ITMEMS 1998 Proceedings - Case Studies

Session 3 - Fisheries and Protected Areas

Effectiveness of Temporary Reef Closures to Replenish Reef Fish Stocks in the Great Barrier Reef [Adobe Acrobat Format 86 Kb]

This paper will evaluate the process by which a reef closure was implemented and managed over a three and a half-year period with the sole objective to replenish fish stocks. The case study will describe how the management agency responded to requests by community groups (including recreational and commercial fishers) to close the reef, the community’s involvement in the management of the closure, and the effectiveness of the closure in meeting its primary objective. The study will describe how the replenishment phase occurred extremely well until a major difficulty arose in implementing workable strategies for the reopening of the reef to fishing. The level of fish stocks soon after opening the reef was not what many community groups had hoped for. The case study will describe the lessons learned in using temporary reef closures to replenish reef fish stocks and possible mechanisms to satisfy all community expectations from the planning phase of a closure.

Monitoring and Evaluation of Reef Protected Areas by Local Fishers in the Philippines: Tightening the Adaptive Management Cycle [Adobe Acrobat Format 73 Kb] 

Initiatives to: (1) introduce simplified coastal resource monitoring methods to fisher communities in Eastern Samar and Bohol; (2) empirically evaluate the effectiveness of marine reserves for the rehabilitation of reef trophic function disrupted by overfishing; and (3) boost coordination between and among reef scientists and coastal managers nationwide, came together into a 3-year participatory protected reef monitoring and evaluation training program in five Philippine reef sites. Monitoring by local communities tightens the adaptive management cycle by conferring the functions of both management and its evaluation into one group. In addition to the NGOs, POs (people’s organisations, i.e. grassroots organisations as they are known in the Philippines) and the university initially involved, the effort has also been able to attract various other complementary groups and thus fosters mutual accountability.

Participatory Coastal and Marine Management in Quintana Roo, Mexico [Adobe Acrobat Format 83 Kb] 

The Quintana Roo coastal ecosystem is characterised by extensive coastal wetlands, a fringing reef that develops between 0.5 and 1.5 km offshore and vast seagrass beds in the adjacent reef lagoon. While protected areas and Ecological Planning Ordinances have not specifically been designed as Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) 4 tools, this paper demonstrates that they can be used to provide an important foundation for a statewide ICZM program in Quintana Roo. These environmental policy tools have been extensively used along the coast of this state to promote inter-governmental and public participation, establish important vertical and horizontal linkages and balance conservation and development. The paper presents a brief case study of a community-based ICZM program in Xcalak to demonstrate the efficacy of these tools. A voluntary best management practices guide designed for developers to complement ongoing government regulations provides a second example. A statewide ICZM strategy could benefit from these existing resource management programs, and complement emerging international agendas such as the Mesoamerican Caribbean Coral Reefs Initiative.

Fisheries and Protected Areas Report [Adobe Acrobat Format 35 Kb]