Addressing unsustainable fishing in Fiji through improvements to LMMA management
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Community Member in Namena Marine Reserve
Coral Reef Alliance
Fiji is a critical site for global coral reef conservation with 10,000 square kilometers of coral reef and an astounding 42 percent of the world’s coral species. Fiji’s coral reefs face significant global and local threats including climate change, overfishing and water pollution.
The Coral Reef Aliance’s (CORAL) vision for Fiji is an Adaptive Reefscape — a network of healthy reefs that can adapt to climate change because it is diverse, connected and large. Pacific island nations like Fiji are among the world’s most physically and economically vulnerable to climate change. By establishing management systems that mutually benefit communities and coral reefs, our work ensures that both are more resilient to environmental change.
CORAL has more than 15 years of experience working in Fiji on coral reef conservation, with an emphasis on effective management of Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs).
Last update: 02 Oct 2020
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Context
Challenges addressed
Unsustainable fishing and damage to reefs from anchors
Location
Fiji
Oceania
Process
Summary of the process
From the beginning and throughout the process any successful conservation program needs a participatory planning process. At some point a subset of the community needs to be formed to lead the process, with support and input from the broader community. From there the committee and all partners involved can work together to ensure they have the data and information necessary to make collective decisions on what management initiatives need to be implemented. With that knowledge a management plan can be developed with collaboration and input from all parties—that aligns with traditional and customary rights, tenure, and management practice. As part of the management and planning process, a funding source should be identified that can support active management and contribute to community benefit sharing. Overall it is an adaptive process that requires ongoing interaction between the different building blocks and regular revising and revisiting of the components. As well as monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of the management decisions and the needs of the community.
Building Blocks
Participatory planning process
Alongside the participatory planning process, NGOs supported establishment of a Community Educators Network in Kubulau, with facilitators training and associated tools. This helped to foster an inclusive, on-going, community-led dialogue on resource management issues, enhancing awareness and engagement for more effective management planning, implementation, compliance and enforcement processes.
Enabling factors
Clear communication and collaboration between all partners involved. An amenable community that has an interest in participating. The necessary community structures that allow for individuals to gather and make decisions on how to move forward.
Lesson learned
This can be a lengthy process and it is necessary to consider the time commitment of a truly participatory process. Gaining trust and working with as large a proportion of the community as possible can take much longer than expected. In order to ensure success, make sure to manage expectations of a realistic timescale appropriate for the community and cultural context.
Research and data collection
Research and data collection to determine the most ecological important habitats to place MPAs was key to a successful network of protected areas. Working with the community through the research process and sharing findings broadly helped familiarize everyone with the importance of protecting their fish stocks and coral reefs for the future.
Enabling factors
The broader community must be open and willing to carry out the science and work with partners to collect the necessary information
Lesson learned
Complex and difficult to convey technical concepts related to the issue under investigation will need to be simplified and articulated in a digestible format for everyone to be able to support the findings. Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is critical to the data and information gathering process. Incorporating the TEK into the western science findings will be critical to the accuracy of the results as well as the willingness of those involved to accept the conclusions made from the research.
Development of management plan
Developing a management plan allowed for the ridge to reef implementation plan to be outlined with roles and responsibilities clearly stated and explained. The planning process was informed by extensive scientific and socioeconomic research, as well as local and traditional ecological knowledge. The plan contains tables of rules for each habitat which indicate whether the rule is sourced from national legislation or community consensus. Each rule is coupled to a list of management actions, with responsible parties designated for carrying out each action (e.g. using a net in the sea within 100m of the mouth of a river or stream is prohibited, the management action for this is monitoring by fish wardens and reporting breaches to Fisheries department). The plan also contains different options for enforcement, depending on whether the offender is in breach of a law or customary rule, as well as a framework for changing rules in response to environmental change in order to flexibly and adaptive manage Kubulau's coastal and marine resources. In 2011, we helped the KRMC to review and adapt their plan based on new information about reef resilience.
Enabling factors
An interest and willingness to implement the outcomes from a management plan by the broader community, in particular the resource management committee in charge of overseeing the initiatives.
Lesson learned
The management plan is seen as a working document, to be reviewed and amended periodically to reflect monitoring results, evolving management priorities and the continued input of local communities through an adaptive management approach. The management plan was adapted as such between 2011 and 2012, resulting in refinements to the protected area network and management rules to improve management effectiveness, maintain ecological connectivity and improve resilience to the impacts of climate change.
Establish institutional capacity
Establishing and building the capacity of a management body is key to ongoing implementation of any program. Trainings, workshops, meetings, and providing support when necessary are all part of the capacity development process. The Kubulau Resource Management Committee (KRMC) is tasked with promoting and supporting sustainable management of natural resources in Kubulau District. The KRMC reports directly to the Kubulau hierarchy council of chiefs, who ultimately must endorse all decisions related to resource management. It is composed of 1 representative from each of the 10 villages plus a chair. Its main functions are: coordinate implementation of the management activities identified in the Kubulau ridge-to-reef plan; raise awareness of the management rules and activities; coordinate enforcement; organise training on sustainable resource management and alternative livelihoods; liaise with stakeholders; and monitor implementation progress. More recently, the Kubulau Business Development Committee was established to assist the KRMC and the council of chiefs to maintain stewardship over their resources.
Enabling factors
Interested, willing, and capable individuals who have the endorsement of local and traditional authority.
Lesson learned
The process of developing this institutionalized body and building its capacity requires long term commitment from everyone involved. Ensuring that the community members involved are incentivized to maintain their level of engagement is important for durability; and expenses related to their efforts need to be covered.
Solidify sustainable financing for management
Ongoing management incurs expenses and there are opportunity costs associated with a community’s decision to restrict their access to a resource. A sustainable funding source is crucial to cover management costs and to provide community benefits that can be experienced broadly.
Enabling factors
Partnerships and opportunities need to be identified within the region that could provide a source of funding to support management, and provide additional funds that the community can utilize for their benefit. In this case it was dive tourism, but additional livelihood projects were established that contributed to the overall satisfaction of the community.
Lesson learned
There is a level of capacity that is required to maintain any sustainable financing mechanism. Organizational skills, design, relationship building, budget and tracking experience all need to be built into the know-how of the entity that is managing the program. Ensuring that that ability exists within the management committee is crucial to allow the funding source to be maintained.
Impacts
Improving management of Fiji’s LMMAs reduces fishing pressure and curbs destruction of reef habitat. The Namena Marine Reserve, Fiji’s largest no-take LMMA and a top global dive site, forms part of the traditionally-owned fishing grounds (iqoliqoli) of the Kubulau community.
Over a decade ago, CORAL began working with this community, NGOs and private businesses to develop a sustainable management system to protect Namena's fisheries from overexploitation, while providing tangible benefits to the community. We helped establish a successful voluntary dive fee system for tourists visiting Namena, which generates funds to cover management costs and a scholarship program that has benefitted 200+ students. Namena also became Fiji's first anchor-free LMMA thanks to efforts by CORAL and partners. A study from the journal Coral Reefs found that sharks in Namena were 2-4 times more plentiful within the reserve than outside it.
Our work in Kubulau represents a replicable and scalable model for building an effective local management system with the financial means and staff capacity to achieve independence. As the Kubulau community has moved towards autonomous management, we've expanded our work to three new sites across Fiji, where we are applying our lessons learned and best practices from Kubulau to build durable management systems that provide both ecological and socioeconomic benefits.
Beneficiaries
- Local and regional coral reefs and associated marine life
- The communities that depend on Fiji's reef fisheries
- The Fijian government
- Coral reef ecologists and conservationists in the greater Indo-Pacific
Story
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