Redressing Access Inequities and Implementing Formal Management Systems for Marine and Estuarine Subsistence Fisheries in South Africa

Engagement in co-management of marine benthic resources influences environmental perceptions of artisanal fishers

“…Few policies are constructed with this in mind, and it is heartening that the Chilean fishery MEABR comanagement policy appears to have initially accomplished this. We are unable to state which particular aspects of the policy have been responsible for the perception changes observed amongst the fishers, but such changes would seem likely to arise from increased familiarity with the policy (Hutton & Pitcher 1998), its inclusion of formal common property user rights (Harris et al 2007;Castilla et al 2007) and its reliance on market forces. If this were true, then we would expect perceptions of resource users to change more rapidly in a co-management situation, where there is a closer, more dialogue-based relationship between resource users and policy administrators (Pinkerton 1994), than in situations where resource management rules are made by distant administrators and upheld by official regulators who do not engage in significant dialogue.…”

Estimating the optimum size for inshore no-take areas based on movement patterns of surf-zone fishes and recommendations for rezoning of a World Heritage Site in South Africa

“…4 and were primarily driven by the need to set aside greater areas of rocky shore habitat to protect intertidal rocky shore communities and limit invertebrate harvesting and recreational shore angling. However, most of these shore-based NTAs have not been effective in reducing intertidal invertebrate harvesting and shore fishing, with the exception of the Sokhulu area south of Maphelane (Harris et al, 2003(Harris et al, , 2007.…”

“…2) While this will inevitably result in initial resistance, demonstration projects should be established to convince resource users of the need for NTAs and ultimately to obtain their support and compliance (e.g. Sokhulu mussel harvesting project [Harris et al, 2007]). 3) If local communities are unwilling to cease harvesting and fishing in existing NTAs, efforts should be made with the affected communities to try and decide on a minimum of 3 km of the best available habitat within existing NTAs where they will agree to stop fishing and harvesting.…”

Social and economic effects of marine protected areas in South Africa, with recommendations for future assessments

“…Several studies included reference to more than one MPA, for example Sunde and Isaacs (2008), Sowman et al (2011Sowman et al ( , 2014aSowman et al ( , 2014b, Sunde (2014), Sowman and Sunde (2018); these are also included in the table where appropriate. Studies that included protected areas in wider analyses of resource use, such as by Branch et al (2002), Napier et al (2005), Harris et al (2007), and Dunlop and Mann (2012), are excluded from the table as they were not specifically focused on MPAs A study of an extremely popular ecotourism attraction in South Africa, the Boulders African penguin colony in the Table Mountain National Park, showed that it attracted over half a million visitors in 2009/10, generating R14.5 million ($1.7 million at R8.28 = US$1) in park revenues (Lewis 2014). With an estimated overall value of R26 million in 2011 ($3.8 million, at R6.77 = US$1), the penguin colony is very important for the local and regional economy (Lewis et al 2012;Lewis 2014).…”

“…Prior to this, poaching both inside the MPA and on the adjacent coast was recurrent, and clashes between harvesters and conservation officers were frequent, with claims of injustice on one hand and illegality on the other (Harris et al 2003). The pilot study involved establishing co-management committees in which scientists, managers and community members participated, experiments engaging the local community in determining sustainable levels of harvesting, and extensive capacity-building (Harris et al 2003(Harris et al , 2007. Encouraging outcomes included:…”