Two Essays on Livelihood Susceptibility and the Economics of Inland Fisheries

This dissertation comprises two parts, they are linked in their recognition that fisheries, as an ecosystem service of inland surface waters, are poorly understood and undervalued. The first chapter explores how the distribution of livelihood strategies and assets may determine household sensitivity and adaptive capacity to hydrological change in the Lower Mekong Basin. Using an index-based approach relative susceptibility scores were calculated for 2,703 households living within close proximity of the Mekong River. The findings suggest that policies aimed at reducing vulnerability to hydrological change in the Lower Mekong Basin should account for geographic context. Further, the study highlights how policies may be able to strategically target the most susceptible households but that poorly designed policies have the potential to exacerbate vulnerability. In the face of high uncertainty surrounding hydrological change in the Lower Mekong Basin, our assessment of susceptibility should help inform precautionary water management policies and provide baseline information needed for more comprehensive vulnerability assessments in the future. The second chapter of this dissertation presents a structured review of inland fisheries economic research. Bibliographic databases were searched for suitable peer-reviewed articles. The selected studies (n=75) were analysed for coverage, valuation methodologies, and value metrics. The findings provide an overview of trends in study design and current understanding of inland fisheries economics and highlights knowledge gaps and methodological shortcomings. The study highlights the need for a greater quantity of inland capture fisheries economic research that covers a representative sample of ecosystems and fishery types globally. Best practice recommendations are made. These aim to ensure future inland capture fisheries research generates economically credible and comparable values. Economic valuation can inform the sustainable management of inland capture fisheries and ensure they are recognised in trade-off analysis and decision-making. Both studies provide valuable contributions to inland fisheries research. The extensive data coverage of the first study is unprecedented for the assessment of household vulnerability to hydrological change in the Mekong Basin. As far as I am aware, the second study is the first review of inland fisheries literature that explicitly focused on an overview of economics research. This dissertation has highlighted that the management of inland fisheries has environmental, economic and social implications, and that for these to be accounted for in decision-making processes fisheries must be economically valued to capture the value of the fishery as fully as possible, i.e. to include use and non-use values of all beneficiaries. This presents a vast challenge. Ultimately, unless future research strategically addresses the economic research shortcomings identified in this dissertation, inland fisheries will continue to be overlooked in decision-making and their sustainable management will be crippled by our lack of understanding

Seasonal dynamics in ecosystem services: a case study of small-scale fisheries

Ruby Grantham examined how ecosystem services change seasonally using the case study of small-scale fisheries in Timor-Leste. Her research shows that people realise, allocate and appreciate ecosystem services differently through time. This thesis advances ecosystem service theory by deepening understanding of how people mediate dynamic links between ecosystems and wellbeing

Gleaning: beyond the subsistence narrative

Coastal resources are important for the wellbeing and livelihoods of people in coastal communities across the world but are used and valued differently by different people at different times. As such, managing coastal resources equitably requires understanding how and when different people value ecosystems. Gleaning is an important activity in many coastal communities. However, the values of gleaners, and women in general, are often left invisible in coastal ecosystem service assessments and rarely examined in different seasons. Here, we use an exploratory case study to elicit the seasonal values of gleaning to women in a coastal community through an in-depth mixed method case study in Timor-Leste. We found that women gave a variety of instrumental and relational reasons for gleaning and that gleaning values shifted across seasons. Notably, subsistence was not a priority for all gleaners. Instead, there were a diverse range of reasons perceived as important for gleaning including to socialise or to spend time in nature. Our findings highlight the need to move beyond oversimplified understandings of gleaning as simply a matter of meeting basic material needs. The diverse and seasonal value priorities of gleaners in our case study indicate the importance of socially and temporally disaggregated assessments of coastal ecosystem services that account for relational values to support more accurate depictions of coastal livelihoods and equitable management in coastal areas

Spatiotemporal determinants of seasonal gleaning

1. Many coastal communities depend on ecosystems for goods and services that contribute to human well-being. As long-standing interactions between people and nature are modified by global environmental change, dynamic and diversified livelihood strategies that enable seasonal adaptation will be critical for vulnerable coastal communities. However, the success of such strategies depends on a range of poorly understood influences. 2. Gleaning, the hand-based collection of marine organisms from littoral habitats, provides an interesting case study of dynamic change in social-ecological interac- tions. It is an important coastal livelihood strategy, yet seasonal gleaning dynamics have not been empirically explored in contemporary communities. We examined seasonal gleaning in eight coastal communities on Atauro Island, Timor-Leste, using household surveys and satellite-derived maps of shallow-water benthic habitats. Our analysis explored the factors affecting household decisions to glean in each season, the relationship between gleaning and seafood consumption, and seasonal gleaning pressure on near-shore coastal resources. 3. Dynamic marine harvesting strategies differed among households and gleaning activity was seasonally heterogeneous. Not all gleaning households gleaned dur- ing the season characterised by rough sea conditions despite rough season glean- ing being associated with greater seafood consumption stability among seasons. Households also gleaned less regularly, and catches were smaller, in the rough season. 4. Differences in seasonal participation in gleaning were explained mostly by type and extent of shallow habitat proximate to a community. In the calm season, household gleaning was positively related to the total area of shallow habitat, and in the rough season the percentage of hard-bottom shallow habitat was also an important predictor of gleaning activity. 5.Our findings illustrate how changes in the biophysical environment mediate human–nature interactions at fine scales through time and space. Consequently, this research highlights the importance of context-specific perspectives for under- standing drivers and dynamics in fishing pressure on littoral ecosystems, access to ecosystem benefits and limits to adaptation. Factors influencing when livelihood activities are feasible and desirable are important for evaluating the social impacts of climate change, particularly in the context of rural communities in the Global South

Seasonal dynamics in ecosystem services: a case study of small-scale fisheries

Ruby Grantham examined how ecosystem services change seasonally using the case study of small-scale fisheries in Timor-Leste. Her research shows that people realise, allocate and appreciate ecosystem services differently through time. This thesis advances ecosystem service theory by deepening understanding of how people mediate dynamic links between ecosystems and wellbeing

Coral reef conservation in the Anthropocene: Confronting spatial mismatches and prioritizing functions

The world's coral reefs are rapidly transforming, with decreasing coral cover and new species configurations. These new Anthropocene reefs pose a challenge for conservation; we can no longer rely on established management plans and actions designed to maintain the status quo when coral reef habitats, and the challenges they faced, were very different. The key questions now are: what do we want to conserve on Anthropocene reefs, why, and how? Trends in reef management over recent decades reveal rapid shifts in perceived threats, goals and solutions. Future reefs will be unlike anything previously seen by humans, and while their ability to support tourism or fisheries may be relatively resilient, our capacity to manage them may be constrained by their new species configurations. Furthermore, there is a growing spatial mismatch between the escalating scale of threats and current or planned responses. We present a blueprint for future reef conservation that recognizes the need to better understand the processes that maintain Anthropocene reefs, and the growing imperative to reform conservation efforts to address both specific local issues and larger-scale threats. The future of coral reef conservation is no longer one solely of localized action and stewardship; it requires practices and institutions operating at far larger scales than today