IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/marpol/v44y2014icp279-286.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fishing the last frontier: The introduction of the marine aquarium trade and its impact on local fishing communities in Papua New Guinea

Author

Listed:
  • Schwerdtner Máñez, Kathleen
  • Dandava, Lorel
  • Ekau, Werner

Abstract

Papua New Guinea has sometimes been called the world's last frontier for relatively undamaged coral reefs and their resources. In 2007, the country joined its neighbours in the marine aquarium trade. By licensing a private company, Papua New Guinea tried an alternative approach to the introduction of this activity. Under the so-called SeaSmart Programme, over 100 fishers were trained in sustainable collection techniques and handling of organisms, until the programme was shut down in 2010, and replaced by its successor, EcoAquariums PNG. This article contains the first study on the introduction of the marine aquarium trade into Papua New Guinea. It evaluates the overall outcomes of the SeaSmart Programme, lists targeted species, and their prices. The main focus is on the local collectors, and on the impacts of this new activity on them and their communities. Benefits from collecting marine ornamentals are assessed and their contribution to household income is quantified. Perceptions on non-financial benefits of the SeaSmart Programme are also gathered. The empirical work was carried out between September 2010 and February 2011 in the Central Province of Papua New Guinea. A total of 199 fishers including 44 aquarium fishers were interviewed in eight different communities in the Central Province of Papua New Guinea. The results show that marine aquarium fishing does provide benefits to local resource collectors, but also that this “sustainable” way of collecting of marine ornamentals might lead to some depletion.

Suggested Citation

  • Schwerdtner Máñez, Kathleen & Dandava, Lorel & Ekau, Werner, 2014. "Fishing the last frontier: The introduction of the marine aquarium trade and its impact on local fishing communities in Papua New Guinea," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 279-286.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:marpol:v:44:y:2014:i:c:p:279-286
    DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2013.09.018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X13002157
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.marpol.2013.09.018?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sen, Sevaly & Raakjaer Nielsen, Jesper, 1996. "Fisheries co-management: a comparative analysis," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 405-418, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ralph E. Townsend, 2010. "Transactions costs as an obstacle to fisheries self-governance in New Zealand," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 54(3), pages 301-320, July.
    2. Nguyen KimDung & Simon R. Bush & Arthur P. J. Mol, 2016. "The Vietnamese State and Administrative Co-Management of Nature Reserves," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-19, March.
    3. Amy Lesen, 2012. "Oil, floods, and fish: the social role of environmental scientists," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 2(3), pages 263-270, September.
    4. John Mburu, 2004. "Wildlife Conservation and Management in Kenya: Towards a Co-management Approach," Working Papers 2004.47, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    5. Le Floc’h, Pascal & Murillas, Arantza & Aranda, Martin & Daurès, Fabienne & Fitzpatrick, Mike & Guyader, Olivier & Hatcher, Aaron & Macher, Claire & Marchal, Paul, 2015. "The regional management of fisheries in European Western Waters," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 375-384.
    6. Niaz Ahmed Khan & Junaid Kabir Choudhury & A. Z. M. Manzoor Rashid & Mohammad Raqibul Hasan Siddique & Karishma Sinha, 2022. "Co-Management Practices by Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in Selected Coastal Forest Zones of Bangladesh: A Focus on Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-21, November.
    7. Townsend, Ralph E., 2010. "Transactions costs as an obstacle to fisheries self-governance in New Zealand," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 54(3), pages 1-20.
    8. Khan, A.S. & Mikkola, H. & Brummett, R., 2004. "Feasibility of fisheries co-management in Africa," Naga, The WorldFish Center, vol. 27(1-2), pages 60-64.
    9. McClenachan, Loren & O’Connor, Grace & Reynolds, Travis, 2015. "Adaptive capacity of co-management systems in the face of environmental change: The soft-shell clam fishery and invasive green crabs in Maine," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 26-32.
    10. Leo Zulu, 2013. "Bringing People Back into Protected Forests in Developing Countries: Insights from Co-Management in Malawi," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(5), pages 1-27, May.
    11. Hanna, Susan S., 1999. "Strengthening governance of ocean fishery resources," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 275-286, November.
    12. Tim S. Gray & Thomas L. Catchpole, 2021. "The Relation between Fisheries–Science Partnerships and Co-Management: A Case Study of EU Discards Survival Work," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-19, March.
    13. Cox, Michael & Wilson, Margaret & Pavlowich, Tyler, 2016. "The challenges of local governance: Gear-based fragmentation in the Dominican fishery of Buen Hombre," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 109-117.
    14. Ho, Nga Thi Thanh & Ross, Helen & Coutts, Jeffrey, 2015. "Power sharing in fisheries co-management in Tam Giang Lagoon, Vietnam," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 171-179.
    15. Espinosa-Romero, Maria J. & Rodriguez, Laura F. & Weaver, Amy Hudson & Villanueva-Aznar, Cristina & Torre, Jorge, 2014. "The changing role of NGOs in Mexican small-scale fisheries: From environmental conservation to multi-scale governance," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(PA), pages 290-299.
    16. Nguyen Thi Quynh, Chi & Schilizzi, Steven & Hailu, Atakelty & Iftekhar, Sayed, 2020. "Vietnam’s Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries: How do they perform against Ostrom’s institutional design principles?," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    17. Rivera, Antonella & Gelcich, Stefan & García-Florez, Lucia & Alcázar, Jorge Luis & Acuña, José Luis, 2014. "Co-management in Europe: Insights from the gooseneck barnacle fishery in Asturias, Spain," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(PA), pages 300-308.
    18. Ishmael B. M. Kosamu, 2014. "Conditions for Sustainability of the Elephant Marsh Fishery in Malawi," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(7), pages 1-18, June.
    19. Quentin Grafton, R. & Kompas, Tom & McLoughlin, Richard & Rayns, Nick, 2007. "Benchmarking for fisheries governance," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 470-479, July.
    20. Aranda, Martin & Murillas, Arantza, 2015. "Allocation of fishing possibilities, incentives and outcomes: Insights from Basque fishermen's organisations in Spain," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 171-178.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:marpol:v:44:y:2014:i:c:p:279-286. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/marpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.