Shifting the thinking of individual fishers from solo owner-operators to being part of commercial sector with shared obligations, responsibilities and social license and a common desire to promote better fishing practices to ensure the sustainability and growth of the snapper biomass. All independent commercial fishers, fishing vessel owners, SNA1 quota owners, Licensed Fish Receivers of snapper and snapper processing plants were identified and invited to attend the same meeting. Over a period of five months three meetings were held, repeated in four locations based on the commercial fishers ‘local port’. The first meeting identified the issues fishers felt they were being criticised about; the second meeting set out possible solutions and called for discussion before being voted on. At the third meeting the agreed solutions were framed as a Voluntary Agreement with six rules, debated and voted on before being given to government officials, who then worked with commercial fishers on the logistics of recording and reporting on success.

Experts determine the type and degree of damage and identify the causes of mangrove loss such as changes in temperature, water pollution, hydrological modifications and sedimentation. This helps decision makers develop site specific restoration and reforestation plans.

Access rights, such as individual quotas or territorial use rights (TURFS), delimited based on scientific findings and participatory processes, help to avoid overfishing and recover fish populations. They assure fishermen stable fishing over time and exclusive benefits from sustainable management, increasing their stewardship and compliance.

Communities and stakeholders participate in all aspects of the management process, including biological and Participatory Rural Appraisal surveys for baseline data collection and sharing. Together with community groups, stakeholder consultation on locally managed marine area (LMMA) zoning and later management operations are conducted. The results and thus the identified area to be protected are displayed using a 3D model. These activities are accompanied by awareness raising activities about coastal resource protection as well as co-management requirements.

To build a long-term and lasting management plan, all perspectives, uses and needs are taken into account. Provincial workshops facilitate a collective understanding. Community input is ensured through the use of participatory risk assessments (rural appraisal tool) at village level. Provincial workshops connect the local knowledge to the official level. Working groups and workshops held during the drafting phase of the plan ensure a strong governance system.

Establish a management body reflecting the collaboration between local government and communities ensuring transparency and accountability. In collaboration with all stakeholders, including partnerships with local enterprises, set up a joint patrol teams composing members of local government, National Waters Guard, National Navy, community groups, traditional security guards, dive operators and the CTC.

Formalise and enhance local customs and institutions legally. Conduct consultations (in the case of Nusa > 30) with community groups, government, and private dive operators with specific attention directed to each stakeholder group’s context. Identify core zones of high resilience, thus high conservation value. Core zones have high coral reef biodiversity serving as spawning sites, and no coral bleaching during temporarily high sea-surface temperatures.

We took a stock of all the existing activities that SGNP was doing relating to outreach and education. I have been working in this space for all my career and I could provide valuable input with the plans I presented. This was easy as I had already proven myself with the website and Facebook page responsibilities. We looked at a multiple range of activities to engage with the people visiting SGNP. I lead a number of pilot nature trails, to demonstrate how these walks can be used as effective medium for biodiversity as well as conservation communications. I drew up small plans for events ranging from half day events to overnight camps. I personally became involved a diversity of topics, from biodiversity, history, archaeology to adventure sports in these activities. SGNP had a campsite (with permanent tents) which they upgraded and made available for longer events. When this plan was ready and agreed on, we invited the print and electronic media and invited them to be a part of these programs. We organised our events for the media free and managed to win their support and participation. Constant engagement and training with SGNP staff happens about backend management and (standard operating procedures) for these events.