Citizen 3 – Kei, village chief and retired fisher
The subsistence fishers have really struggled, but it’s not too late to turn things around. Many fishers are now involved in the edible seaweed industry. We have developed sustainable seaweed food chains which provide reliable access to fresh food as well as incomes. There are many native seaweeds that are high in fibre and micronutrients such as iodine, zinc and magnesium. People ate seaweed a long time ago, and we have worked hard to restore and understand traditional use and knowledge of these seaweeds. Women’s organisations across the region are involved in seaweed wild harvest and nutrition and cookery programs. The women also had the idea to make fish-based powder, using fish, salt and other ingredients bought locally. The fish powder extends the shelf life of fish and can be added to rice porridge. It tastes good and provides important nutrients, particularly for our youngest children. The fish powder is used at home but also in feeding programs at primary schools and in hospitals.
Pathway 2 - Sustainably manage marine and coastal ecosystems
The number of fisheries considered overfished has reduced since 2020 as a result of greater collaboration and data sharing between management organisations, improved monitoring of national fleets, greater government and industry commitment to sustainability and improved capacity in the development and implementation of fisheries management frameworks (Hilborn et al. 2020). Major fleets now have e-monitoring systems widely implemented allowing for real time monitoring and documentation of catches (Mangi et al. 2015). Fishery management has become flexible and adaptive to deal with changing oceans (Costello et al. 2016; Dutra et al. 2019; Gaines et al. 2018; Mahon and Fanning 2019; Rudolph et al. 2020). There has also been a strong focus on establishing, or transitioning, national fisheries management into sustainable and adaptive frameworks focused on maintaining ecosystem structure and function, as well as recognising cultural values with a broader outcome that balances enhancing productivity with ensuring equity in access to resources (Allison et al. 2020). Management plans allow coordination across gear-based or polyvalent fleets to achieve a balanced harvest in high-income countries, and new co-management arrangements have been introduced in low-income countries (Eriksson et al. 2016; Zhou et al. 2010). Beneficial subsidies remain but there has been firm global action to prohibit subsidies that contribute to overfishing or that are linked to illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing (Young 2017), including enshrining these principles in World Trade Organisation decisions and other international agreements. Integrating planning, regulatory frameworks, marine resource allocation and food policies has helped to ensure sustainable seafood production, which in turn has provided a strong and equitable economic basis for development in local communities (Sale et al. 2014). Damaging fishing and mariculture practices have been eliminated as a result of increased regulation, enforcement, education and traceability. Increased transparency has translated to improvements in corporate responsibility and accountability, including clear goals and structures in place to ensure implementation (Packer et al. 2019).
Fishers’ capacity to dynamically tailor their behaviour to align with ecosystem objectives has increased as a result of greater awareness of ecosystem-based and integrated management objectives, social expectations and export market requirements (Smith et al. 2017). Small Island Developing States and low-income countries have benefited from improved management of fisheries, mariculture and tourism. This benefit has occurred primarily through a combination of investment in capability development, implementation of management frameworks and policies and revision of fleets, and corporate incentives aimed at developing stronger public private partnerships with developing countries (Weirowski and Hall 2008). The number of Traditional and Indigenous managed fisheries accessing markets has increased (Cohen and Foale 2013) (Box 2), improving both production of seafood and ecosystem biodiversity in these regions and empowering communities in decision making processes that support long-term sustainability (Borrini-Feyerabend and Campese 2017; IPBES 2019).