Management of marine resources through a local governance perspective: Re-implementation of traditions for marine resource recovery on Easter Island

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Marine protected areas have been scaling up from small areas located in coastal waters to large‐scale marine protected areas in remote areas, partly in response to the international agenda to conserve 10% of marine and coastal areas. Chile has made considerable progress in the designation of large‐scale marine protected areas in its oceanic islands with varying degrees of top‐down and bottom‐up processes, scientific knowledge and interplay among institutions. The process of designating the multiple‐uses marine protected area in Rapa Nui (Easter Island) involved interplay among scientific research, capacity building, local knowledge and collaboration between sectors, which contributed to the community transformation toward marine conservation in Rapa Nui. A recent increase in scientific research on the marine ecosystems was transmitted to stakeholders and the local community via capacity‐building actions. The knowledge‐based empowerment of the Rapanui population (inhabitants of Rapa Nui) involved the definition not only of the objectives, the extension and the conservation goals of the Rapa Nui multiple‐uses marine protected area, but also of the implications beyond the designation, such as issues of governance, management and financing. The implementation of the Rapa Nui multiple‐uses marine protected area will test local and Rapanui government relationships. The continuous science‐knowledge‐based dialogue in a strengthened relationship between the government and the local community in a ‘process of relating’ might be the pathway to future effective conservation efforts and successes.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Science, capacity building and conservation knowledge: The empowerment of the local community for marine conservation in Rapa Nui

Paredes

Flores

Figueroa

et al. 2019

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“…At the present, marine resources at Rapa Nui face major threats. The lobster ( Panulirus pascuensis ), tuna ( Thunnus albacares , Thunnus alalunga , Thunnus obesus ) and other large open water and coastal fish such as the rudderfish ( Kyphosus sandwicensis ) have, according to local people, been declining in abundance over time and notably during the last three decades (Gaymer et al , ; Aburto et al , ). The scarcity of tuna and other large pelagic fish for the artisanal fishery has forced fishers to concentrate their attention on coastal waters, using gillnets leading to a dramatic decrease in the abundance of coastal fish (Friedlander et al , ; Gaymer et al , ; Aburto et al , ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards local governance of marine resources and ecosystems on Easter Island

Aburto

Gaymer

Cundill

2016

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1. Social-ecological system sustainability depends in part upon the fit between ecosystems and institutions. 2. In 2014, the local community on Easter Island started a bottom-up process to improve marine resources conservation and management.3. Local stakeholders formed a working group that has regular meetings and goals, such as creating a sea council and some basic action plans, thus initiating a local governance transformation process. 4. A participatory process was conducted together with a local organization that led the marine conservation issues on the island to define the factors that could favour and/or undermine the formation of the sea council. Also, the stakeholders that must be present in such a sea council were identified.5. Twelve factors that could facilitate or hinder the implementation of a sea council were identified. The lack of representativeness of public institutions is a major challenge.6. Public institutions are designed to ensure compliance with central government strategies, but the decisions do not represent the worldview of islanders.7. The results showed the potential value of conducting a participatory process to identify the key issues that could hinder or favour a desired governance transformation process. The participatory process also highlighted governance mismatches that are important to consider in attempts to pursue more effective fishery governance on Easter Island, and other Island communities.8. Centralized governance systems do not respond rapidly to locally observed social and ecological dynamics. By contrast, a local decision-making system based on traditional laws and local governance can more rapidly respond to observed changes. 9. The participatory process presented here holds the potential to support local people in their planning and coordination for marine conservation and management in order to optimize bottom-up change processes involving multiple stakeholders with different interests, values and levels of power.

“…In Chile, 23 MPAs have been created in the last decade, protecting over 41% of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) (Petit, Campoy, Hevia, Gaymer, & Squeo, 2018 Easter Island, also known by its Polynesian name Rapa Nui, is the most south-eastern coral reef ecosystem in the Pacific Ocean and harbours a unique fish assemblage with a high level of endemism (Randall & Cea, 2010). Easter Island is one of the most isolated inhabited islands in the Pacific Ocean; yet, long-term overfishing has dramatically reduced the abundance of targeted species (Aburto, Gaymer, Haoa, & González, 2015;Friedlander et al, 2013;Randall & Cea, 2010;Zylich et al, 2014). Modern fishing equipment and the demand for local fish from increasing tourism has compounded the effects of overfishing (Randall & Cea, 2010;Zylich et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and seasonal differences in the top predators of Easter Island: Essential data for implementing the new Rapa Nui multiple‐uses marine protected area

Morales

Easton

Friedlander

et al. 2019

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Reef fishes are an important component of marine biodiversity, and changes in the composition of the assemblage structure may indicate ecological, climatic, or anthropogenic disturbances. To examine spatial differences in the reef fish assemblage structure around Easter Island, eight sites were sampled during autumn and summer 2016–2017 with baited remote underwater video systems. To determine seasonal changes, quarterly (seasonal) sampling was conducted at five of those eight sites. Fifteen pelagic species of fishes were recorded during this study, some of which have not previously been recorded in scuba surveys, including the Galapagos shark (Carcharhinus galapagensis, Snodgrass & Heller, 1905) and tunas (Scrombidae). Significant spatial and seasonal differences were found in the fish assemblage. Fish assemblages from the south coast differed significantly from those along the west and east coasts, mainly due to the occurrence of top predators. Winter differed from other seasons, especially along the south coast where the island is more exposed to large oceanic swells and winds from Antarctica. Owing to the variety and high relative abundance of species recorded during this survey, baited remote underwater video systems seemed to be an effective method for studying top predators at Easter Island. The identification of priority zones for the protection of top predator species represents an important contribution of this study, in order to develop management and conservation strategies to be implemented in the newly created Rapa Nui multiple uses coastal marine protected areas.