October 2011 Asia Pacific Conservation Region Marine Program Report No 6/11 An Interdisciplinary Study of Market Forces and Nearshore Fisheries Management in Micronesia “Fisheries are complex social–ecological systems that need to be managed by addressing problems related not only to the resources themselves but to the people targeting them” (Gutiérrez et al. 2011) Report by: Kevin L. Rhodes1, Kimberley Warren-Rhodes2, Peter Houk3 Javier Cuetos-Bueno4 and Quentin Fong5 October 2011 Asia Pacific Conservation Region Marine Program Report No 6/11 An Interdisciplinary Study of Market Forces and Nearshore Fisheries Management in Micronesia “Fisheries are complex social–ecological systems that need to be managed by addressing problems related not only to the resources themselves but to the people targeting them.” (Gutiérrez et al. 2011) Report by: Kevin L. Rhodes1 Kimberley Warren-Rhodes2 Peter Houk3 Javier Cuetos-Bueno4 Quentin Fong5 Authors’ Affiliations: 1 Pacific Marine Science and Conservation, Grass Valley, CA, USA 2 NASA-Ames, Moffett Field, CA, USA 3 Pacific Marine Resources Institute, Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Marina Islands 4 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, San Diego, CA, USA 5 Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program, University of Alaska, Kodiak, AK, USA Corresponding Author: Kevin L. Rhodes – Pacific Marine Science and Conservation, Grass Valley, CA, USA; [email protected] Suggested Citation: Rhodes, K.L., Warren-Rhodes, K., Houk, P., Cuetos-Bueno, J., Fong, Q. and Hoot, W. 2011. An Interdisciplinary Study of Market Forces and Nearshore Fisheries Management in Micronesia. A Report of the Marine Program of the Asia Pacific Conservation Region, The Nature Conservancy. Report No. 6/11. 120 pp. Disclaimer: The views in this report are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Nature Conservancy, the Alex C. Walker Foundation or Sylvia Parker. Published by: The Nature Conservancy, Asia Pacific Conservation Region Marine Program The Nature Conservancy contact: Andrew J. Smith – Director, Fisheries Management Program (Asia-Pacific) [email protected] © 2011 The Nature Conservancy All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes is authorized without prior permission. Reproduction for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without prior written permission. Cover photo: Kevin Rhodes – Orangespine unicornfish (Naso lituratus) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to thank those who provided information through personal discussions and interviews. We would like to especially thank all of the fishers who responded to survey questions and who expressed their legitimate concerns about the future of marine resources and management in Micronesia. We also express appreciation to the reviewers who provided comments and criticisms to improve the overall focus and accuracy of the report. Whitney Hoot provided invaluable services in identifying and procuring obscure references early in the project. Finally, we would like to thank Steve Lindfield for the use of his photographs. Primary funding for this study was provided by the Alex C. Walker Foundation (http://walker- foundation.org), with additional support from Sylvia Parker. i ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY For Micronesians, the sea and its bounty have been a central part of daily life for thousands of years, as reflected in their lore and customs. However, unbalanced commercialization of coastal resources and a lack of parallel management have allowed unsustainable fishing practices to abound, with coastal fisheries now characterized by excess harvest and unethical and destructive fishing methods. Across Micronesia, poor management of commercial fishing has resulted in the virtual extinction of some species in some jurisdictions, reductions in abundance and mean fish size, age, and fecundity for many commercially important nearshore species, changes in coastal fish communities, and severe impacts to the reproductive and replenishment potential of fish spawning aggregations. Adding to this are poor land use and development activities, such as dredging, unabated pollution, and upland land clearing that have contributed to degraded coastal and nearshore habitats, particularly coral reefs. Today, the regional commercial reef fishery is threatening the economic potential and development of non-extractive industries (e.g., tourism), as well as socio-economic and food security. Thus, there is an urgent need to lessen the impacts through better, restructured management institutions (along with their policies and actions). The current study examines market forces driving overfishing in the eight jurisdictions of Micronesia: Yap, Kosrae, Pohnpei and Chuuk, Palau, the Marshall Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam. Case studies, fisher surveys, and literature reviews were used to analyze the historical context of coastal fisheries and to identify potential changes in socio-economic, political, and management practices that could improve sustainability. Similar to past research on these subjects, this study’s overall conclusion is that coastal fisheries are in decline throughout Micronesia and a substantial reduction in catch volume is needed until sustainable management targets can be achieved. To accomplish this, reforms in the ways that coastal fish are marketed and managed are needed in all jurisdictions to ensure long-term socio- economic security, including providing equity to fish prices and the protection of undersized fish and spawning stocks to improve fish population growth. Catalyzing declines of marine resources in some jurisdictions are open access property regimes that dampen the sense of resource ownership and responsibility and stimulate the “race to fish.” Resource declines were typically most severe in open access jurisdictions, while those with low population density and those operating under stronger and more intact customary marine tenure systems tended to be less overfished. Nonetheless, degraded fisheries and impacts to fish stocks from unsustainable fishing practices were noted in all jurisdictions, regardless of the level of traditional management being exercised. A number of key socio-economic drivers were found to contribute to marine resource declines: (1) the change from a subsistence to cash economy; (2) an erosion of customary marine tenure; (3) a lack of political will for protecting marine resources; (4) an absence of effective, responsive fisheries management; (5) increasing population pressures and demand for reef resources, including export; (6) undervalued reef and pelagic resources; (7) high external commodity costs; (8) unsustainable use of modernized fishing gear; (9) an erosion of traditional fishing ethics and practices; and (10) a paucity of educational and alternative employment opportunities. Based on these drivers and an assessment of current management practices, the study synthesizes the economic, policy, and stakeholder actions that can be taken to address unsustainable fishing in Micronesia. Currently, one of the biggest drivers of overfishing is the disparity between wholesale fish prices and external commodity prices, particularly fuel. This disparity, together with the inability by fishers to cooperate to effectively leverage prices, is creating the framework for overharvesting. Adding to the problem are cheap, unhealthy imported meat products that compete with locally derived fish in price and which are less impacted by the wide swings in fuel prices observed over the past decade. iii Governments and stakeholders should work to institute fair commodity pricing and identify other plausible means to suppress the demand, or at least capture volume, of nearshore fishes. To assist in achieving a fair market price, regional fishers are urged to form cooperative agreements and strengthen their ability to collectively bargain. Governments should also discourage the importation and consumption of the low cost, unhealthy meat products helping to drive diabetes and obesity in the region. Alternatively, markets and governments should work together with fishers to impose mechanisms to upwardly adjust wholesale fish prices and diminish overall coastal fish consumption. The abolition of destructive fishing practices, protection of critical habitat, and severe restrictions on the harvest of highly vulnerable species, such as green bumphead parrotfish, humphead wrasse, tridacnid clams, and turtles should be paramount management goals. SCUBA spearfishing, blast fishing, fishing with poisons, and gillnetting should be banned throughout Micronesia due to their known association with habitat destruction and overfishing. Regionally, the healthiest fish communities are found in areas free of these techniques. Nighttime spearfishing, while popular, is perhaps the primary driver for unsustainable fishing and must be severely curtailed and eventually eliminated if sustainable fisheries are to be realized. Along with managing gear, there is a need to protect known fish spawning areas and fish spawning periods, along with instituting methods that allow juveniles to attain reproductive size and age, such as size limits. In all study locales, management success, whether at the community, state, or national level, was always associated with a dedicated environmental champion whose primary focus was to identify, design, and facilitate management and conservation laws or practices. Alternatively, management failures were linked to a weak political will to