Community-Based Marine Resource Management in Pacific Islands

Community-based marine resource management in the Pacific Islands encompasses a suite of locally driven practices that draw upon customary tenure systems, social norms and ecological knowledge to regulate the use, conservation and replenishment of coastal and reef resources. These approaches often integrate traditional mechanisms—such as taboos on fishing certain species or in designated areas—with contemporary governance tools including formally recognised marine protected areas, participatory monitoring and collaborative rule-making. By situating stewardship at the community level, these systems foster a sense of collective responsibility, ensure that rules remain culturally appropriate and enhance compliance. Over the past two decades, such initiatives have evolved into multi-village networks of periodic closures, no-take zones and ecosystem-based management plans that seek to balance food security, customary obligations and biodiversity conservation. The global significance of these models lies in their potential to inform adaptive management, strengthen resilience to climate change and support sustainable livelihoods across tropical coastal regions.

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Community-Based Marine Resource Management in Pacific Islands publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in community-based marine resource management in pacific islands across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Customary Marine Tenure: A traditional system of resource ownership and use rights, often governed by lineage or community elders, that regulates access to specific marine areas and species.

Co-management: A governance arrangement in which responsibility for resource decision-making is shared between local communities and governmental or external agencies.

No-take Zone: A designated area where all extractive activities are prohibited to allow ecosystems to recover or maintain high biodiversity and biomass levels.

Ecosystem-Based Management: An integrated approach that considers the entire ecosystem, including humans, with the aim of sustaining ecological services, biodiversity and community wellbeing.

References

1. Opportunities to Strengthen Fish Supply Chain Policy to Improve External Food Environments for Nutrition in the Solomon Islands. Foods (2023).
2. Periodic Closures as Adaptive Coral Reef Management in the Indo-Pacific. Ecology and Society (2006).
3. Livelihoods and Fisheries Governance in a Contemporary Pacific Island Setting. PLOS ONE (2015).
4. Catch Rates, Composition and Fish Size from Reefs Managed with Periodically-Harvested Closures. PLOS ONE (2013).