Indigenous ecological knowledge and its role in fisheries research design: A case study from Roviana Lagoon, Western Province, Solomon Islands

摘要: Over the last two decades the island states of Melanesia have experienced a rapid increase in coastal development activities. These include the large commercial tuna pole-and-line fisheries, ecotourism, aquaculture, coastal logging and, in recent years, the live reef fish trade. These activities make significant contributions to local and central economies but concerns have been raised about their impact on local ecosystems, and their long-term environmental sustainability (Chadwick, 1999; Mathews et al., 1998; Veitayaki, 1997). In response to these concerns increasing pressure has been put on government agencies to develop coastal management plans and on developers to utilise these plans in the design of sustainable management practices (Olsen et al., 1997). Unfortunately the implementation and success of such policies has been limited. In part this stems from the difficulties and cost of acquiring the high quality scientific data that most management plans and monitoring programmes rely on. As Johannes et al.(1993: 1) point out for coastal fisheries,‘The cost and complexities of effectively monitoring and managing small, multi-species, multi-method reef and lagoon fisheries along conventional lines have generally proven prohibitive’. Nevertheless, in many cases extensive ecological information on the relevant coastal environments already exists within the knowledge base of the local communities. Further, these same communities are often operating management and monitoring programmes of sorts, within the context of customary marine tenure (CMT) systems (Foale, 1998a; Foster & Poggie, 1993; Hviding, 1991; Johannes, 1981).This …