[Coral-List] The long view is for the Undead: reefs ARE in trouble today

[Curtis Kruer]

Is there a difference in how we manage people in coral reef ecosystems that fish for fun versus 
those who fish for their survival?

C. Kruer

clarionreef at aol.com wrote:
>   
> There is a common ground to which we can focus;
>  Gandhi said...."How can I succeed in a thousand villages? This is the argument that pride gives us.
> Start with the wisdom that if you fix yourself up in a single village and suceed, the rest will follow."
>       Inherent in his wisdom is a mandate...a requirement  to deal with fisherfolk ie. poor folks near the reefs as important people and not just integers in a top-down formula to be 'played and gamed' in some Western world equation of manipulation.
>          You cannot succeed in  village for long as a phoney, self serving group...you have to plant yourself, commit and followthru. The idea is to generate support thru respect and create a multiplier effect with something so worthwhile that other villages will want to steal it.
>           Converting fisherman to using nets for example instead of cyanide is an old story....but one yet to be concluded as it was usurped by the top-down primma donnas in the NGO game.
> Fisherman became bit players in a large financial drama that so many 'reef people' followed [ MAC] instead of centerpieces in the fight to save coral reef systems....one zone at a time. 
> This in turn can create a multiplier effect and before long a critical mass of local support can cascade and displace the use of poisons to collect fish. 
> This victory...in turn provides us entry as w/ the Trojan horse syndrome and before you know it, reef surveying, eco-tourism, MPA staffing, environmental education and sustainable fishing start to gain traction.
>        
>  Returning to old, discarded wisdom can work...and show the way and light candles in many places.
>                 Steve
>  
> Steve Robinson
>  
>  
> -----Original Message-----
> From: JKoven at aol.com
> To: rgrigg at soest.hawaii.edu; lesk at bu.edu; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Sent: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 17:49:43 EST
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] The long view is for the Undead: reefs ARE in trouble today
> 
> 
>  The people who live in these underpopulated areas are still trying to earn a 
> living...often by fishing their own reefs and selling to those who have 
> depleted their own fisheries and willing to pay the price.
> 
> Yes, over-population is at the base of many world problems but it is a sticky 
> issue, at once cultural, ethnic and religious.  Not exactly one to be solved 
> by reef scientists.  Perhaps women's education in general and in reproductive 
> rights are the answers?  Women want better lives for their children, after 
> they've been fed, saved from curable infectious diseases, and educated....and 
> who 
> is to determine what that better life is?  Is it what they perceive as the 
> lives that other children in the world have, including yours? 
> 
> Joan Koven
> Astrolabe, Inc.
> 
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