threats to the associated system. Over the past decade, there has been a growing inter- and transdisciplinary international community becoming interested in research which integrates perceptions of coastal and inland residents, local and regional stakeholder groups, as well as resource and environmental managers and decision-makers. By acknowledging the importance of the individual perspective and interest-led personal views, it became obvious how valuable and important these sources of information are for coastal research. An increase of research effort spent on the link between perceptions and behaviour in marine resource use systems is thus both timely and needed. By offering a diversity of inspiring and comprehensive contributions on the link between perceptions and behaviour, this Research Topic aspires to critically enlighten the discourse and applicability of such research for finding sustainable, locally identified, anchored and integrated marine resource use pathways.
Edition: Routledge Studies in Environment, Culture, and Society.
Publisher: Routledge
Editors: Patrice Guillotreau, Alida Bundy, Ian Perry
explores the intricate web of culture, traditional practices, structure, beliefs and knowledge of local communities in the Fiji Islands and its significance in the management of marine resources as well as island development in general.
This book provides a complex and dynamic synthesis of activities and undertakings observed in local communities to highlight the importance of cultural factors in influencing resource management decisions and their effectiveness. In addition, the book outlines the factors that contribute towards sustainable development in rural communities. Drawing from local examples in rural development and the strengthening of the human capacity, Living From The Sea shares ideas, experiences, challenges and outcomes of community-based marine resource management initiatives trialed in Fiji. Consequent changes associated with marine managed areas are highlighted while a way forward that takes advantage of the cultural roles of the islanders and their respective influences is shown.
This study investigated the impact of a stream (Hei’eia Stream) on the distribution, abundance and diversity of scleractinian corals and macroalgae on a fringing reef in Kane’ohe Bay on the island of O’ahu, Hawai’i.
The environmental parameters salinity, temperature, water depth and sedimentation (inorganic, organic, terrigenous, carbonate) were measured over three months at 16 stations distributed on the reef flat from the stream mouth to the fringing reef itself. For the mapping of the species distribution, abundance and diversity along the observed reef section, a simplified version of the line intercept technique was used. The locations of the stations and transects were mapped with GPS (Geographic Positioning System) and presented with ArcView GIS software (Geographic Information System). Results of both data sets (environmental parameters and species distribution) were analyzed statistically using cluster analysis and principal component analysis (PCA). Graphic comparisons of the records of the important parameters and species against distances from stream mouth and shore were analyzed for trends.
No significant correlation (and therefore impact of the stream) was found between these parameters (salinity, temperature, water depth and sedimentation) and the structure of the benthic community along the reef. Depth and terrigenous sedimentation were found to be most likely to have an impact on the distribution of coral and macroalgae species. Freshwater input does only seem to be important for the reef in times of heavy rains and storm events.
However, significant differences were found between the north and south part of the reef, separated by a break in the coral reef in front of the stream mouth. Porites compressa was found to be the most abundant coral on the reef section and Dictyosphaeria spp. (bubble algae) the most abundant algae, both with highest abundances on the north side of the reef. The algae Gracilaria salicornia was only encountered on the south side of the reef.
MSc Thesis 2001 / In collaboration with:
Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT) GmbH, Bremen, Germany
University of Bremen, Germany
Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB), Kane'ohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i
Windward Community College, Kane'ohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i
Under this premise, Too Big To Ignore (TBTI) promotes a ‘transdisciplinary approach’ to teaching, training and learning about small-scale fisheries worldwide, as well as capacity building to respond to many challenges facing small-scale fisheries. Here, we define, a transdisciplinary approach as one which goes ‘between, across and beyond’ disciplines and ways of knowing and doing, in an attempt to address real-world problems and moving towards pragmatic solutions. This ‘open’ transdisciplinary approach also implies a bottom-up process involving various stakeholders in knowledge production and collaborative problem solving. Therefore, it includes local and traditional ecological knowledge, and knowledge about society, communities and livelihoods.
While the transdisciplinary approach and perspective are commonly encountered (e.g., in sustainability science, medicine, etc.), applications in fisheries are still limited. This report aims to stimulate interest in transdisciplinary research, teaching and training, particularly where sustainability of small-scale fisheries is concerned. Many international researchers and practitioners have contributed to the development of this document, which began in 2015 (see the Acknowledgment for details). The development process involved online collaboration, workshops and field visits, all done as part of the TBTI ‘Transdisciplinary Fisheries’ research cluster during the period between September 2014 to March 2016. The initial outcomes of this work have been described in the 2015 ‘Transdisciplinary Fisheries Course Development’ and 2016 ‘Developing a Transdisciplinary Fisheries Course’ TBTI research reports.
Visits to Rio Lagartos, Yucatán, Mexico, in March 2016 enabled us to interact with local stakeholders and learn more about the case study. These lessons and the feedback from the community were also useful in fine-tuning some concepts and in further development of the training materials.
The report outlines the philosophy and principles of this transdisciplinary approach and provides a possible course structure, with some materials, including a case study. The document follows an upper-level or graduate level university course structure. Nevertheless it can be easily adapted and modified to suit a range of target groups and delivery methods, such as community workshops, or training sessions for government officials, practitioners and non-governmental organizations. Our goal in the near future is to produce additional training materials, including a textbook on ‘Transdisciplinarity’ in Fisheries, and make them available on an online, open education and learning platform.