Traditional institutions and their role in the contemporary coastal resource management in the Pacific Islands

A discussion is presented on the role played by customary marine tenure (CMT) institutions in the regulation of fisheries in the Pacific Ocean Islands. Particular reference is made to the system in operation in Marovo Lagoon, in the Solomon Islands, whereby a number of defined clans control resource use within defined areas of land and sea. It is believed that such systems have considerable capacity for handling and adapting to new circumstances, thereby becoming potentially important tools in the contemporary management of fisheries and of the coastal zone in general.

Quality assessment of traditional, rotary and solar tunnel dried small indigenous fish species products

Studies on the quality assessments of three traditional, rotary and solar tunnel dried SIS products were conducted. Organoleptic quality of traditional dried SIS products available in the markets was poor compared to those produced in rotary and solar tunnel dryer. Reconstitution of samples were in the range of 54.26% to 75.24%, 69.37% to 83.73% and 55.08% to 80.24% when soaked at 80°C for traditional, rotary and solar tunnel dried products, respectively. The percentage of reconstitution increased with the increase of soaking time and the uptake of water was maximum after 60 min of soaking. The moisture contents of traditional, rotary and solar tunnel dried products were in the range of 26.02% to 27.33%, 16.23% to 22.84% and 13.71% to 19.30%, respectively. The protein contents were in the range of 60.78% to 72.59%, 62.17% to 76.27% and 61.11% to 76.00%, respectively; lipid contents were in the range of 12.26% to 22.60%, 14.00% to 24.71% and 13.92% to 22.39%, respectively and ash contents in the range of 15.11% to 16.59%, 8.32% to 13.51% and 8.71% to 16.45%, respectively on dry matter basis. The TVB-N content of rotary and solar tunnel dried products was low compared to traditional one ranging from 10.64 to 17.52 mg/100g and 14.34 to 15.68 mg/100g, respectively whereas the TVB-N content of traditional samples was in the range of 15.46 to 20.36 mg/100g. The bacterial load of traditional, rotary and solar tunnel dried products were in the range of 1.43x10 super(8) CFU/g to 2.89 x10 super(80 CFU/g, 1.91x10 super(8) CFU/g to 2.84x10 super(8) CFU/g and 1.95x10 super(8) CFU/g to 2.59x10 super(8) CFU/g, respectively. The results of the study indicated that dried fish products from rotary dryer and solar tunnel dryer were found to be of better quality in nutritional and food quality aspects than those of traditional dried products.

Marine protected areas and artisanal fisheries in Brazil

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are being promoted around the world as an effective means of protecting marine and coastal resources and biodiversity. However, concerns have been raised about their impact on the livelihoods, culture and survival of small-scale and traditional fishing and coastal communities. Yet, as this study from Brazil shows, it is possible to use MPAs as a tool for livelihood-sensitive conservation. Based on detailed studies of three sites–the Peixe Lagoon National Park in Rio Grande do Sul, and the marine extractive reserves (MERs) of Mandira, São Paulo, and Corumbau, Bahia – the study shows how communities in Brazil have been able to use protected areas to safeguard their livelihoods against development and industrialization projects, like shrimp farms and tourist resorts. (68 pp.)

Development of kelp rockfish, Sebastes atrovirens (Jordan and Gilbert 1880), and brown rockfish, S. auriculatus (Girard 1854), from birth to pelagic juvenile stage, with notes on early larval development of black-and-yellow rockfish, S. chrysomelas (Jordan and Gilbert 1880), reared in the laboratory (Pisces: Sebastidae).

Larval kelp (Sebastes atrovirens), brown (S. auriculatus), and blackand-yellow (S. chrysomelas) rockfish were reared from known adults, to preflexion stage, nine days after birth for S. chrysomelas, to late postflexion stage for S. atrovirens, and to pelagic juvenile stage for S. auriculatus. Larval S. atrovirens and S. chrysomelas were about 4.6 mm body length (BL) and S. auriculatus about 5.2 mm BL at birth. Both S. atrovirens and S. auriculatus underwent notochord flexion at about 6–9 mm BL. Sebastes atrovirens transform to the pelagic juvenile stage at about 14–16 mm BL and S. auriculatus transformed at ca. 25 mm BL. Early larvae of all three species were characterized by melanistic pigment dorsally on the head, on the gut, on most of the ventral margin of the tail, and in a long series on the dorsal margin of the tail. Larval S. atrovirens and S. auriculatus developed a posterior bar on the tail during the flexion or postflexion stage. In S. atrovirens xanthic pigment resembled the melanistic pattern throughout larval development. Larval S. auriculatus lacked xanthophores except on the head until late preflexion stage, when a pattern much like the melanophore pattern gradually developed. Larval S. chrysomelas had extensive xanthic pigmentation dorsally, but none ventrally, in preflexion stage. All members of the Sebastes subgenus Pteropodus (S. atrovirens, S. auriculatus, S. carnatus, S. caurinus, S. chrysomelas, S. dalli, S. maliger, S. nebulosus, S. rastrelliger) are morphologically similar and all share the basic melanistic pigment pattern described here. Although the three species reared in this study can be distinguished on the basis of xanthic pigmentation, it seems unlikely that it will be possible to reliably identify field-collected larvae to species using traditional morphological and melanistic pigmentation characters. (PDF file contains 36 pages.)

Approaches and frameworks for management and research in small-scale fisheries in the developing world

Commonly adopted approaches to managing small-scale fisheries (SSFs) in developing countries do not ensure sustainability. Progress is impeded by a gap between innovative SSF research and slower-moving SSF management. The paper aims to bridge the gap by showing that the three primary bases of SSF management--ecosystem, stakeholders’ rights and resilience--are mutually consistent and complementary. It nominates the ecosystem approach as an appropriate starting point because it is established in national and international law and policy. Within this approach, the emerging resilience perspective and associated concepts of adaptive management and institutional learning can move management beyond traditional control and resource-use optimization, which largely ignore the different expectations of stakeholders; the complexity of ecosystem dynamics; and how ecological, social, political and economic subsystems are linked. Integrating a rights-based perspective helps balance the ecological bias of ecosystem-based and resilience approaches. The paper introduces three management implementation frameworks that can lend structure and order to research and management regardless of the management approach chosen. Finally, it outlines possible research approaches to overcome the heretofore limited capacity of fishery research to integrate across ecological, social and economic dimensions and so better serve the management objective of avoiding fishery failure by nurturing and preserving the ecological, social and institutional attributes that enable it to renew and reorganize itself. (PDF contains 29 pages)

The Zanzibar Workshop Proceedings: Asserting Rights, Defining Responsibilities:Perspectives from Small-scale Fishing Communities on Coastal and Fisheries Management in Eastern and Southern Africa

The Zanzibar Workshop Proceedings consists of the report and the Statement of the Workshop and provides a rich understanding of the dynamics of traditional, indigenous, small-scale and artisanal fisheries and fishing communities in the Eastern and Southern African (ESA) context. The issues covered include: the saga of rights denied to coastal lands, fishing, and threats to livelihood arising from lack of recognition of traditional rights and the livelihood needs of people in the region; the aspirations of coastal and inland communities to maintain or improve their livelihoods; and a bottom-up perspective on access rights to fishing, post-harvest rights and economic and social rights. This report will be a valuable source of information for community organizers, trade union leaders, government officials and the donor community, including multilateral organizations, researchers and for all those who are interested in the well-being of ESA fishing communities.

Information science and the scientist. A look at information requirements and the technologies available to scientists in the pursuit of information

A review article looking at the type of information requirements commonly shared by scientists and their use of traditional information services. Areas covered include primary requirements of IFE (Institute of Freshwater Ecology) staff, pure versus applied research, informal and personal sources of information, and traditional library and information services. It goes on to describe how research into information systems and technology may improve the wider accessibility and use of information to the scientific community. Technologies covered include online databases, telecommunications, gateways, expert systems, optical technology and applications of CDROM.

Integrated resources management, integrated agriculture-aquaculture and the African farmer

Despite the expenditure of huge amounts of money and human effort, the Green Revolution has largely failed to benefit the vast majority of the rural poor in Africa: those smallholding farmers who sell little, if any, of what they grow and rely almost entirely upon natural soil fertility, rainfall and traditional broodstock and seed varieties. New approaches on food production and income generation in the rural areas must be found if this sector of agricultural community is to be assisted. Integrated resources management (IRM) in general, and integrated agriculture-aquaculture (IAA) in particular, may offer some solutions in cases where the classical methods of improving farm output have failed and/or been unsustainable.

Conserving oyster reef habitat by switching from dredging and tonging to diver-harvesting

A major cause of the steep declines of American oyster (Crassostrea virginica) fisheries is the loss of oyster habitat through the use of dredges that have mined the reef substrata during a century of intense harvest. Experiments comparing the efficiency and habitat impacts of three alternative gears for harvesting oysters revealed differences among gear types that might be used to help improve the sustainability of commercial oyster fisheries. Hand harvesting by divers produced 25−32% more oysters per unit of time of fishing than traditional dredging and tonging, although the dive operation required two fishermen, rather than one. Per capita returns for dive operations may nonetheless be competitive with returns for other gears even in the short term if one person culling on deck can serve two or three divers. Dredging reduced the height of reef habitat by 34%, significantly more than the 23% reduction caused by tonging, both of which were greater than the 6% reduction induced by diver hand-harvesting. Thus, conservation of the essential habitat and sustainability of the subtidal oyster fishery can be enhanced by switching to diver hand-harvesting. Management schemes must intervene to drive the change in harvest methods because fishermen will face relatively high costs in making the switch and will not necessarily realize the long-term ecological benefits.

Aquaculture Asia, Vol.14, No.1, pp.1-51, January-March 2009

Peter Edwards writes on rural aquaculture: Myanmar revisited. Harvesting, traditional preservation and marketing of fishes of Chalan Beel, Bangladesh, by Galib, S.M. and Samad, M.A. Role of community in production and supply of larger, quality fingerlings, by Radheyshyam, De, H.K. and Saha, G.S. Can rice-fish farming provide food security in Bangladesh? by Ahmed, N. and Luong-Van, J. Nutritional and food security for rural poor through multi-commodity production from a lake of eastern Uttar Pradesh, by Singh, S.K. Emerging boost in Sri Lankan reservoir fish production: a case of adoption of past research findings, by Amarasinghe, U.S., Weerakoon, D.E.M., Athukorala, D.A. Farming the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium malcolmsonii, by Radheyshyam Breeding and seed production of butter catfish, Ompok pabda (Siluridae) at Kalyani Centre of CIFA, India, by Chakrabarti, P.P., Chakrabarty, N.M. and Mondal, S.C. Asia-Pacific Marine Finfish Aquaculture Magazine Use of fish in animal feeds: a fresh perspective National strategies for aquatic animal health management, by Mohan, C.V. NACA Newsletter.

Walk on the Water: experience of brackish rivers with children

A resource guide for teachers for 4th through 6th graders, produced as part of the Aquapeake project. Includes: background on how and why it was developed; Cycles which is a poetic expression of the wedding of natural studies with personal expression; Aout our Trip, is a tentative sketch for possible uses of the folios; Aquaria on setting up various sizes and styles of aquaria; Music, songs in word and music. (PDF contains 70 pages)

Adoption of simple technologies for poverty alleviation

Several technologies have been disseminated to the rural populace of which few were adoptable while others were above their reaches. The adoption-rejection behaviour of the people of Monai community formed the basis for this study. Twenty women fish processors were interviewed using standard questionnaire. The study discovered that the women fish processors used the new introduced Better Life Programme Banda in rotation for even coverage. The use of new Banda has a positive effect on the quantity of fish processed and income. Additional two basins were processed on weekly basis with an income of N1,000.00 over the previous processing technology. No women processor however had the new Banda on individual basis for cost. Hence rural people adopt a technology that is cheap and simple but conforming to their traditional practices and values. Therefore any innovation intended for the rural populace should take cognizance of their socio-economic and cultural factors

Der Einsatz von Flüssigrauch: eine neue Technologie Teil 3: Untersuchungen zur Lagerfähigkeit von mit Flüssigrauch hergestellten vakuumverpackten Räucherfischprodukten

The investigations showed that the shelf life of traditional smoked and vacuum-packed gutted mackerels, mackerel and herring fillets is similar to the corresponding vacuum-packed products smoked with liquid smoke. The storage temperature was 5 ± 0,5 °C. Under experimental conditions the storage time was 26 days for smoked gutted mackerels and more than 30 days for smoked fillets. Storage times of 20 to 25 days for these products are recommended. The microbiological and chemical results showed no differences between both technologies.

The use of otolith morphology to indicate the stock structure of common coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus) on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

We investigated the use of otolith morphology to indicate the stock structure of an exploited serranid coral reef fish, Plectropomus leopardus, on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia. Otoliths were measured by traditional one-and two-dimensional measures (otolith length, width, area, perimeter, circularity, and rectangularity), as well as by Fourier analysis to capture the finer details of otolith shape. Variables were compared among four regions of the GBR separated by hundreds of kilometers, as well as among three reefs within each region, hundreds of meters to tens of kilometers apart. The temporal stability in otolith structure was examined by comparing two cohorts of fully recruited four-year-old P. leopardus collected two years before and two years after a signif icant disturbance in the southern parts of the GBR caused by a large tropical cyclone in March 1997. Results indicated the presence of at least two stocks of P. leopardus, although the structure of each stock varied depending on the cohort considered. The results highlight the importance of incorporating data from several years in studies using otolith morphology to discriminate temporary and possibly misleading signals from those that indicate persistent spatial structure in stocks. We conclude that otolith morphology can be used as an initial step to direct further research on groups of P. leopardus that have lived at least a part of their life in different environments.

Pesca de pequena escala em Moçambique: possibilidades de desenvolvimento

The small-scale fishery is a traditional activity and enrolled in social and cultural practices of the coastal communities and some places of the inland waters of Mozambique. Scope for development, major constraints in the small-scale fisheries and best practices are examined.