Ten years of dynamic co-management of a multi-species reef fishery

Co-management, a governance process whereby management responsibility is shared between resource users and other collaborators, is a mainstream approach for governing social and ecological aspects of small-scale fisheries. While many assessments of co-management are available for single time periods, assessments across longer time-scales are rare–meaning the dynamic nature, and long-term outcomes, of co-management are insufficiently understood. In this study we analyse ten-years of catch and effort data from a co-managed, multi-species reef fishery in Solomon Islands. To further understand social, ecological and management dynamics we also draw on interviews with fishers and managers that had been conducted throughout the same decade. We aimed to answer (1) what are the temporal trends in fishing effort, harvesting efficiency, and catch composition within and beyond a periodically-harvested closure (i.e. a principal and preferred management tool in Pacific island reef fisheries), and, (2) what are the internal and external drivers that acted upon the fishery, and its management. Despite high fishing effort within the periodically-harvested closure, catch per unit effort remained stable throughout the ten years. Yet the taxonomic composition of catch changed substantially as species targeted early in the decade became locally depleted. These observations indicate that both the frequency of harvesting and the volumes harvested may have outpaced the turnover rates of target species. We argue that this reflects a form of hyperstability whereby declining abundance is not apparent through catch per unit effort since it is masked by a shift to alternate species. While the community sustained and adapted their management arrangements over the decade as a response to internal pressures and some signs of resource changes, some external social and ecological drivers were beyond their capabilities to govern. We argue the collaborative, knowledge exchange, and learning aspects of adaptive co-management may need even more attention to deal with this complexity, particularly as local and distal pressures on multi-species fisheries and community governance intensify

What's the catch in who fishes? Fisherwomen's contributions to fisheries an food security in Marovo Lagoon, Solomon Islands

Food security is arguably one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. With rapid globalisation, and the global population forecast to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, this problem will only intensify. Fresh fish is the primary source of animal protein for many nations, and this is particularly true for equatorial nations in the Pacific. As fish stocks strain under climate change and increasing fishing pressure, their decline and collapse is becoming a common story. Predicted changes in fish populations indicate that equatorial nations will likely bear the brunt of nutritional insecurity, and this is particularly likely for Pacific nations where agricultural land is limited [1]. Given global threats to fisheries, and their importance to village diets in the Pacific, it is critical that fisheries resources are well managed to ensure food security for future generations. We interviewed 87 women across three villages in Marovo Lagoon, Western Province, Solomon Islands about their role in fisheries and fishery-related activities within their communities. Of the women interviewed, 80.7% indicated that they do fish or harvest invertebrates. 84.5% of fisherwomen were primarily targeting finfish, not invertebrates, and most women (59.4%) indicated that they harvested seafood solely to feed their families. Results from this study contribute to a growing body of literature highlighting the high involvement of women in small-scale fisheries, and their contributions to household food security. This knowledge broadens our understanding of fishery resource utilization in the Solomon Islands, and provides data for strengthening food security through improved fisheries management

Performance Monitoring Applied to System Supervision

International audienceNowadays, automation is present in every aspect of our daily life and has some benefits. Nonetheless, empirical data suggest that traditional automation has many negative performance and safety consequences as it changed task performers into task supervisors. In this context, we propose to use recent insights into the anatomical and neurophysiological substrates of action monitoring in humans, to help further characterize performance monitoring during system supervision. Error monitoring is critical for humans to learn from the consequences of their actions. A wide variety of studies have shown that the error monitoring system is involved not only in our own errors, but also in the errors of others. We hypothesize that the neurobiological correlates of the self-performance monitoring activity can be applied to system supervision. At a larger scale, a better understanding of system supervision may allow its negative effects to be anticipated or even countered. This review is divided into three main parts. First, we assess the neurophysiological correlates of self-performance monitoring and their characteristics during error execution. Then, we extend these results to include performance monitoring and error observation of others or of systems. Finally, we provide further directions in the study of system supervision and assess the limits preventing us from studying a well-known phenomenon: the Out-Of-the-Loop (OOL) performance problem