[Coral-List] Data-Less Marine Management, was Re: a plea

Michael Risk riskmj at mcmaster.ca
Mon Feb 11 14:02:57 EST 2013


Good day.

I think we all owe Bob Johannes a huge debt, for delving into traditional fishing methods of coastal villages, and for pointing out the sheer impossibility of applying any sort of "rapid assessment" methods in a world with countless such coastal villages.

On the other hand, we need to be a bit cautious here. I well recall the flurry of activity in the halls of CIDA (our intl dev't agency) when "sasi" was discovered and investigated in Indonesia-more particularly, in the Molukus. Here was a system of management of coastal resources, based on centuries of observation by local people. CIDA is dominated by social scientists (at last count, 1400 employees in Ottawa-and not a single scientist), and one could almost hear them salivate: why, they might be able to do without those pesky scientists, and just ask the village elders!

The wheels fell off. Turns out sasi's mandate ends at the surf zone. Turns out the rules are set by/administered by the local headman/sultan, and change from place to place. Turns out, it only deals with species that have been traditionally harvested. Far more important: these systems are by definition established in coastal areas by cultures with centuries of history at that location. They are unable to deal with stresses arising for which sasi has no rules. 

There is a very complete report on "sasi laut" (sea-sasi) by Novaczek et al. 2001: "An institutional analysis of sasi laut in Maluku, Indonesia." This describes in some detail the systems in villages in Ambon: these villages are very near sites where we have established the reefs have come under recent anthropogenic stress from sediments and sewage (e.g., Edinger et al., 2000: Mar Poll Bull 40: 404-425.)

We run into the same mindset here in Canada: our local First Nations tribes are assumed, by our empty-headed government "managers", to have TEK/Traditional Ecological Knowledge, which-for example-allows them somehow to set bag limits and seasons for hunting White-Tailed Deer. This is a species that only came here 100 years ago, and for which there is no TEK. (The "deer" for which their TEK exists is Woodland Caribou, the last of which were shot around 1910.)

In short, there is no quick fix. Traditional management systems can be trusted in parts of the world where coastal people have lived for centuries. This excludes most of the world: all of the Americas, most of Africa (the people in those fishing villages just got there), etc etc. And if the conditions have changed, then the traditional system must either be able to respond, or needs to be abandoned.

Every time one of my grad students went to a new field area, I would say to them: "Talk to the oldest fisherman in the village before you even think of getting in the water-and always trust your data."

Mike

On 2013-02-11, at 9:08 AM, David M. Lawrence wrote:

> Here's the reference:
> 
> Johannes, R. E. "The Case for Data-Less Marine Resource Management: 
> Examples from Tropical Nearshore Finfisheries." [In English]. Trends in 
> Ecology & Evolution 13, no. 6 (1 June 1998): 243-46.
> 
> Later,
> 
> Dave
> 
> On 2/11/2013 7:42 AM, Clive Wilkinson wrote:
>> To the younger people on the list, Bob (R.E.) Johannes published a paper many years ago 'The case for data less management' (? correct title?) May I suggest you find it and take in some wise words of wisdom from one of our most distinguished elder colleagues.
>> 
>> Clive Wilkinson
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov [mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Benjamin Greenstein
>> Sent: Monday, 11 February 2013 1:04 AM
>> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> Subject: [Coral-List] a plea
>> 
>> Colleagues,
>> 
>> I recently received a note from a person who has been working for an NGO focused on marine conservation. Their message ended with the following passage, and I secured permission to share it with the list.
>> Many of us have experienced similar frustrations. What words of wisdom/ hope might you have that I may pass along? Thanks.
>> 
>> Ben Greenstein
>> 
>> In the midst of this I am left wondering if there is any hope and I am
>> extremely frustrated feeling as though I can't make a difference.
>> What do you think the best approach is to conservation issues like this?  How do you inspire people to care?  How do we act fast enough when all of our political systems are programmed to make slow, careful decisions...and why do we require DATA to prove what is so obvious to the ordinary observer....that forests, coral reefs, ocean, desert, marshes, wetlands, salt ponds, ice caps, tundras and every ecosystem in this biosphere is in serious need of some tlc.
>> 
>> 
>> ***********************************
>> Benjamin J. Greenstein, Ph.D.
>> Associate Dean of the College
>> Professor of Geology
>> Department of Geology
>> Cornell College
>> 600 First St. SW
>> Mount Vernon, IA 52314
>> US
>> 
>> PH: 319-895-4307
>> FAX: 319-895-5667
>> WEB: http://www.cornellcollege.edu/geology/greenstein
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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Michael Risk
riskmj at mcmaster.ca





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