An Overview Of Our Solution
Creating a sustainable Spiny Lobster Fishery by inspiring fishermen, industry leaders and the government to work together.
Who is this solution impacting?
Ecosystem
Oceanos/Costa
Community Type
Rural
Additional Information
- Population Impacted:
- Continent: América do Norte
Problem
Describe the problem
Launched a social marketing campaign called “Size Matters†designed to reduce the threat of illegal fishing of juvenile spiny lobsters (Panulirus argus) on Abaco Island. The campaign implemented social marketing techniques to deliver our message to the target audience of fishermen. As part of the social marketing campaign, a mascot, t-shirts, posters, bumper stickers, pens etc. was produced to spread the message in a fun-filled, non-threatening way. As part of the long-term strategy to promote sustainable fishing practices, the campaign partnered with lobster exporters who assisted in providing an incentive for fishers to comply with industry regulations. Ultimately, the community learned about the importance of spiny lobsters for a healthy marine environment and sustainable livelihoods.
Biodiversity Impact
The ‘Size Matters’ campaign inspired resource users, managers and benefactors to implement strategies which influenced positive behavior. These strategies brought a greater awareness and understanding of government regulations to protect lobsters from undersize fishing using a market-driven approach. The campaign was quickly recognized by the industry and exporters as an example of how local communities can improve their fisheries. It is reported as the only awareness and education activity of the vational fishery improvement project as an example of locally-implemented efforts to promote sustainable fishing practices. The Bahamas Department of Marine Resources partnered with the campaign to launch the national Catch Certificate Program designed to monitor daily fishing catches, a major gap identified early in the planning stages of the campaign. The Bahamas Marine Exporters Association members implemented a zero tolerance program to deter illegal catches. Many buyers reported in the 2010 lobster season that they observed an improvement in catches and noticed a significant decrease in undersize catches. They attributed these results to the efforts of the Size Matters campaign. Local buyers continue to report positive behavior changes in fisher’s attitudes. In fact in the first week of the 2011 open lobster season a local buyer commented that “out of 20,000 pounds of lobsters processed in one week, not even 20 pounds were undersizedâ€. Local restaurant buyers were observed measuring tails that they intended to purchase from fishers to ensure they got legal sizes.
Solution
The campaign was launched after a year of planning in 2009. Stakeholders engaged in consensus workshops and identified that a major threat affecting local lobster populations and marine biodiversity was illegal fishing of undersized lobsters. Since legislation existed to protect against this threat, the solution to this problem identified that fishers lacked motivation and the tools needed to discontinue practices that were having a negative impact. Fishers claimed that they did not have necessary measuring tools needed to prevent undersize catches. The campaign provided these tools to remove this barrier that was having a major impact on marine health and local lobster populations. Lobster gauges bearing the campaign's slogan was distributed during fishers meetings, pens measuring the minimum legal size of 51/2 inches were distributed to schools and at public events to get the general public to assist with policing and monitoring efforts to deter illegal size catches. It was also identified that there was major gaps in collecting daily catch efforts needed to assist with improved management and governance. Log books were produced that used pictures to assist with high literacy issues and distributed to fishermen to encourage them to record much needed catch effort data. As a result fishers are now motivated to adapt sustainable fishing practices in order to protect local Spiny Lobster populations. In fact survey results for 2010 indicated a shift in attitude among fishermen to help protect local marine resources instead of waiting on law enforcement alone.// 168,100,3870 square km (http://www.fusedworld.com/Real_Estate/North_America/Bahamas/Abaco/)
Replicability
How many years has your solution been applied?
2 years // Have others reproduced your solution elsewhere? No // The project was managed by the production of several outputs from strt to completetion, namely but not limited to: Facilitation of three Sustainable Catch Workshops in 2011 • Production of 800 lobster gauges to measure lobsters before mortality • Production of 250 log books to inspire fishers to collect and record daily catch efforts • Partnership with the National Fishery Improvement project • Implementation of industry’s zero tolerance program for illegal lobster fishing. • Completion of more than 20 school visits in Abaco • More than 15 media articles about the campaign from 2009-2010 • Completion of more than 600 survey interviews to determine adoption and placement of campaign messages • Production of more than 20 different campaign materials
Human Well Being and Livelihood Impact
More than 9000 Bahamian familes directly benefit from the spiny lobster fishery. There is more than nine communites in Abacoengaged full time in the lobster fishery each year. The campaign used a social marketing approach to get fishers to change their behavior that was having a negative impact on local lobster populations threatening local lobster populations. Major lobster buyers agreed to add incentives and offer better prices to fishers that complied with sustainable fishing efforts. Town Hall meetings and workshops educated fishers on the latest local and international market trends. The campaign has helped with national efforts to improve the Spiny lobster fishery. The national fishery improvement project (FIP) was launched simultaneously with the campaign in 2009 and is working toward getting the Bahamas Spiny Lobster fishery certified by the Marine Stewardship Council as a sustainable fishery. If this goal is achieved successfully, the Bahamas can continue to benefit from market access to Europe and the United States, ensuring that many fishermen and familes benefiting directly and indirectly from this fishery would continue to for years to come. Because of the successes the Size Matters campaign was able to achieve at the local level, the FIP adopted it as a key activity and is considering expanding it's efforts to other islands in the Bahamas where this threat exists. // A restaurant Sustainable Menu Pledge program is currently under development. This program is designed to bring a greater awareness to the general public and to encourage local restaurants to also support sustainable fishing practices by agreeing to only serve legally- caught lobsters and other marine products. As one of the campaign activities pens that measure the minimum legal size (5 ½ inches) of a lobster tail were distributed at community events to use as a tool to measure lobster tails received by fishers. In April 2010 school children made projects that suggested how to improve local lobster fishing practices.