Livelihoods and fisheries governance in a contemporary Pacific Island setting

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Inshore marine resources play an important role in the livelihoods of Pacific Island coastal communities. However, such reliance can be detrimental to inshore marine ecosystems. Understanding the livelihoods of coastal communities is important for devising relevant and effective fisheries management strategies. Semi-structured household interviews were conducted with householders in Langalanga Lagoon, Solomon Islands, to understand household livelihoods and resource governance in fishing-dependent communities. Households were engaged in a diverse range of livelihoods. Fishing, shell money production and gardening were the most important livelihoods. Proximity to an urban centre influenced how households accessed some livelihoods. Perceptions of management rules varied and different reasons were cited for why rules were broken, the most common reason being to meet livelihood needs. Current models of inshore small-scale fisheries management that are based on the notion of community-based resource management may not work in locations where customary management systems are weak and livelihoods are heavily reliant on marine resources. An important step for fisheries management in such locations should include elucidating community priorities through participatory development planning, taking into consideration livelihoods as well as governance and development aspirations

Distribution of livelihood activities across family members.

<p>Multinomial logistic regression plot of the probability of involvement in the six most common livelihood activities, and all other livelihood activities combined, as a function of household members and proximity to Auki.</p

Livelihood diversity in Langalanga Lagoon.

<p>Percent of island and mainland households engaged in a number of livelihood activities.</p

Reasons for rule violation.

<p>Categories of reasons why resource management rules were violated.</p

Food groups consumed by households in Langalanga lagoon.

<p>Main food groups consumed by study households in the 24 hours prior to the dietary survey.</p

Map of Langalanga Lagoon, Solomon Islands.

<p>(A) Solomon Islands are located in the Western Pacific. (B) Langalanga lagoon is situated on the west coast of Malaita Province. (C) Many communities in the lagoon live on the high-water mark on artificial islands. (D) The lagoon extends south of the provincial capital Auki; twelve communities were included in the study.</p

Categories of different resource management rules according to type and level of compliance (%); n = number of responses given in each category (not number of respondents).

<p>Categories of different resource management rules according to type and level of compliance (%); n = number of responses given in each category (not number of respondents).</p

Income levels for the six most common livelihood activities.

<p>^aSome households engage in fishing and gardening for food only, not to generate income, hence minimum income of $0.00 per week.</p><p>Income levels for the six most common livelihood activities.</p

Frequency distribution of mean weekly income.

<p>Reported household mean weekly income, in USD.</p