• Commitment to participate in these meetings was required; therefore, observed participation constituted a ‘self-selecting’ mechanism to identify which fishermen to be support.
• As strategies for ecotourism are defined together with fishermen, it is important to consider external factors that could influence the project, e.g. conflict between fishermen’s organizations, etc.
• Although in some cases only captains participated in the workshops, it is also important for all crew members to receive training and be aware of the project.

• Initially approaching a wide number of beneficiaries is crucial in order to later identify specific environmental leaders.
• The message is important. Fishermen were most interested in attending a meeting that will clearly provide socioeconomic benefits (e.g. generating additional income through ecotourism) as opposed to only focusing on species conservation.
• Coordination with local fishermen organizations is crucial to make sure fishermen can attend workshops.

Some tribes and communities expect conservation to provide money immediately, a result of past experience with logging royalties in the Solomon Islands. This thinking will fade provided there is sufficient education and awareness building by local partners. Communities will slowly understand that monetary benefit is not the only benefit. The integration of ecotourism and conservation will potentially support livelihoods in tandem with biodiversity conservation. The Lauru PAN is not just about conservation but to tie resource management, food security and human sustainability. Thus, there is a need to integrate other projects in sites where LLCTC works, not only in view of livelihood projects but also sanitation, and perhaps other basic community infrastructures and services. However, it should be noted that it may sometimes be difficult to provide compatible livelihood options.

It is important to encourage and support the management committee to play an active role in the management of the conservation areas. They often rely heavily on direction from the LLCTC, and even external partners such as The Nature Conservancy, rather than leading their own planning with targeted and needs-based LLCTC support. Management will never be self-sustaining until the communities no longer require external assistance. This understanding needs strengthening as this is the anticipated way forward for the sites under the Lauru PAN.

The long-term (10 years) technical and advisory assistance provided by the NGO (TNC) and the proven partnership built with the LLCTC representing the communities and the collective chiefs of all communities was the key factor to enable this process. To consistently engage communities over time is essential and demands a lot of time and human resources. Once the feedback is negative as the community feels deserted and abandoned the need to re-invest to recover trust and cooperation is tremendous. High community expectations that may not be met, particularly relating to monetary benefits, need to be managed by clearly articulating what can be achieved, right from the start.

For the success of LMMAs, communities must have the lead from establishment to enforcement. It is therefore important to ensure that all groups in the community have agreed to the site proposed to be included as protected area in the network. There is a need to develop more consistent management plans for each site, particularly in the case of recently established conservation areas. Several community management committees lack skills and thus have problems in starting to draft their management plans and also to oversee the management of their protected area. They need capacity and support from LLCTC. Without consistent management plans for each site, there is no accountable oversight and clear representation of regulations for resources harvested or harvesting protocols. Management plans do not need to be in any specific format, but certain principles need to be defined and agreed upon by the whole community.

It is imperative to settle conflicts over land ownership and internal community agreements before beginning the process of LMMA establishment. For the success of LMMAs, communities must have the lead from establishment to enforcement. It is therefore important to ensure that all groups in the community are engaged and agree to engage in the LMMA project.The use of user friendly and easy to operate marine planning software, such as MARXAN is a helpful tool to guide the decision making process. Of course, also other factors must be taken into account.