This study focuses on the critical need to conserve and include IFK as a basis for assessing the conservation status of ecologically and culturally keystone fisheries species as a basis for planning site-specific management of marine and freshwater fisheries in Fiji and the Pacific Islands. Consequently, IFK, which has been orally transmitted for generations, has either been lost, not learned by the current generation, or remains undocumented. The time-tested Indigenous fishing knowledge (IFK) of Fiji and the Pacific Islands is seriously threatened due to the commercialization of fishing, breakdown of traditional communal leadership and oral knowledge transmission systems, modern education, and the movement of the younger generations to urban areas for work and/or study. Indigenous fishing culture also extends to seabirds, which are important indicators for environmental conditions suitable for fishing, and show where schools of fish are present. Fiji Wind, tidal movement, daily weather conditions, yam season, local environment conditions Kunatuba, 1983 Veitayaki, 2002 Kiribati Lunar cycle, wind, tidal movement Tebano and Tabe, 1993 Lieber, 1994 Takeda and Mad, 1996 New Caledonia Current movement, flowering or fruit bearing of selected trees, lunar cycle Teulières, 1988 Papua New Guinea Eddies, currents, driftwood, lunar cycles, seasonal periods Groves, 1936 Carrier, 1982 Hamilton et al., 2005 Samoa, Cook Islands Lunar cycle, tidal movement, wind movement (speed and direction) Mokoroa, 1981 Kramer, 1994 Herdrich and Armstrong, 2008 Solomona and Vuki, 2012 Levine and Sauafea-Le'au, 2013 Solomon Islands Lunar cycle wind patterns flowering, shedding and the re-growth of leaves of certain plants, wind and tidal movement, wet and dry seasons Akimichi, 1978 Gina-Whewell, 1992 Takekawa, 2000 Atu, 2005 Sabetian and Foale, 2006a Tokelau Lunar cycle Ono and Addison, 2009 Tonga Tidal movement Vaea and Straatmans, 1954 Kronen, 2002b Tuvalu Celestial movements, lunar cycle, tidal movement Kennedy, 1929 Turbott, 1950 Vanuatu Solar cycle, lunar cycle, wind, tidal patterns, cold and warm seasons, yam planting season Mondragón, 2004 Hickey, 2006 spawning aggregations of three grouper species (Hamilton et al., 2012) and in the Caroline Islands and Kiribati in Micronesia, fishers believed that an overcast sky and light rain during the day signaled good conditions for cast netting (Takeda and Mad, 1996). A combination of local knowledge and science was used to develop appropriate management measures for this FSA, with the aggregation declared a community-based marine protected area (MPA) in 2006. Peak aggregations occurred from December to April each year, which differs from the traditionally recognised grouper season of October to January. Underwater monitoring demonstrates that while fishermen provided accurate information on many aspects of FSAs, their knowledge on spawning seasons was inaccurate for the FSA reported on here. areolatus is the most vulnerable of the three groupers to nighttime spearfishing, with two fishermen capable of removing 15–30% of the total spawning biomass in two nights. This participatory research shows that local knowledge on FSAs is utilised to maximise returns from fishing, with spearfishermen targeting aggregations at night during the lunar periods when abundances peak. This information provided the starting point for establishing a 2-year community-based underwater monitoring program at the largest known FSA in Roviana Lagoon, where the brown-marbled grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus), camouflage grouper (Epinephelus polyphekadion) and squaretail coralgrouper (Plectropomus areolatus) co-aggregate. Baseline information on FSAs was obtained through local knowledge and spearfishing creel surveys.
This study outlines collaborative efforts to conserve fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) in Roviana Lagoon, Western Solomon Islands. Yet there remain few studies which have examined the merits and caveats of local knowledge, or shown how combining both knowledge systems has resulted in better management outcomes.
Within the marine conservation community there is considerable interest in combining local knowledge and science to achieve management objectives.
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