UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Small-Scale Fisheries : : from a Broad Overview to a Case Study Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3ds6659n Author Bernardo, Cristiane Palaretti Publication Date 2014 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Small-Scale Fisheries: from a Broad Overview to a Case Study A Thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Master of Science in Biology by Cristiane Palaretti Bernardo Committee in charge: Stuart Sandin, Chair Jonathan Shurin, Co-Chair Carolyn Kurle Martin Hall Brice Semmens 2014 The Thesis of Cristiane Palaretti Bernardo is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ Co-Chair ___________________________________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2014 iii DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to the people of Tonga, who gave me much more than what I could expect. iv EPIGRAPH For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love. Carl Sagan v TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page………………………………………………………………………. iii Dedication……………………………………………………………………………. iv Epigraph............................................................................................................ v Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………… vi List of Figures…...…………………………………………………………………... viii List of Tables………...…………………………………………………………….... ix Abstract............................................................................................................. xi Chapter I Comparative investigation of small-scale fisheries from 48 coral reef islands in a 10-year period............................................................. 1 Abstract.................................................................................................. 1 I.1 Introduction........................................................................................ 2 I.2 Topics of Investigation....................................................................... 7 I.2.1 Change in actual fisheries production between 1997-2001 and 2006-2010................................................................. 7 I.2.2 Socioeconomic factors influencing island coral reef fisheries ........................................................................... 8 I.3 Methods............................................................................................ 11 I.3.1 Change in actual fisheries production between 1997-2001 and 2006-2010....................................................................... 11 I.3.2 Socioeconomic factors Influencing island coral reef fisheries.................................................................................. 14 I.4 Results.............................................................................................. 15 I.4.1 Change in actual fisheries production between 1997-2001 vi and 2006-2010....................................................................... 15 I.4.2 Socioeconomic factors influencing island coral reef fisheries.................................................................................. 20 I.5 Discussion....................................................................................... 30 I.5.1 Change in actual fisheries production between 1997-2001 and 2006-2010..................................................................... 30 I.5.2 Socioeconomic factors influencing island coral reef fisheries............................................................................... 34 I.6 Conclusion...................................................................................... 37 References........................................................................................... 39 Chapter II A rapid assessment of small-scale fisheries in the Kingdom of Tonga: a case study........................................................................ 50 Abstract............................................................................................... 50 II.1 Introduction.................................................................................... 51 II.2 Methods......................................................................................... 52 II.2.1 Investigation site............................................................ 52 I.2.2 Household interviews..................................................... 53 II.3 Results.......................................................................................... 55 II.4 Discussion..................................................................................... 60 II.5 Conclusion................................................................................... 63 Appendix.............................................................................................. 64 References......................................................................................... 65 vii LIST OF FIGURES Fig. I.1. The Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) theory curve......................... 5 Fig.I.2. Results of Newton et al. (2007), classification of 49 tropical island countries according to their fisheries status based on landings data from 1997 to 2000................................................................................................................. 6 Fig.I.3. The 48 island countries investigated in this study and their actual fisheries production status..... ........................................................................ 12 Fig.I.4. Representation of the calculation to estimate the distance of an actual fisheries production data point from the maximum sustainable yield line........................................................................................................ 14 Fig. I.5. Fisheries production status based on data from 2006 to 2010......... 17 Fig.I.6. The Distance of actual fisheries production from the sustainable production. .................................................................................................... 18 Fig. I.7. Countries with most changes. 7a. the countries with the greater change in fisheries actual production. 7b. The countries with the greater change in distance to the sustainable production line.................................. 21 Fig.II.1. The map of Kingdom of Tonga......................................................... 54 viii LIST OF TABLES Table I.1: Actual fisheries production status and regions................................ 12 Table I.2: The statistic results for the change in actual fisheries production and socioeconomic factors................................................................................... 19 Table I.3: Countries with the greater change in actual fisheries production between time period 1 and 2......................................................................... 21 Table I.4: Countries with greater change in distance from sustainable fisheries production line between time period 1 and 2................................ 22 Table I.5: Human population growth, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita and governance indicator index for the 48 island countries............ 24 Table I.6: The exploitation status of island coral reef fisheries in 1997-2001 (time period 1, n = 49) and 2006-2010 (time period 2, n = 48)................. 26 Table II.1: Subsistence and commercial fisheries: Annual mean production of subsistence and commercial from 1989 to 1992.................................. 52 Table II.2: Demographic characteristics, the purpose of fishing, and tradition in the villages surveyed............................................................... 55 Table II.3: Fishing techniques, time spent fishing, and areas of coral reef ix habitat targeted for fishing (all shown as mean hours per month).......... 56 Table II.4. Fish and invertebrate catch composition and percentage of respondents who mentioned each group as a fishing target................. 57 Table II.5. Fish nomenclature in Tongatapu in English and in Tonga..... 58 Table II.6. Fish nomenclature in Ha’apai in English and Tongan......... 59 Table II.7. Comparison of fish catch, time spent fishing, and fish size from the time fishers started to fish to now.................................................. 60 x ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS Small Scale Fisheries: From a Broad Overview to a Case Study by Cristiane Palaretti Bernardo Master of Science in Biology University of California, San Diego, 2014 Stuart Sandin, Chair Jonathan Shurin, Co-Chair At least half of the world’s food fish supply comes from small-scale fisheries. In many island countries, almost everyone relies on small-scale fisheries as a source of protein, income, livelihood, and cultural tradition. Here, we investigate the changes in the actual production of small-scale fisheries across 48 tropical islands over a period of 10 years and examine socioeconomic factors as possible reasons for changes in fisheries production over time. Our results indicate that the majority of the countries with overexploited fisheries status had increased in production contradicting the maximum xi sustainable yield (MSY) theory, which state that an