Evolution of Village-based Marine Resource Management in Vanuatu between l993 and 2001

Here we describe the results of interviews carried out in 2001 in 21 of the villages studied originally by Johannes in l993. We sought to determine the extent to which these management efforts were now perceived as succeeding or failing. Statistically sound before-and-after marine biological surveys in each of these village's fishing grounds would have been extremely expensive and time-consuming. Villagers' testimony as to the effectiveness of these measures could sometimes be coloured by a desire to impress the interviewer. With these two problems in mind we used two criteria as indicators of the perceived success of these MRM measures.

The first criterion was whether or not these measures were still in effect 8-10 years after they had been implemented. Like most conservation measures, the ones implemented in the early 1990s involved sacrifices by fishers. Closing trochus harvesting, for example, involved foregoing for up to five years (the length of the longest closure) the money that could be made from selling the shell. Closing of reef areas to other types of fishing or tabuing the use of certain types of fishing gear similarly involved sacrifice. We reasoned that if such sacrifices were judged worthwhile, the relevant management measures would still be operating.

A second criterion of the perception of villagers of the value of marine conservation is the extent to which they implemented additional MRM measures since 1993.

In compiling the list of village-based MRM measures here, we did not include national conservation laws that village leaders were widely reported to be enforcing more actively than in the past. Greater efforts to educate villagers about marine conservation have made villagers and village leaders more aware of the existence of these laws and of the reasons for them. This, we were often told by village leaders, made villagers more supportive of them.

Another objective of our research was to identify lessons that might be useful in future efforts in Vanuatu and elsewhere to facilitate community-based MRM management and learn how outside agencies (governments, NGOs, aid-donors) might better assist with these activities.

The present study was carried out by FRH under the direction of REJ over a period of five weeks between June and August, 200l. It involved informal interviews with villagers and with government officers and NGO personnel assisting with MRM in Vanuatu villages. A set of general questions was used to focus the interviews loosely, but informants were encouraged to range well beyond the immediate subjects of these questions if they chose. Johannes et. al. (2000) have described why formal questionnaires may limit the scope of information obtained when used as the main tool in interviews with local natural resource users that involve broad subject areas.