Abstract

Artisanal, coral-reef fisheries of the northwest Dominican Republic are struggling to appropriately manage marine resources. However, there are opportunities at the scales of an individual fisherman and of a fishing community to improve resource system health. This is important to focus on because ecological and social factors outside of these scales shape the range of fishermen’s options, but would be very difficult for fishermen to influence. Preliminary research during the summer of 2012 included assessment of the fish community and benthic condition within the fishing area accessed by local fishers, including coral reefs, back-reef habitats, and mangrove forests. Semi-structured interviews and participant observa-tion were used to understand the past and current states of the fishery and fishermen’s attitudes toward the future. Creel surveys and fleet observations provided estimates of the fishing pressure exerted by an individual fisherman and the fishing community as a whole. Fish and coral communities were clearly degraded at most sites, although the presence of juvenile fish, many live coral colonies, and intact nursery habitats provide hope for potential recovery. Several fishing techniques are used which demonstrates flexibility in fishermen’s options. Within the ultimate context of climate change, it is critical that fishermen, fishing communities, and other stakeholder organizations encourage ecosystem recovery and the associated increase of resilience and natural capital. Scientists can participate by theoretically and empirically testing the outcomes of local attempts to improve resource management; in this case, incentives for targeting lionfish and offshore species for external markets, and adhering to responsible fishing guidelines.

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