Dataset Information

Ecosystem service lens reveals diverse community values of small-scale fisheries.

ABSTRACT: The ocean provides benefits to coastal communities around the world, however, the depth and complexity of people's interactions with marine ecosystems are not well represented in many marine management initiatives. Many fisheries are managed to maximize provisioning value, which is readily quantified, while ignoring cultural values. An ecosystem services approach that includes both provisioning and cultural services will enable managers to better account for the diverse values marine fisheries provide to coastal communities. In this study, we assess community values related to a top fished species, the Mexican chocolate clam, Megapitaria squalida, in Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico. We conducted an exploratory analysis based on 42 household surveys, and found that community members perceive multiple provisioning and cultural benefits from the clam, including community economic, historical, and identity values. Despite reporting infrequent harvest and consumption of clams, participants perceive the species as an important part of community identity, highlighting the role of Mexican chocolate clams as a cultural keystone species in the Loreto region. Fisheries management that recognizes the full range of ecosystem services a species contributes to coastal communities will be better equipped to sustain these diverse values into the future.

SUBMITTER: Pellowe KE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7882666 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Ecosystem service lens reveals diverse community values of small-scale fisheries.

Pellowe Kara E KE Leslie Heather M HM

Ambio 20201103 3

The ocean provides benefits to coastal communities around the world, however, the depth and complexity of people's interactions with marine ecosystems are not well represented in many marine management initiatives. Many fisheries are managed to maximize provisioning value, which is readily quantified, while ignoring cultural values. An ecosystem services approach that includes both provisioning and cultural services will enable managers to better account for the diverse values marine fisheries p ...[more]

PMID: 33141400

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Project description:BackgroundAlthough bycatch of industrial-scale fisheries can cause declines in migratory megafauna including seabirds, marine mammals, and sea turtles, the impacts of small-scale fisheries have been largely overlooked. Small-scale fisheries occur in coastal waters worldwide, employing over 99% of the world's 51 million fishers. New telemetry data reveal that migratory megafauna frequent coastal habitats well within the range of small-scale fisheries, potentially producing high bycatch. These fisheries occur primarily in developing nations, and their documentation and management are limited or non-existent, precluding evaluation of their impacts on non-target megafauna.Principal findings/methodology30 North Pacific loggerhead turtles that we satellite-tracked from 1996-2005 ranged oceanwide, but juveniles spent 70% of their time at a high use area coincident with small-scale fisheries in Baja California Sur, Mexico (BCS). We assessed loggerhead bycatch mortality in this area by partnering with local fishers to 1) observe two small-scale fleets that operated closest to the high use area and 2) through shoreline surveys for discarded carcasses. Minimum annual bycatch mortality in just these two fleets at the high use area exceeded 1000 loggerheads year(-1), rivaling that of oceanwide industrial-scale fisheries, and threatening the persistence of this critically endangered population. As a result of fisher participation in this study and a bycatch awareness campaign, a consortium of local fishers and other citizens are working to eliminate their bycatch and to establish a national loggerhead refuge.Conclusions/significanceBecause of the overlap of ubiquitous small-scale fisheries with newly documented high-use areas in coastal waters worldwide, our case study suggests that small-scale fisheries may be among the greatest current threats to non-target megafauna. Future research is urgently needed to quantify small-scale fisheries bycatch worldwide. Localizing coastal high use areas and mitigating bycatch in partnership with small-scale fishers may provide a crucial solution toward ensuring the persistence of vulnerable megafauna.

Project description:Spatial conservation prioritization is used worldwide for designing marine protected areas (MPA) that achieve set conservation objectives with minimal impacts to marine users. People involved in small-scale fisheries (SSF) may incur negative and disproportionate impacts from implementing MPAs, yet limited available data often restricts their representation in MPA planning. Using a Philippines case study, we focus here on the systematic design of a MPA network that aims to minimize and distribute costs equitably for SSF whilst achieving representation targets for biodiversity conservation. The objectives of the study are to: (1) document a participatory mapping approach for collecting SSF data for prioritization using the local knowledge of fishers; and (2) examine how the completeness and resolution of SSF data may affect prioritization outputs in terms of biodiversity representation, spatial efficiency, and distribution equity. In the data-poor region, we conducted participatory mapping workshops with fishers in 79 communities to collect data on the spatial distribution patterns of different SSF fisheries and communities, and employed remote sensing techniques to define coastal habitats, which were targeted for inclusion in MPAs. The datasets were integrated within the decision-support tool Marxan with Zones to develop three scenarios. The SSF data incorporated in each scenario varied based on their completeness (considered all fishing methods or only dominant methods) and resolution (fishing methods itemized by community or municipality). All scenarios derived MPA plans that met representation targets with similar area coverage. The outputs, however, varied in terms of distribution equity, measured by the distribution of opportunity costs (loss of fishing grounds) across different fisheries and communities. Scenarios that did not include minority fisheries or variations between communities, led to inequitable costs. These results highlight the need to incorporate detailed data on SSF at appropriate resolutions, and how this can be achieved through participatory approaches.

Dataset Information

Ecosystem service lens reveals diverse community values of small-scale fisheries.

Publications

Ecosystem service lens reveals diverse community values of small-scale fisheries.

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