The Renaissance of Community-Based Marine Resource Management in Oceania

TLDR

Twenty‑five years ago, community‑based marine resource management in the Pacific was declining under westernization pressures. CBMRM employs limited entry, protected zones, closed seasons, and fishing restrictions, supported by growing scarcity awareness, revitalized village authority, legal tenure, education, and government/NGO assistance. The revival shows CBMRM is thriving, disproving that non‑Western attitudes lack sound foundations, and demonstrates that communities still lead most management decisions.

Abstract

▪ Abstract Twenty-five years ago, the centuries-old Pacific Island practice of community-based marine resource management (CBMRM) was in decline, the victim of various impacts of westernization. During the past two decades, however, this decline has reversed in various island countries. Today CBMRM continues to grow, refuting the claim that traditional non-Western attitudes toward nature cannot provide a sound foundation for contemporary natural resource management. Limited entry, marine protected areas, closed areas, closed seasons, and restrictions on damaging or overly efficient fishing methods are some of the methods being used. Factors contributing to the upsurge include a growing perception of scarcity, the restrengthening of traditional village-based authority, and marine tenure by means of legal recognition and government support, better conservation education, and increasingly effective assistance, and advice from regional and national governments and NGOs. Today's CBMRM is thus a form of cooperative management, but one in which the community still makes and acts upon most of the management decisions.