Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T01:05:48.919Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Rule breaking and livelihood options in marine protected areas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2011

ANGELIE M. PETERSON*
Affiliation:
School of Marine Science and Technology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK
SELINA M. STEAD
Affiliation:
School of Marine Science and Technology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK
*
*Correspondence: Angelie Peterson, Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES), University of the West Indies, Barbados e-mail: [email protected]

Summary

Two main drivers of global trends in noncompliance of marine protected areas regulations are food and income security. Declines in fish stocks have resulted in greater concerns for food security, especially in developing and coastal areas, and calls for environmental conservation are growing. Planning of marine protected areas has traditionally been based on biological and ecological data, only recently focusing on the human communities that are significantly dependent on coastal resources. The hypothesis that marine resource use is determined by socioeconomic factors (such as food security and income) and livelihood options was tested in two communities on the island of Rodrigues (Western Indian Ocean). As livelihood development can be a response to fisher displacement by protected areas, willingness towards alternative livelihood options and the differences in this between fisher demographic groups were also examined. Using semi-structured interviews, 72 fishers were surveyed on topics such as fishery and marine protected area (MPA) regulation noncompliance, current livelihoods and willingness to consider alternative livelihoods. Fishers believed Rodrigues fisheries suffer from high levels of noncompliance, owing mainly to a lack of livelihood alternatives and depleted stocks. Rodriguan fishers had low mobility, both within the fishery (for example gear types used and target species) and in movement to occupations outside the fishery. The fishers were generally willing to consider alternate livelihoods. Age was significantly correlated with overall willingness to consider alternative work, while gender and village were found to have a significant relationship with types of work that an individual was willing to consider. Policy makers and marine resource managers need to identify drivers of noncompliant behaviour and examine livelihood preferences at different scales (individual, within and between communities) prior to users being affected by MPA created displacement to more effectively address marine conservation and food security goals. The findings offer new empirical evidence to strengthen support for arguments that could be made by policy makers to demand more balanced consideration of the effects of MPAs on socioeconomic factors along with environmental considerations in communities highly dependent on access to the marine areas that will be affected by MPAs.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adger, W. (2000) Social and ecological resilience: are they related? Progress in Human Geography 24 (3): 347364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allison, E. & Ellis, F. (2001) The livelihoods approach and management of small-scale fisheries. Marine Policy 25: 377388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bene, C. (2004) Poverty in small-scale fisheries: a review and some further thoughts. In: Poverty and Small-scale Fisheries in West Africa., ed. Neiland, A. & Bene, C., pp. 5979. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: FAO and Kluwer Academic Publishers.Google Scholar
Briguglio, L. (1995) Small island developing states and their economic vulnerabilities. World Development 23 (9): 16151632.Google Scholar
Bunce, M., Mee, L., Rodwell, L. & Gibb, R. (2009) Collapse and recovery in a remote small island. A tale of adaptive cycles or downward spirals? Global Environmental Change 19: 213239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bunce, M., Rodwell, L., Gibb, R. & Mee, L. (2008) Shifting baselines in fishers’ perceptions of island reef fishery degradation. Ocean and Coastal Management 51: 285302.Google Scholar
Charles, A. & Wilson, L. (2009) Human dimensions of marine protected areas. ICES Journal of Marine Science 66 (1): 615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheung, W. & Sumaila, U. (2008) Trade-offs between conservation and socio-economic objectives in managing a tropical marine ecosystem. Ecological Economics 66: 193210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christie, P. & White, A. (2007) Best practices for improved governance of coral reef marine protected areas. Coral Reefs 26 (4): 10471056.Google Scholar
Cinner, J. (2007) Designing marine reserves to reflect local socioeconomic conditions: lessons from long-enduring customary management systems. Coral Reefs 26: 10351045.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cinner, J. & Pollnac, R. (2004) Poverty, perceptions and planning: why socioeconomics matter in the management of Mexican reefs. Ocean and Coastal Management 47: 479493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cinner, J., McClanahan, T., Daw, T., Graham, N., Maina, J., Wilson, S. & Hughes, T. (2009 a) Linking social and ecological systems to sustain coral reef fisheries. Current Biology 19: 206212.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cinner, J.E., Daw, T. & McClanahan, T.R. (2009 b) Socioeconomic factors that affect artisanal fishers’ readiness to exit a declining fishery. Conservation Biology 23: 124130.Google Scholar
Cinner, J., McClanahan, T. & Wamukota, A. (2010) Differences in livelihoods, socioeconomic characteristics, and knowledge about the sea between fishers and non-fishers living near and far from marine parks on the Kenyan coast. Marine Policy 34: 2228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CSO (2007) Digest of Statistics on Rodrigues. Port Louis, Mauritius: Central Statistics Office, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.Google Scholar
Granek, E., Polasky, S., Kappel, C., Reed, D., Stoms, D., Koch, E., Kennedy, C., Cramer, L., Hacker, S., Barbier, E., Aswani, S., Ruckelshaus, M., Perillo, G., Silliman, B., Muthiga, N., Bael, D. & Wolanski, E. (2010) Ecosystem services as a common language for coastal ecosystem-based management. Conservation Biology 24: 207216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardman, E., Gell, F., Blais, F., Desire, M., Raffin, J., Perrine, S. & Chinien-Chetty, M. (2006) Marine reserves for sustainable fisheries management in Rodrigues. Shoals Rodrigues. Pointe Monier, Rodrigues: 18 pp. [www document]. URL http://www.ncl.ac.uk/tcmweb/tmr/aje_darwin_rodrigues.htmlGoogle Scholar
Hardman, E., Blais, F., Desire, M., Raffin, J., Perrine, S. & Gell, F. (2007) Marine reserves for sustainable fisheries management in Rodrigues: alternative livelihood options 1. Shoals Rodrigues. Pointe Monier, Rodrigues, Rodrigues: 17 pp. [www document]. URL http://www.ncl.ac.uk/tcmweb/tmr/aje_darwin_rodrigues.htmlCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hatcher, A., Jaffry, S., Thébaud, O. & Bennett, E. (2000) Normative and social influences affecting compliance with fishery regulations. Land Economics 76: 448461.Google Scholar
Honneland, G. (1999) A model of compliance in fisheries: theoretical foundations and practical application. Ocean and Coastal Management 42: 699716.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jimenez-Badillo, L. (2008) Management challenges of small-scale fishing communities in a protected reef system of Veracruz, Gulf of Mexico. Fisheries Management and Ecology 15: 1926.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keane, A., Jones, J., Edwards-Jones, G. & Milner-Gulland, E. (2008) The sleeping policeman: understanding issues of enforcement and compliance in conservation. Animal Conservation 11: 7582.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loper, C., Pomeroy, R., Hoon, V., McConney, P., Pena, M., Sanders, A., Sriskanthan, G., Vergara, S., Pido, M., Vave, R., Vieux, C. & Wanyoni, I. (2008) Socioeconomic conditions along the world's tropical coasts: 2008. NOAA, GCRMN & Conservation International: 56 pp. [www document]. URL http://www.socmon.org/pdf/socmon_global_report.pdfGoogle Scholar
Marshall, N., Marshall, P. & Abdulla, A. (2009) Using social resilience and resource dependency to increase the effectiveness of marine conservation initiatives in Salum, Egypt. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 52: 901918.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClanahan, T., Cinner, J., Kamukuru, A., Abunge, C. & Ndagala, J. (2008) Management preferences, perceived benefits and conflicts among resource users and managers in the Mafia Island Marine Park, Tanzania. Environmental Conservation 35: 340350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClanahan, T., Marnane, M., Cinner, J. & Kiene, W. (2006) A comparison of marine protected areas and alternative approaches to coral-reef management. Current Biology 16: 14081413.Google Scholar
North-Coombes, A. (1971) The Island of Rodrigues. Port Louis, Mauritius: Published by the Author.Google Scholar
Ostrom, E. (2009) A general framework for analyzing sustainability of social-ecological systems. Science 325: 419422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollnac, R. & Pomeroy, R. (2005) Factors influencing the sustainability of integrated coastal management projects in the Philippines and Indonesia. Ocean and Coastal Management 48: 233251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollnac, R., Pomeroy, R. & Harkes, I. (2001) Fishery policy and job satisfaction in three southeast Asian fisheries. Ocean and Coastal Management 44: 531544.Google Scholar
Pomeroy, R. & Douvere, F. (2008) The engagement of stakeholders in the marine spatial planning process. Marine Policy 32 (5): 816822.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pomeroy, R., Oracion, E., Pollnac, R. & Caballes, D. (2005) Perceived economic factors influencing the sustainability of integrated coastal management projects in the Philippines. Ocean and Coastal Management 48: 360377CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pomeroy, R., Pollnac, R., Katon, B. & Predo, C. (1997) Evaluating factors contributing to the success of community-based coastal resource management: the central Visayas regional project-1, Philippines. Ocean and Coastal Management 36: 97120.Google Scholar
SPSS (2006) SPSS for Windows, Rel. 15.0.1. Chicago: SPSS.Google Scholar
Sutinen, J. & Kuperan, K. (1999) A socio-economic theory of regulatory compliance. International Journal of Social Economics 26: 174193.Google Scholar
UN (2009) The Millennium Development Goals Report 2009. United Nations, New York, NY, USA.Google Scholar
UNEP (2007) Global Environment Outlook GEO-4 environment for development. UNEP, Malta.Google Scholar
Walmsley, S., Purvis, J. & Ninnes, C. (2006) The role of small-scale fisheries management in the poverty reduction strategies in the Western Indian Ocean region. Ocean and Coastal Management 49 (11): 812833.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xydias, N. (1956) Labour: conditions, aptitudes, training. In: Social Implications of Industrialization and Urbanization in Africa South of the Sahara, International Africa Institute, pp. 275367. Paris, France: UNESCO.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Peterson Supplementary material

Peterson Supplementary material

Download Peterson Supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 173.1 KB