Tropical Marine EBM Feasibility: A Synthesis of Case Studies and Comparative Analyses

Creating space for interdisciplinary marine and coastal research: five dilemmas and suggested resolutions

“…Pollnac et al (2010) reduced ecological effectiveness to a ratio of fish density inside and outside MPAs. The reliance on primarily social or ecological, superficially global or contextbound case studies is problematic and should limit confidence that global MPA schemes are feasible (Christie et al 2009b). In short, the evaluative research completed or underway is not scaled properly to the problems or the management interventions underway to help ensure feasibility or capture lessons.…”

“…Evaluation began with useful case studies of management effectiveness of MPAs (see for example White et al 2002) and LMEs (for example Cochrane et al 2009;Fanning et al 2009). Only few and limited comparative studies of the human and management dimensions of MPAs (Pollnac et al 2001(Pollnac et al , 2010Cinner et al 2007;Christie et al 2009a) and marine EBM (Christie et al 2009b) exist. Global assessments attempting social ecological metrics are challenged by limited data which, in turn, limits metrics and ultimately the usefulness of such assessments.…”

“…Subsequent meta (Halpern 2003) and comparative studies (Pollnac et al 2001;Christie et al 2009a) allowed for generalization. While meta and comparative studies elucidate general principles, robust inductive case studies provide the details necessary to understand local dynamics, which are clearly important to MPA impact and success (Pickette et al 1999;Christie et al 2009b;Shackeroff et al 2009). They allow for an understanding of context-dependent cultural constructs of the environment (Campbell et al 2009).…”

“…• development of leadership and awareness, • development of hybrid institutions or novel institutional collaborations, • establishment of clear and fair rules with conflict resolution mechanisms, • experimentation and adaptation, Table 1 Criteria for interdisciplinary evaluation of ecosystem based management (EBM) programmess that emerge from EBM field efforts (Christie 2009b).…”

Fishing for Fairness : Poverty, Morality and Marine Resource Regulation in the Philippines

“…One body of literature has analysed the impacts, successes and failures of developments in coastal resource management in the Philippines (for example Courtney and White 2000;Pollnac et al 2001a;Christie et al 2005Christie et al , 2009White et al 2005). 2 Aspects of coastal resource management that have been analysed include marine protected areas, legislation to promote decentralised management, and specific project experiences.…”