Simon Albert

Customary management as precautionary and adaptive principles for protecting coral reefs in Oceania

Marine conservation programs in Oceania are increasingly turning to precautionary and adaptive management, particularly approaches which emphasize local participation and customary management. Although the application of community-based natural resource management is widespread in the region, the full integration of local knowledge and practices into the design, implementation, and monitoring of community-based conservation programs has been limited. There is also little empirical data to show whether or not community-based conservation projects are meeting their stated objectives. This paper summarizes an integrated method for selecting Marine Protected Area (MPA) sites and presents empirical evidence that illustrates how an MPA that was largely conceived using indigenous ecological knowledge and existing sea tenure governance (i.e., customary management practices), as part of a regional precautionary and adaptive community-based management plan, is showing signs of biological and social success. More generally, the paper shows how hybrid natural and social research approaches in tandem with customary management for designing MPAs can protect coral reefs in Oceania.

Interactions between sea-level rise and wave exposure on reef island dynamics in the Solomon Islands

Low-lying reef islands in the Solomon Islands provide a valuable window into the future impacts of global sea-level rise. Sea-level rise has been predicted to cause widespread erosion and inundation of low-lying atolls in the central Pacific. However, the limited research on reef islands in the western Pacific indicates the majority of shoreline changes and inundation to date result from extreme events, seawalls and inappropriate development rather than sea-level rise alone. Here, we present the first analysis of coastal dynamics from a sea-level rise hotspot in the Solomon Islands. Using time series aerial and satellite imagery from 1947 to 2014 of 33 islands, along with historical insight from local knowledge, we have identified five vegetated reef islands that have vanished over this time period and a further six islands experiencing severe shoreline recession. Shoreline recession at two sites has destroyed villages that have existed since at least 1935, leading to community relocations. Rates of shoreline recession are substantially higher in areas exposed to high wave energy, indicating a synergistic interaction between sea-level rise and waves. Understanding these local factors that increase the susceptibility of islands to coastal erosion is critical to guide adaptation responses for these remote Pacific communities.

Incorporating surrogate species and seascape connectivity to improve marine conservation outcomes.

Conservation focuses on maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, but gaps in our knowledge of species biology and ecological processes often impede progress. For this reason, focal species and habitats are used as surrogates for multispecies conservation, but species-based approaches are not widely adopted in marine ecosystems. Reserves in the Solomon Islands were designed on the basis of local ecological knowledge to conserve bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) and to protect food security and ecosystem functioning. Bumphead parrotfish are an iconic threatened species and may be a useful surrogate for multispecies conservation. They move across tropical seascapes throughout their life history, in a pattern of habitat use that is shared with many other species. We examined their value as a conservation surrogate and assessed the importance of seascape connectivity (i.e., the physical connectedness of patches in the seascape) among reefs, mangroves, and seagrass to marine reserve performance. Reserves were designed for bumphead parrotfish, but also enhanced the abundance of other species. Integration of local ecological knowledge and seascape connectivity enhanced the abundance of 17 other harvested fish species in local reserves. This result has important implications for ecosystem functioning and local villagers because many of these species perform important ecological processes and provide the foundation for extensive subsistence fisheries. Our findings suggest greater success in maintaining and restoring marine ecosystems may be achieved when they are managed to conserve surrogate species and preserve functional seascape connections.

Mapping coral reefs at reef to reef-system scales, 10s–1000s km2, using object-based image analysis

Coral reef maps at various spatial scales and extents are needed for mapping, monitoring, modelling, and management of these environments. High spatial resolution satellite imagery, pixel <10 m, integrated with field survey data and processed with various mapping approaches, can provide these maps. These approaches have been accurately applied to single reefs (10–100 km2), covering one high spatial resolution scene from which a single thematic layer (e.g. benthic community) is mapped. This article demonstrates how a hierarchical mapping approach can be applied to coral reefs from individual reef to reef-system scales (10–1000 km2) using object-based image classification of high spatial resolution images guided by ecological and geomorphological principles. The approach is demonstrated for three individual reefs (10–35 km2) in Australia, Fiji, and Palau; and for three complex reef systems (300–600 km2) one in the Solomon Islands and two in Fiji. Archived high spatial resolution images were pre-processed and mosaics were created for the reef systems. Georeferenced benthic photo transect surveys were used to acquire cover information. Field and image data were integrated using an object-based image analysis approach that resulted in a hierarchically structured classification. Objects were assigned class labels based on the dominant benthic cover type, or location-relevant ecological and geomorphological principles, or a combination thereof. This generated a hierarchical sequence of reef maps with an increasing complexity in benthic thematic information that included: ‘reef’, ‘reef type’, ‘geomorphic zone’, and ‘benthic community’. The overall accuracy of the ‘geomorphic zone’ classification for each of the six study sites was 76–82% using 6–10 mapping categories. For ‘benthic community’ classification, the overall accuracy was 52–75% with individual reefs having 14–17 categories and reef systems 20–30 categories. We show that an object-based classification of high spatial resolution imagery, guided by field data and ecological and geomorphological principles, can produce consistent, accurate benthic maps at four hierarchical spatial scales for coral reefs of various sizes and complexities.

Marine protected areas and resilience to sedimentation in the Solomon Islands

The ability of marine protected areas (MPAs) to provide protection from indirect stressors, via increased resilience afforded by decreased impact from direct stressors, remains an important and unresolved question about the role MPAs can play in broader conservation and resource management goals. Over a five-year period, we evaluated coral and fish community responses inside and outside three MPAs within the Roviana Lagoon system in Solomon Islands, where sedimentation pressure from upland logging is substantial. We found little evidence that MPAs decrease impact or improve conditions and instead found some potential declines in fish abundance. We also documented modest to high levels of poaching during this period. Where compliance with management is poor, and indirect stressors play a dominant role in determining ecosystem condition, as appears to be the case in Roviana Lagoon, MPAs may provide little management benefit.

Keeping Food on the Table: Human Responses and Changing Coastal Fisheries in Solomon Islands

Globally the majority of commercial fisheries have experienced dramatic declines in stock and catch. Likewise, projections for many subsistence fisheries in the tropics indicate a dramatic decline is looming in the coming decades. In the Pacific Islands coastal fisheries provide basic subsistence needs for millions of people. A decline in fish catch would therefore have profound impacts on the health and livelihoods of these coastal communities. Given the decrease in local catch rates reported for many coastal communities in the Pacific, it is important to understand if fishers have responded to ecological change (either by expanding their fishing range and/or increasing their fishing effort), and if so, to evaluate the costs or benefits of these responses. We compare data from fish catches in 1995 and 2011 from a rural coastal community in Solomon Islands to examine the potentially changing coastal reef fishery at these time points. In particular we found changes in preferred fishing locations, fishing methodology and catch composition between these data sets. The results indicate that despite changes in catch rates (catch per unit effort) between data collected in 2011 and 16 years previously, the study community was able to increase gross catches through visiting fishing sites further away, diversifying fishing methods and targeting pelagic species through trolling. Such insight into local-scale responses to changing resources and/or fisheries development will help scientists and policy makers throughout the Pacific region in managing the region’s fisheries in the future.

Effects of iron additions on filament growth and productivity of the cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula

The bioavailability of iron, in combination with essential macronutrients such as phosphorus, has been hypothesised to be linked to nuisance blooms of the toxic cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula. The present laboratory study used two biological assay techniques to test whether various concentrations of added iron (inorganic and organically chelated) enhanced L. majuscula filament growth and productivity (C-14-bicarbonate uptake rate). Organically chelated iron (FeEDTA) with adequate background concentrations of phosphorus and molybdenum caused the largest increases (up to 4.5 times the control) in L. majuscula productivity and filament growth. The addition of inorganic iron (without added phosphorus or molybdenum) also stimulated L. majuscula filament growth. However, overall the FeEDTA was substantially and significantly more effective in promoting L. majuscula growth than inorganic iron (FeCl3). The organic chelator (EDTA) alone and molybdenum alone also enhanced L. majuscula growth but to a lesser extent than the chelated iron. The results of the present laboratory study support the hypothesis that iron and chelating organic compounds may be important in promoting blooms of L. majuscula in coastal waters of Queensland, Australia.

Can Perceptions of Environmental and Climate Change in Island Communities Assist in Adaptation Planning Locally

Abstract Local perceptions of environmental and climate change, as well as associated adaptations made by local populations, are fundamental for designing comprehensive and inclusive mitigation and adaptation plans both locally and nationally. In this paper, we analyze people’s perceptions of environmental and climate-related transformations in communities across the Western Solomon Islands through ethnographic and geospatial methods. Specifically, we documented people’s observed changes over the past decades across various environmental domains, and for each change, we asked respondents to identify the causes, timing, and people’s adaptive responses. We also incorporated this information into a geographical information system database to produce broad-scale base maps of local perceptions of environmental change. Results suggest that people detected changes that tended to be acute (e.g., water clarity, logging intensity, and agricultural diseases). We inferred from these results that most local observations of and adaptations to change were related to parts of environment/ecosystem that are most directly or indirectly related to harvesting strategies. On the other hand, people were less aware of slower insidious/chronic changes identified by scientific studies. For the Solomon Islands and similar contexts in the insular tropics, a broader anticipatory adaptation planning strategy to climate change should include a mix of local scientific studies and local observations of ongoing ecological changes.

Biocultural approaches to well-being and sustainability indicators across scales

Monitoring and evaluation are central to ensuring that innovative, multi-scale, and interdisciplinary approaches to sustainability are effective. The development of relevant indicators for local sustainable management outcomes, and the ability to link these to broader national and international policy targets, are key challenges for resource managers, policymakers, and scientists. Sets of indicators that capture both ecological and social-cultural factors, and the feedbacks between them, can underpin cross-scale linkages that help bridge local and global scale initiatives to increase resilience of both humans and ecosystems. Here we argue that biocultural approaches, in combination with methods for synthesizing across evidence from multiple sources, are critical to developing metrics that facilitate linkages across scales and dimensions. Biocultural approaches explicitly start with and build on local cultural perspectives — encompassing values, knowledges, and needs — and recognize feedbacks between ecosystems and human well-being. Adoption of these approaches can encourage exchange between local and global actors, and facilitate identification of crucial problems and solutions that are missing from many regional and international framings of sustainability. Resource managers, scientists, and policymakers need to be thoughtful about not only what kinds of indicators are measured, but also how indicators are designed, implemented, measured, and ultimately combined to evaluate resource use and well-being. We conclude by providing suggestions for translating between local and global indicator efforts.Biocultural approaches combining local values, knowledge, and needs with global ecological factors provide a fruitful indicator framework for assessing local and global well-being and sustainability, and help bridge the divide between them.

Dramatic tectonic uplift of fringing reefs on Ranongga Is., Solomon Islands

An 8.1 Richter magnitude earthquake on 2 April 2007 raised the fringing reefs of Ranongga Island, Western Province, Solomon Islands about 1 m above the high water mark (HWM) in the north, and up to 2–3 m in the south (Fig. 1). Ranongga Island is 28 · 7 km in size, and is surrounded by a fringing coral reef, which was previously about 100 m wide and drops steeply into deep water. Following the uplift, up to 80% of the reef is now above sea level. Only a very narrow reef remains submerged. The quake also toppled large Porites and Acropora colonies underwater. Mangrove forests and seagrass meadows now above HWM are dying. The island’s fringing reefs, once among the best in the western Solomons were a critical food source for the population of 6,000. In the first weeks following the earthquake, local fishers reported unusually good catches. Fish apparently were biting hungrily on baitless hooks, and spearfishermen were finding it easy to approach disoriented fish. It appears that the loss of reef habitat had displaced fish into the small remaining reef areas. Many local people remain convinced that their reef has not uplifted but that the sea has subsided, and that it will return again. By mid-July the few fishers brave enough to come down from high ground to fish from the edge of the reef were reporting poor catches. This is not the first time Ranonggans have dealt with major geologic change. Landslides following a 1952 earthquake led to a major relocation of the population, and reefs in the north subsided, creating opportunities for a surge of coral development. However, the scale of damage to the island’s land and reef in 2007 is unprecedented, and the landscape is yet to stabilise. Runoff from heavy June rains built up behind natural dams created by landslides from the earthquake. These dams burst and large boulders and huge volumes of sediment were carried to the coast. Despite a renowned capacity to cope with adversity, these traditional Melanesian communities are not well equipped to deal with such dramatic environmental changes. Researchers, governmental, and non-governmental agencies seeking to assist Ranongga communities and their natural resources to recover are faced with an unusual challenge.