Tagged tuna graphic by Nancy Hulbirt, SOEST Illustration.

PFRP Socio-Cultural Projects

Descriptive Assessment of Small-Scale and Traditional Fisheries in the Western Pacific

Progress Reports: FY 2011, FY 2010

Project Summary

New data collection requirements and/or management measures may ultimately be considered for small-boat fleets operating in and around the EEZ of the Western Pacific. The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (the Council) has therefore initiated preliminary examination of small-scale fisheries in the region (see Federal Register: October 1, 2008, Volume 73, Number 191). This proposal describes research that would contribute to related information needs. The proposed work would involve compilation and review of existing reports and data, and systematic collection and analysis of new information regarding small-scale and traditional fisheries in the Western Pacific. The new information would derive from interviews with public officials and other knowledgeable persons involved in small-scale fisheries in Hawaii, Guam, CNMI, and American Samoa. The resulting data and analyses would be related to literature and concepts regarding small-scale and traditional fisheries elsewhere in the world, and these would constitute the basis for an empirically-based descriptive assessment that could be used by fishery managers to better conceptualize those small-scale fisheries in the study region that are not clearly or entirely commercial or recreational in nature. The resulting assessment would be developed in a manner that could complement any ongoing or proposed examination of small-scale or traditional fisheries in the region.

Per request by the PFRP Steering Committee research efforts will be expanded to gather more information to support prospective determination of Annual Catch Limits (ACLs). Additional emphasis will be on collecting information that can: (a) help fill in catch and effort data gaps, (b) aid in addressing problems with existing data, and (c) identify new strategies for collecting valid and reliable catch and effort data in the future. The ultimate intent of the expanded scope of work is to improve the quality and quantity of data available for purposes of fishery management and as needed for determination of equitable ACLs.

Methodology

Investigators involved in this project will sequentially compile and organize existing information and gather new information as necessary to aid the Council in characterizing and defining small-scale fishing fleets of the Western Pacific. Research methods will involve a combination of archival research, key person interviewing methods, and basic field observation.

Archival research here refers to compilation and review of the full range of relevant reports, license and landings data, vessel registry records, and other databases (such as those generated through fishing community research across the region). Key person interviewing here refers to in-depth discussions with fishery managers, harbormasters, other public officials, seasoned fishermen, local leaders, elders, and/or other knowledgeable persons regarding the nature, extent, levels of participation and production, and spatial distribution of small-scale and traditional fishing activities across the study region. Field observation here refers to a basic rapid assessment approach to be used as needed to ground-truth questionable archival data, to enumerate and map the distribution of small-scale fishing operations where such efforts have not yet been undertaken, and to generate information that would be useful for improving the validity of any new or ongoing efforts to develop a typology of small-scale and traditional fishing operations in the region.

Expected Outcomes. As noted above, the proposed project would involve delivery of a descriptive assessment of all contemporary small-scale commercial, artisanal, and subsistence/consumption-oriented fishing fleets and activities that can be documented in the region. The assessment component would focus on how these fleets and activities vary in terms of: (a) manner, purpose, and extent of involvement in the sale of seafood, (b) nature and extent of involvement in fishing for primarily consumptive purposes (where those purposes include reciprocal sharing and giving, and other non-commercial modes of and motivations for distribution of seafood products), and (c) nature and extent of involvement in fishing for mixed commercial and non-commercial purposes. Typical levels of participation and production in the fleets and activities of interest would also be descriptively assessed. Finally, the effort would include a cartographic component wherein the distribution of the various fleets and activities operations would be depicted in a spatial format using a Geographic Information System (GIS; this will require acquisition of spatial data layers during the course of the project).

Funding for this project to be available late 2009.

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Principal Investigators

Dr. Edward Glazier
Impact Assessment, Inc.
2166 Avenida de la Playa
Suite F
La Jolla, CA 92037 USA
Phone (858) 459-0142
email: iai@hawaii.rr.com

Dr. John Petterson
Impact Assessment, Inc.
2166 Avenida de la Playa
Suite F
La Jolla, CA 92037 USA
Phone (858) 459-0142
email: iai@san.rr.com

 

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