Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

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  Conference paper

  Community-based shrimp stock enhancement for coastal socio-ecological restoration in the Philippines 

  J Altamirano, H Kurokura, ND Salayo, D Baticados, JG Suyo & S Ishikawa - In MRR Romana-Eguia, FD Parado-Estepa, ND Salayo & MJH Lebata-Ramos (Eds.), Resource Enhancement and Sustainable Aquaculture Practices in Southeast Asia: Challenges in Responsible Production … International Workshop on Resource Enhancement and Sustainable Aquaculture Practices in Southeast Asia 2014 (RESA), 2015 - Aquaculture Department, Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center

  The reality of declining quality of coastal areas has been evident for many developing countries, especially in Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, rural coastal zones and estuaries are now being characterized by declining wild fisheries resources and degrading environment. This paper presents, as an example, the typical rural coastal towns of New Washington and Batan in Aklan province, Philippines and showcases how the concept of shrimp stock enhancement can provide incentives to restore the environment and provide sustainable fishing livelihood in the area.

  The New Washington-Batan Estuary in northeast Panay Island, Philippines was a productive fishing ground that has been in a state of degenerating brackishwater fisheries and estuarine environment. Average daily catch composed of various species decreased from 24 kg in 1970s to 0.7 kg at present. Shrimp fisheries, the most important livelihood, declined in quality and quantity. The highly-priced and once very abundant tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon was replaced with smaller-sized and lower-priced species like the Metapenaeus ensis. These can be attributed to the conversion of 76% of mangroves to culture ponds in the past 50 years and more than 400% increase in fishing gears since the 1990s. The need to reduce fishing structures and rehabilitate mangroves is evident. However, these drastic changes directly affect fishers livelihood. This paper explores the prospects of P. monodon stock enhancement as positive reinforcement for the estuary s rehabilitation. Number of gears per fisher may have to be reduced but shrimp catches will be relatively high-priced. Simulations with additional tiger shrimp caught due to stock enhancement show that fishers can increase income by more than 4 times from their current PhP 34 gear-1 day-1. Campaigns on the importance of mangrove especially as shrimp habitat can encourage local communities to reforest the estuary especially in abandoned ponds. With effective management, law enforcement, and sustained support from different sectors, shrimp stock enhancement can be a positive strategy in estuarine rehabilitation and livelihood sustainability in the New Washington-Batan Estuary.
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  Article

  The way forward with ecosystem-based management in tropical contexts: Reconciling with existing management systems 

  S Aswani, P Christie, N Muthiga, R Mahon, JH Primavera, LAz Cramer, EB Barbier, EF Granek, C Kennedy, E Wolanski & S Hacker - Marine Policy, 2012 - Elsevier

  This paper discusses some of the challenges and opportunities that can arise when implementing ecosystem-basedmanagement (EBM) in tropical nations. EBM creates a new series of challenges, problems, and opportunities that must be considered in light of existing governance and management frameworks in a local context. The paper presents five case studies from different parts of the tropical world, including Oceania, insular and continental Southeast Asia, East Africa, and the Caribbean, which illustrate that the implementation of EBM in watershed and marine ecosystems offers a new series of challenges and opportunities for its inclusion with existing forms of environmental governance and management. The paper suggests that EBM is best thought of as an expansion of customary management (CM) and integrated coastal management (ICM), rather than a paradigm shift, and that it has certain benefits that are worth integrating into existing systems when possible. The paper concludes that the cultural and institutional context of CM as well as the experience, technical skills, and legal basis that serve ICM programs are logical platforms from which to build EBM programs. Some guidelines for creating hybrid management regimes are suggested. In sum, declining marine species and ecosystems require urgent action, necessitating utilization of existing paradigms such as ICM and CM as a foundation for building EBM.
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  Article

  Socio-cultural context of fishers’ participation in coastal resources management in Anini-y, Antique in west central Philippines 

  MET Aldon, AC Fermin & RF Agbayani - Fisheries Research, 2011 - Elsevier

  The vicious cycle of poverty, overfishing and resource degradation in coastal communities in the Philippines calls for action that will address the problem of declining fish catch and degraded fish habitats. The literature has shown that an efficient and effective coastal management program can be instrumental in approaching this problem. In order to secure food and livelihood of fishers, the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center/Aquaculture Department collaborated with the local government of Anini-y, Antique to develop a sustainable utilization of natural marine resources through sea ranching of abalone within the Nogas Island marine protected area. Establishing a marine protected area is a means of conserving natural stocks while sea ranching is considered an effective strategy that can increase fishery resources. The two management schemes are considered as effective coastal resources management strategies. The success of a sea-ranching project is dependent not only on biophysical but also on socioeconomic factors as determinants of community participation and cooperation. A social assessment was conducted to determine the fishers’ socio-cultural characteristics, their perceptions of their coastal resources and knowledge on how to effectively manage these coastal resources. The fishers’ awareness on fishing regulations and the extent of their participation in community's coastal resources management activities were also determined. Data were collected from a household survey using a semi-structured questionnaire, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with key informants. The fishers generally scored low in almost all aspects of their socioeconomic wellbeing. Most fishers perceived that their coastal resources were in a bad condition which they attributed to illegal and commercial fishing, increasing number of fishers and the poor enforcement of fishery regulations. However, the weighted mean scores of their knowledge on coastal resources management, awareness to fishery regulations and participation in community coastal resource management activities were average. This implied that fishers when trained and developed can become potential partners for effective coastal resources management programs.