Fishermen, fishing and environmental authorities, scientists, buyers and NGOs participate throughout the management process, from design to evaluation. Through multi-stakeholder meetings and Advisory Committees, a fishery’s objectives are decided, individual quotas are set and common challenges are addressed.

The pillar of the Abalobi initiative is the co-design of the platform and all its modules, with the core stakeholders; i.e. the fishers and the fisheries authority. Fishers record daily info, some of this info is validated by the monitors as they take a daily sample. Fishers, monitors and local community leaders then engage with the platform dashboards depicting various insights of the data. The fisheries managers from the fisheries authority also then engage with the same information and regular workshops are held. During these workshops, common ground is sought, trends are discussed, and suggestions are made towards further improvements. The basic framework for co-management is slowly and carefully negotiated and designed. Using the common knowledge base, all stakeholders at the co-management table are able to talk about the same fisheries indicators.

Collaborative efforts among governments, reef-reliant industries, civil society and academia promote buy-in and enhance extraction resources. Defining roles, responsibilities and strategic priorities of all parties involved aids in increasing the effectiveness of lionfish control programmes.

The capacity development program was implemented in 2 phases: The first phase started with the implementation of the project and lasted till the last corals were planted and was based on the “learning by doing” concept for knowledge transfer. The second phase was a formal training program which was designed by Nature Seychelles and launched in 2015. This was a full time course which lasted 6 weeks and included classroom as well as field work. A paying program, it filled up on the first call with 8 international “students” completing it. More courses are planned.

Local ownership of the public use program is achieved through extensive participation including consultations, meetings, building agreements as well as “extracting” local experience and knowledge. Support for monitoring from the local community is essential throughout the whole process of developing the Public Use and Recreation Program (PURP) as a view to ensure its acceptance and implementation by local tourism operators.

Partnerships with fisheries management bodies such as national fisheries administrations, the FAO and the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism as well as relationships with the University of the West Indies and the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute have provided for the provision of funding and technical expertise to develop fishers’ capacity to engage in fisheries governance. These partnerships promote the appreciation of differing perspectives, sharing of lessons and form the basis of integrated fisheries management with the participation of fishers.

Social learning can be interpreted in many different ways. In the context of this project, social learning is embarked upon in a transdisciplinary way. This means various stakeholders, beyond just scientists, from multiple disciplines, began working together on this project by jointly framing the problem and the research questions. A participatory action research programme then ensued and led to the co-design of the tool. Different components were carefully designed based on the stakeholders’ input and then tested in real-life situations. A social learning programme thus helps the transdisciplinary team in further developing the tool, but also engage with the data.

The ICCA was created by the community itself, through the association of fishermen from the rural community of Mangagoulack (APCRM).

Best-available science was adapted to the local conditions in the form of research methods and field activities (i.e., approach to community-based mangrove replantation). Both scientific literature and local scientists were involved in the design and implementation of our approach. We drew from international and national scientific expertise and experience to design the areas that were to be deforested (aerial surveys, GIS mapping, satellite imaging), and the species to be replanted (depending on surveyed mangrove natural zonation). In addition, the approach to engage local stakeholders is based on similar recorded experiences in the Philippines. In relation to the Blue Carbon estimation, we used the methods agreed upon by an international group of Blue Carbon scientists, and these methods were implemented by local scientists. The estimation was directed by a scientific expert on the subject and followed international guidelines, and a botanist was hired to direct the mangrove replantation efforts.

We worked with local stakeholders at all levels of the project. Thanks to strong commitment from local women in particular, stakeholders, under guidance from an expert, took responsibility over the nursing and replantation of over 8000 mangrove plants. Local stakeholders were also engaged in capacity building for tourism microentrepreneurs, and an education program was launched at three schools. Prior clarification of the values and interests that motivate local stakeholders proved to be key in project design and implementation. Investing significant amounts of time working with and supporting the communities is critical to its success. In general, science was integrated throughout stakeholder engagement, including the education program. Specific activities include using current knowledge to present the value of mangroves to local children; designing and implementing the replantation program; and presenting the blue carbon assessments (i.e. scientific research) to local policy makers.