Explore how local communities are conserving wildlife and fisheries
See the wide-ranging discussion of the theme within a full-length film and book, and within many community stories, videos, webinars, presentations and publications…
A lack of communication between the regulating authority and the fishers has increased conflict in the Tsitsikamma area and endangered community member’s food security and livelihoods. ...
Sasi laut is a local knowledge and culture-based practice of coastal resource conservation. Through cooperation of multiple stakeholders, the sasi laut system has strengthened, helping locals to consider global issues related to conservation practices....
Koh Sralao is a small 300 household mangrove-estuarine fishing village on the southwestern coast of Cambodia. Fishers have spoken about fish declines for decades and continue to be concerned about fish stocks...
Les Village's marine environment was devastated by a traditional local use of cyanide for catching marine ornamental fish; however, local conservation began when eco-friendly, community-based approaches were introduced to restore local marine resources...
Between 1999 and 2002 there was exponential growth in the number of Galopagos fishing license holders and vessels. Consequently, fishing effort increased in the spiny lobster fishery leading to its over-exploitation...
Since 2011, indigenous communities have worked with researchers from the Asociación Faunagua, World Fisheries Trust, and the University of Victoria, to better understand the fisheries situation, and identify pathways to improve livelihood and food security in the region...
The Olifant communities face several challenges to their livelihoods including threats to close the fishery and proposals to build a mine adjacent to the estuary. Working with their community partners, the Olifants Estuary fishing communities are addressing these challenges...
The growth of aquaculture and the opening of a new sea mouth has resulted in environmental and social consequences for the Chilika Lagoon. To address these changes lagoon fishers have come together in protest....
West Coast Aquatic provides several consensus-based forums, including a Governance Board that makes policy recommendations to government, and multi-sector roundtables for salmon management, for involving First Nations and other local communities in decision-making....
Conservation was seen at Koh Pitak as being an essential element of livelihood recovery. The community recognised that they themselves were partially to blame for the environmental degradation that had occurred and designed initiatives to reverse this trend. ...
Due to a number of factors, Odisha is one of the poorest states in India. The Samudram Women’s Federation, a state level federation of women fish workers and a social enterprise, is working to reduce poverty and protect biodiversity....
In Paraty, the Caiçara communities include Tarituba, Praia do Sono, and Trindade, each of these communities face different challenges and are working towards different solutions. ...
The Kesho Trust has a long term commitment to the Saadani area and is involved in a variety of initiatives, including a project called Promoting Environmental Conservation and Cooperation...
Being a very impoverished mangrove-based neighborhood, mangrove conservation is vital to the livelihoods of Vila dos Pescadores....
Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations have been forced to utilize legal actions to protect their resources and have their Aboriginal rights recognized....
Produced by Cintia Nascimento, this video focuses on coastal conservation in Timor Leste....
The film tells the story of how this ecologically and culturally important seamount came to be protected by the CHN and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans...
This video from one of our study sites in South Africa focuses on local communities that demonstrate the importance of indigenous knowledge and river management practices in a community that depends on fisheries for its livelihoods....
This beautiful documentary by Steve De Neef and Gord More for HAKAI Magazine features CCRN Partner and Researcher Dr. Juan Carlos Seijo. In Punta Allen, Mexico, a lobster fishing cooperative supports the community and the environment. Perched aside the sparkling Caribbean Sea, Ascension Bay in Punta Allen, Mexico, is the site......
Fishing rights and traditional livelihoods among the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations....
The following case study of a Brazilian mangrove community located in an industrial area, Vila dos Pescadores (Fishers' Village), analyzes the impact that environmental degradation has on fishers' livelihoods....
Across the Canadian Maritimes there are many unpublicized stories of coastal community heros, groups of people working together to protect the health of their fisheries, watersheds, and community heritage....
Sharing the Waters, Saint John, NB was produced for the Fundy North Fishermen’s Association, a partner community organization of Coastal CURA. This film begins with a brief introduction to the history of the inshore fishery in Saint John followed by an overview of issues stemming from......
In 2009, the BC Supreme Court ruled that five Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations have an Aboriginal right to fish and sell all species of fish from their territories on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada....
The above video is part of a six-episode film series produced by the Council of the Haida Nation (CHN) Marine Planning Program. It features interviews with Haida matriarchs, chiefs, and politicians speaking about the ocean and marine planning on Haida Gwaii. The series focuses on......
Celebrating community involvement in marine conservation and management...
Small-scale fisheries produce two-thirds of all catches destined for direct human consumption and provide 90% of the employment in the sector...
Issues of power and politics are at the heart of community conservation which in turn influences its ultimate success and failure. Power is central to understanding processes and structures associated with resource and environmental conservation. This may be particularly important in the case of community......
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are increasingly recognised across the world as an important strategy for protecting marine resources, conserving biodiversity, rebuilding threatened fish stocks and restoring degraded habitats. The value of MPAs has been discussed at various global gatherings such as the World Summit on......
Nature conservation and protected areas have had a complex history with violence, conflict and peace. The advent of fortress model conservation created a legacy of disenfranchisement, coercion and human rights abuses, while wildlife wars are creating a new trend towards armament in the call to......
This webinar has two aims; firstly, it gives account of historical traits of the origin as well as on current debates on Rights Based Approaches (RBA) to the management of coastal resources; secondly, it addresses the context of RBA of three Mexican Caribbean case studies......
In this webinar, Dawn Foxcroft and Michelle Colyn discuss the power of intergenerational knowledge transmission between youth and elders and its connection to stewardship in Indigenous communities. As members of the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation, along Canada’s West Coast, and working for Uu-a-thluk, Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council......
Join researcher and environmental activist Sadie Beaton as she describes her journey to better understand the meaning and motivations for environmental justice in Mi’kma’ki, the indigenous Mi’kmaq lands on Canada’s Atlantic coast. This multimedia presentation will focus on a current environmental justice issue – resistance......
Léopold, M., O. Thébaud and A. Charles. 2019. The dynamics of institutional innovation: Crafting co-management in small-scale fisheries through action research. Journal of Environmental Management 237:187-199
Bennett, N.J., M. Kaplan-Hallam, G. Augustine, N. Ban, D. Belhabib, I. Brueckner-Irwin, A. Charles, J. Couture, S. Eger, L. Fanning, P. Foley, A.M. Goodfellow, L. Greba, E. Gregr, D. Hall, S. Harper, B. Maloney, J. McIsaac, W. Ou, E. Pinkerton, D. Porter, R. Sparrow, R. Stephenson, A. Stocks, U.R. Sumaila, T. Sutcliffe, and M. Bailey. 2018. Coastal and Indigenous community access to marine resources and the ocean: A policy imperative for Canada. Marine Policy 87:186-193
Gillam, C., and A. Charles. 2018. Fishers in a Brazilian Shantytown: Relational wellbeing supports recovery from environmental disaster. Marine Policy 89: 77–84
Armitage, D., F. Berkes, and A. Charles. 2017. Governing the Coastal Commons: Communities, Resilience and Transformation. Earthscan, Routledge/Taylor & Francis. Oxford, UK
Westlund, L., A. Charles, S. Garcia, and J. Sanders (eds). 2017. Marine protected areas: Interactions with fishery livelihoods and food security. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper No.603. Rome, Italy. FAO. 158p
Charles, A., L. Westlund, D.M. Bartley, W.J. Fletcher, S. Garcia, H. Govan, and J. Sanders. Fishing livelihoods as key to marine protected areas: insights from the World Parks Congress. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 26:165–184. (2016)
Long, R.D., Charles, A., and Stephenson, R.L. 2016. Key principles of ecosystem-based management: the fishermen’s perspective. Fish and Fisheries. doi:10.1111/faf.12175
Marschke, M., and Vandergeest, P. 2016. Slavery scandals: Unpacking labor challenges and policy responses within the offshore fisheries sector. Marine Policy, 68: 39-46
Vandergeest, P. and Marschke, M. 2016. Ending slave labour at sea – Policy Forum. [online] Policy Forum. Available at: http://www.policyforum.net/ending-slave-labour-sea/
Cooley, S., Charles, A., Andersson, A., Arkhipkin, A., Lam, V., Seijo, J.C., and Gattuso J.P. 2015. Central and South Atlantic Region. Pp. 57-73. In: Hilmi N., Allaman D., C. Kavanagh, D. Laffoley, M. Metian., S. Reynaud. (eds.). Bridging the gap between ocean acidification impacts and economic valuation: regional impacts of ocean acidification on fisheries and aquaculture. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. 136p.
Macnaughton, A, E., F, M, Carvajal-Vallejos., A, Argote., T, K, Rainville.,P, A, Van Damme.,& J, Carolsfeld. (2015). “Paiche reigns!” species introduction and indigenous fisheries in the Bolivian Amazon. Maritime Studies. Vol. 14(11)
Vieira, M.A.R.M., Santos, C.R., and Seixas, C.S. 2015. Oportunidades na legislação brasileira para sistemas de gestão compartilhada da pesca costeira. (Opportunities for fisheries co-management in coastal systems within Brazilian legislation). Bol. Inst. Pesca, 41(4): 995 – 1012.
Charles, A. Governance of tenure in small-scale fisheries: Key considerations. Land Tenure Journal 1:9-37. (2013).
Castrejón, M., and A. Charles. 2012. Improving Fisheries co-management through ecosystem-based spatial management: the Galapagos Marine Reserve. Marine Policy 38:235-245.
Charles, A. 2012. People, oceans and scale: governance, livelihoods and climate change adaptation in marine social–ecological systems. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 4:351–357.
Nasuchon, N., and A. Charles. Community involvement in fisheries management: Experiences in the Gulf of Thailand countries. Marine Policy 34:163-169. (2010)
Wiber, M., A. Charles, J. Kearney, and F. Berkes. Enhancing community empowerment through participatory fisheries research. Marine Policy 33:172-179 (2009)
Graham, J., A. Charles, and A. Bull. 2006. Community Fisheries Management Handbook. Gorsebrook Research Institute, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada, 135p.
[on-line at: https://www.communityconservation.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CommunityFisheriesManagementHandbook.pdf ]