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A map of the entire exclusive economic zone of Palau (approximately 600,000 km² area within the solid line) which will not be available to foreign fishing activity by 2020. Local fishermen are allowed to fish for open-ocean fishes in 20% of the EEZ (cross-hatched region around the main islands of Palau). Individual districts have exclusive jurisdiction over the resources on their reefs and coastal waters from shore to 22 km out to sea (light areas within the dashed lines)
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The fisheries policies of some Pacific island nations are more appropriate to the biology of their resources than are some of the fisheries policies of more industrialized countries. Exclusive local ownership of natural resources in Palau encourages adjustive management on biologically relevant scales of time and space and promotes responsibility b...
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Citations
... 20% of Palau's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). In this Small Island Developing State, as in the GMR, significant investments in science, technology, and innovation are needed to promote the transition from coastal fisheries towards a small-scale tuna offshore fishery 53,64 . ...
The COVID-19 pandemic's early stages severely impacted global fisheries, particularly areas heavily reliant on imported food and tourism like the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. To contain the spread of the virus, a full lockdown was implemented. However, the collapse of the tourism industry precipitated the worst economic crisis in the history of this multiple-use marine protected area. This paper examines the impact of the pandemic's early stages on consumption patterns and seafood security in the Galapagos from consumers' perspective, drawing on online surveys conducted during the lockdown. Our findings revealed pre-existing seafood insecurity across the archipelago, further exacerbated by the pandemic on the least-populated island. Nevertheless, the seafood system displayed moderated resilience to the pandemic’s socioeconomic disruptions. A variety of adaptive responses were adopted by Galapagos residents to cope with the lockdown. Consumers modified their seafood consumption habits, while fishers adapted their harvesting and marketing strategies. Such adaptive responses were shaped by the unique socioeconomic characteristics of each inhabited island and the ability of seafood suppliers to shift from a tourism- and export-oriented to a resident- and domestic-oriented market. This transition has created novel opportunities to foster a systemic transformation of the Galapagos seafood system to enhance its resilience against future crises caused by new pandemics, climate change, or other natural and anthropogenic drivers of change.
... In this context, Palau identified an emerging environmental threat that is uniquely tied to tourismthe ubiquity of sunscreen personal-care products in outdoor recreation and coastal development (Díaz-Cruz & Barcel o, 2015;Nejumal et al., 2021). Palau represents a promising model for effective governance based on progressive and traditional policies that seeks to cultivate the prosperity of its industries for a sustainable economy as well as to conserve its highly valued natural resources (Graham & Idechong, 1998;Richmond et al., 2007;Birkeland, 2017;Wabnitz et al., 2018). ...
Sunscreen pollution can be a symptom of unsustainable tourism and coastal development, impacting marine and aquatic resources. When introduced into marine and freshwater ecosystems, sunscreen pollution can cause a cascade of insults to the ecological structure, from impacting primary production to reducing wildlife reproductive viability and fecundity.
Without intervention, tourism and its associated development in these coastal areas may become self‐destructive, ultimately degrading or destroying the natural resources that are the principal attractions. The environmental sciences that focus on pollution, such as ecotoxicology, environmental contaminant surveys and monitoring, and ecological risk assessments are critical for both describing the pollution phenomenon and identifying pollution sources, as well as providing the basis for mitigation.
As a case study, the Republic of Palau has taken the step of implementing a precautionary governance policy to tourism that conserves and protects its marine and aquatic resources from chemical factors that are known to contribute to sunscreen and cosmetic pollution.
Governance policies can inspire the cosmetic and fashion industries to innovate product formulations that are shown to be ecologically safer – a critical and viable option for pollution mitigation and an essential component for sustained conservation. Safer products and a precautionary approach to governance, when combined with ecologically and culturally cognizant branding and education, may contribute to an authentic experience that effectively promotes environmentally sustainable tourism.
... In 2020 a bill was passed, banning the export of any living resource in the reef, territorial sea, and internal waters of Palau HD3,CD1). In addition, Palau has developed an extensive network of small marine protected areas (MPAs) as part of the 2003 Protected Areas Network (PAN) Act and the 2006 Micronesia Challenge (Friedlander et al., 2017;Birkeland, 2017). The MPAs range in size from 0.03 km 2 to 56.6 km 2 , with an average size of 6.26 km 2 . ...
Palau has a rich tradition of fisheries management and stewardship of its waters, and as in many island nations, small-scale coral reef fisheries are a vital part of the local culture, economy, and food security. However, reef fisheries in Palau are data-poor and there is increasing concern that reef fish stocks are declining. To evaluate the current and future status of these resources, information is needed on the abundance, biomass, and size structure of reef fish resource species. To this aim, the Palau International Coral Reef Center (PICRC) conducted a nation-wide study to investigate the status of commercially important reef fish stocks in 2017. Fishery-independent surveys were conducted by diver operated stereo-video (stereo-DOV) at 94 sites across the archipelago. Results showed that fish biomass varied from 0.13 to 293 g m⁻². Habitat was the most significant predictor of fish biomass, with the highest biomass found at western fore-reef sites and the lowest at inner reef sites. Region also affected fish biomass, with significantly higher biomass found in the Northern Reefs compared to those around Babeldaob (the largest island in Palau). In channel habitats, marine protected area (MPA) proximity, fishing pressure from Koror (Palau’s main population center), and local fishing pressure significantly influenced fish biomass. In western fore-reef habitats, fish biomass was significantly affected by region, with differences observed between the Northern Reefs and Babeldaob, and between the Southern Reefs and Babeldaob. Fishing pressure from Koror had a significant effect on fish biomass in inner reef habitats, with a weak negative relationship observed. Using length frequencies from the stereo-DOV surveys we also estimated spawning potential ratio (SPR) for seven species and found the majority had SPR values between 20 % and 40 %. Overall, the low fish biomass and SPRs suggests that many of Palau’s principal fisheries species have been overexploited. This is the first study to evaluate the status of resource reef fish stocks across the main islands of Palau and provides a baseline to assess changes in fish populations over time.
... Coral reefs are in crisis due to overfishing, pollution, and climate change Pandolfi et al., 2003;Burke et al., 2011), threatening the persistence of reef ecosystems and the wellbeing of tens of millions of people that depend on reefs for food and livelihood security (Moberg and Folke, 1999;Teh et al., 2013;Birkeland, 2017). Coral reef fisheries contribute up to one-quarter of the total fish catch in developing countries (Jameson et al., 1995) and account for more than one-quarter of all smallscale fishers (Teh et al., 2013). ...
... Reef fisheries are intensely exploited as a local source of protein and for export-oriented trades including the aquarium, live reef food fish, and dried sea cucumber ("beche-de-mer") trades (Sadovy et al., 2003;Wabnitz et al., 2003;Purcell et al., 2013). But because coral reef environments are characterized by low export production, tightly integrated ecosystem components, and species with irregular and slow recruitment, coral reef fisheries are easily overexploited (Birkeland, 2017). As a result, over 75% of coral reef fisheries are currently being fished at unsustainable levels (MacNeil et al., 2015) and fishing has been identified as a major threat to coral reef ecosystem resilience (Newton et al., 2007). ...
... Whereas harvesters and aquaculture farms have long been subject to policies that dictate operation and management of these production systems (e.g., licensing and permitting, gear/temporal/geographic restrictions, and import/export regulations) and supply chain actors are familiar with requirements on seafood handling (i.e., for food safety), governmental policies for regulating markets toward sustainability are relatively new. However, regulatory efforts to prevent overharvesting on coral reefs are increasing: Kiribati, the Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, and Tonga have restricted the commercial sale and/or export of numerous coral reef species, several Caribbean nations (Barbuda, Bermuda, Belize, Bonaire, Curacao, Turks and Caicos, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) have banned or significantly restricted the fishing of ecologically important herbivorous reef fishes, and the harvesting of ornamental reef species has been restricted in Hawai'i and several Pacific Island nations (Dee et al., 2014;Jackson et al., 2014;Birkeland, 2017;Republic of Palau, 2019). Governments can also provide incentives such as vessel buybacks in efforts to reduce fishing effort, although fisheries subsidies often distort markets and drive unsustainable practices (Clark et al., 2005;Schuhbauer and Sumaila, 2016). ...
The overexploitation of coral reef fisheries threatens the persistence of reef ecosystems and the livelihoods and food security of millions of people. Market-based initiatives to increase fisheries sustainability have been widely implemented in industrialized commodity fisheries, but the suitability of these initiatives for coral reef fisheries has not been systematically investigated. Here, we present a typology of market-based interventions and coral reef fisheries sectors and identity promising approaches for each fishery archetype. For high value, export-oriented reef fisheries that are highly unsustainable (live reef food fish and dried sea cucumbers), traditional regulatory efforts including trade restrictions will be most effective. For high-value, export-oriented fisheries for highly fecund invertebrates (lobsters and mollusks), certification and ratings efforts, fishery improvement projects, and sustainable purchasing commitments can improve fishing practices and increase fisher market access and revenue. For lower-value fisheries targeting species for domestic or regional consumption, sustainable purchasing commitments among local buyers, consumer awareness campaigns, and local certification and ratings schemes hold promise for shifting attitudes toward sustainability and increasing food security for local communities. Finally, fisher empowerment efforts including direct access to local markets and market information, training on improved post-harvest methods, and formation of fisher associations hold promise for increasing fisher incomes, reducing wasteful catch, increasing food security, and de-incentivizing unsustainable practices. Despite the potential of market-based interventions, specific approaches must be carefully tailored to the ecological and social reality of these systems, including the inherent unsustainability of commercial coral reef fisheries, the limited capacity for fisheries governance, the limited financial support of market-based initiatives, and the threatened status of coral reef ecosystems globally.
... Palau is located in one of the most climate-vulnerable regions in the world and is highly dependent on marine resources to support (Birkeland, 2017). Here, the traditional practice of bul plays a key role, involving adjustable moratoria for important spawning and feeding areas that are critical for local food security (Birkeland, 2017). ...
... Palau is located in one of the most climate-vulnerable regions in the world and is highly dependent on marine resources to support (Birkeland, 2017). Here, the traditional practice of bul plays a key role, involving adjustable moratoria for important spawning and feeding areas that are critical for local food security (Birkeland, 2017). Bul exemplifies a practical implementation of ecosystem-based management on a community level, which could provide adequate regulatory flexibility in the face of climate change. ...
Climate change is altering ecosystems and fisheries throughout the world's oceans,
demanding climate-adaptive governance for conserving and managing living marine
resources. While in some regions fisheries management systems address wider ecosystem
dynamics within management frameworks and decision-making, which may facilitate resilience to climate change, there remains a shortfall in terms of directly incorporating climate change adaptation into fisheries management legislation and implementation. This review assesses the current state of implementation of climate change adaptation into fisheries management policies and legislation across 11 national case studies, based on government documents and the primary literature. The overarching goal is to understand the key elements and gaps in existing fisheries management policies and legislation in the context of climate change. Given recent reforms of fisheries management policies and/or legislation across the nations examined, political recognition of the need to address climate change adaptation in fisheries management appears to be increasing; albeit formal mandates of climate-adaptation objectives in fisheries management are largely missing. Based on our review, recommendations for achieving climate-adaptive fisheries management regimes are developed. Overall, this study will help to inform and broaden the scope of management approaches and tools to accelerate the move towards adaptive fisheries management that accounts for climate change impacts on fish stocks, fisheries and the societies that depend upon them.
... Similarly, governmental subsidy programs can change the fundamental economic thesis for harvesting (Sala et al., 2018;Sumaila et al., 2010). Bans on commercial use of species can affect who can fish for what and whether they can sell it formally into markets (e.g., Birkeland, 2017). Governmental fiscal and tax policy can also impact incentives for sustainability initiatives. ...
Abstract Ensuring the security of ocean ecosystems that provide food and livelihood benefits from seafood systems requires significant investment in improving the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture production at scale. Seafood certification and ratings systems have established strong benchmarks for sustainability, but markets need to incentivize sustainability throughout the value chain and at relevant ecological scales in order to generate meaningful conservation impacts and support lasting on‐the‐water stewardship efforts. Here, we propose that market‐based approaches and ecosystem‐based governance initiatives can be integrated to improve the sustainability of seafood production systems using a jurisdictional approach. Jurisdictional approaches are place‐based initiatives deployed in key commodity producing regions to drive sustainability through aligned incentives among government, market, and producer actors. To explore the applicability of this approach in seafood, we first identify key mismatches in existing certification and ratings schemes that stymie the effectiveness of market‐based approaches to drive ecosystem‐scale impacts. Subsequently we identify the differentiated incentives for sustainability among producers, supply chain companies, and governments—drawing evidence from research and practice. Based on this analysis, we review the potential for jurisdictional approaches to align actors' incentives for sustainability at the scale of entire production geographies, bringing market‐based approaches and governance improvements together to achieve conservation outcomes.
... Research on food webs and nutrient cycling on coral reefs (Johannes et al., 1972) flourished in the 1970s and 1980s and established one of the key (and enduring) paradigms of coral reef ecology, which is that reef corals are remarkably adapted to low-nutrient (read: unproductive) environments. The corollary of this is that coral reefs are lousy producers of that most celebrated of ecosystem services-fish (Birkeland, 1997(Birkeland, , 2017. Indeed, the numerous studies that show, from various perspectives and with different types of data, that reef fisheries, while species-rich, can be overharvested very quickly and then take a long time to recover (Russ & Alcala, 2010) run strongly counter to the many pronouncements about the pivotal importance of coral reefs for the food security of millions of people in the tropics (for a detailed discussion, see Foale et al., 2016). ...
... Research on food webs and nutrient cycling on coral reefs (Johannes et al., 1972) flourished in the 1970s and 1980s and established one of the key (and enduring) paradigms of coral reef ecology, which is that reef corals are remarkably adapted to low-nutrient (read: unproductive) environments. The corollary of this is that coral reefs are lousy producers of that most celebrated of ecosystem services-fish (Birkeland, 1997(Birkeland, , 2017. Indeed, the numerous studies that show, from various perspectives and with different types of data, that reef fisheries, while species-rich, can be overharvested very quickly and then take a long time to recover (Russ & Alcala, 2010) run strongly counter to the many pronouncements about the pivotal importance of coral reefs for the food security of millions of people in the tropics (for a detailed discussion, see Foale et al., 2016). ...
... 1). However, coral reefs are in crisis due to overfishing, pollution, and climate change (Hughes et al., 2003;Burke et al., 2011), threatening the persistence of reef ecosystems, ES provisioning, and the well-being of tens of millions of people who depend on reefs for food and livelihood security (Moberg and Folke, 1999;Birkeland, 2017;Woodhead et al., 2019). To design strategies for maintaining coral reef ecosystem functioning and ES provisioning, it is necessary to identify the key services provided by reefs and the anthropogenic impacts on these services currently and into the future. ...
... Because coral reef environments are characterized by low primary productivity, tightly integrated ecosystem components, and species with irregular and slow recruitment, coral reef fisheries are easily overexploited (Birkeland, 2017). To account for this reality and the projected impacts to reefs from increased human populations and climate change, several countries are implementing policies to shift consumption from reef species to more productive pelagic fish stocks (Birkeland, 2017). ...
... Because coral reef environments are characterized by low primary productivity, tightly integrated ecosystem components, and species with irregular and slow recruitment, coral reef fisheries are easily overexploited (Birkeland, 2017). To account for this reality and the projected impacts to reefs from increased human populations and climate change, several countries are implementing policies to shift consumption from reef species to more productive pelagic fish stocks (Birkeland, 2017). The expansion of this policy to additional reef-bearing countries could help maintain reef ecosystem functioning and local food security in the face of climate impacts. ...
Coral reef ecosystems are among the most imperiled globally from human impacts. They are also the most biodiverse marine ecosystems and play a vital role in the food and livelihood security of tens of millions of people. Although the ecological and socioeconomic importance of coral reefs has been relatively well-documented, the impacts of coral reef degradation on ecosystem service provisioning are less known. Here, we review the range of ecosystem services currently provided by reefs (provisioning, regulating, and cultural), the human activities that currently threaten these services, and the future prospects of reef ecosystem services given the projected combined effects of local human disturbances and climate change. We then propose promising policy and management interventions to promote the maintenance of key coral reef ecosystem services into the future.
... In fact, after only a couple of months since the implementation of the PNMS, supply shortages and subsequent price increases of offshore fish are already leading to increased reef fish demand from grocery stores and restaurants 22 . This is noteworthy since reef fishes are the chief source of protein for the local population 21 and support healthy coral reefs-the main attraction drawing tourists to Palau 23,24 . Therefore, the PNMS has the serious likelihood of generating unintended ecological consequences by depleting critical nearshore ecosystems. ...
... In this representation, we assumed a constant price of reef fish, although it is possible that, in the long term, the reef fish price will also increase due to higher demand levels (we explore the implication of such demand across elasticities in Supplementary Table 12). Still, the feedback effect of food systems from the PNMS policies poses a concrete risk of increasing human pressure on Palau's vital reef ecosystems 23 . ...
Understanding the feedbacks between food systems and conservation policies can help avoid unintended environmental consequences. Using a survey-based choice experiment and economic modelling, we quantify the potential impact of tourists’ responses to a shift in offshore fish supply after the designation of a large-scale marine protected area in Palau. We find that this conservation policy may increase offshore fish prices and tourists’ consumption of reef fish, thereby further endangering local reef ecosystems. However, if tourists are offered a sustainable offshore choice, their demand for fish could be kept at current levels, and environmental impacts from increased reef fish consumption would be avoided.
