Social thoughts from an ecologist

[Nicole Rohr]

In the past, I would have categorized myself pretty much as a hard-core-Darwin-loving-Greenpeace ecologist...let's save the environment by creating marine reserves, no-take zones, and sanctuaries. We'll limit fishing in most areas and give the living marine resources a chance to recover even if it takes decades. Why can't people see what they are doing to the environment and do something to stop it? A lot of my views have gotten a rude awakening recently...

I think it's hard for many of us to imagine a situation in which we only know how to do one thing for a living - fish. Our fathers did it, as well as our grandfathers, great-grandfathers, great-great grandfathers...I think you see where I'm going. Some coastal communities of developing nations (I'll focus on developing nations here since Apo Island is being discussed on many blogs) are very much like this. Fishing isn't just a source of income, it's a source of pride, security, and tradition. Many local fishermen such as those at Apo Island don't know how to do anything else so while they may realize they need to make a change they don't have the means to do so and may not know where to start.

I have read about many successful marine protection programs but one thing most of them have in common is a strong social base upon which to create change. It has been shown that the most effective policies and regulations come from the bottom-up - initiated by the people themselves - as opposed to a government mandate that is forced onto fishermen. There are even US examples of this, the Maine lobster fishery had a dramatic turn-around from the brink of collapse to booming (unfortunately, other problems have now arisen) and many of these changes stemmed from the lobstermen themselves.

The closest situation I can think of for Missourians is corn. Many of you may not be farmers but it probably doesn't take too long for most of you to think of someone who owns land either in Kansas or Missouri and makes a living from growing hundreds of acres. In essence, this does to the land what some fishing practices do to the reefs, it quickly and ruthlessly depletes it of nutrients, destroys habitats, forces native flora and fauna out of the area and in worst-case-senarios to endangerment. How would residents in our corner of the world respond if someone came in and said "That's it! No more corn farming, surely you all can go find something else to do."?

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that everyone should stop farming corn but what if they changed the way they did it (which many farmers are)? Crop rotation (seasonal closures of fishing grounds), use of non-toxic chemicals (changing the gear that fishermen use), and perhaps even the gradual development of alternative incomes seem to me to be the agents of change. Of course, all of this then again changes when you think in terms of time-scale - how quickly are we depleting the resource versus the time it takes the resource to recover really determines the scale of management that needs to be taken. Further complicated by the threat of accelerated global environmental change due to anthropogenic green-house gas emissions....

Wow! This rambled on WAY longer than I planned but I just wanted to throw this out there as something to keep in mind as you are thinking about Apo Island, marine reserves, and fishermen. I don't have an answer (if I did I would be world-famous and rich) but I firmly believe that the answer is far from simple.

What are your thoughts?

[Chris Puett]

To start off, i have hard time of viewing someone else's problems, or just life in general, through my eyes. So after reading this it opens my mind by how you compared the fishing on Apo Island to farming here in our home town. I thought that was great, and yeah you may have "rambled on" like you said, but it was all very informational and it gets me thinking about the destruction of our environment, and wondering of possibilities of how these problems could be overcome...although my ideas most likely relate much to what the rest of the world has probably already thought of. After reading this i did a little research and found this cool site on how the destruction of marine life and coastal areas are being developed into a better environment.

[Nicole Rohr]

Taylor~ I used to be a "greenpeace ecologist". Even in scientific circles where protecting the environment is an extremely high priority, Greenpeace members are known to be very passionate and willing to go to extreme lengths to protect the environment. I'm not saying whether this is good or bad, just that there is an unbelievable desire and will among GP. I think I've toned down my single mindedness a bit and now realize that the environment also includes the well-being of humans.

Nick~ Great point! Environmental degradation is not just a problem in developing countnes but developed countries as well but developed countries have a different suite of problems. The largest problem in someplace like Apo Island may be overfishing and cyanide bombing for the aquarium industry, the largest problem in many developed countries is marine pollution. There are a whole host of problems facing the fishing industry in US waters and are definitely worth delving into!

[Nick Straton]

Are third world countries the only places where the residents aren't fully aware of what they need to do to restore they're only resource? I mean other places are surely more educated on the subject of saving a resource and can do a lot more research on something such as this to help rejuvinate it back to health. I've read about places in southeast asia that are in such poor condition but what about other places that don't rely on such few sources? They could surely do something about a disaster such as overfishing or, like you stated in Missouri, farming. I just don't see why those places with more tools to restore do not do so.

[Taylor Braby]

Hey Nicole, I meant to comment on this post sooner but I've just been super busy with the holidays! It's really funny when you say that you are a "greenpeace ecologist" because before I came into this course I was actually quite the opposite. To be honest I am still not quite an "eco-friendly" type person but since we have been reading The Enchanted Braid and discussing it in classes it has kind of gotten to me. I remember in one of my posts I was babbling on about how I didn't see why it was so hard to just stop fishing and depleting the reefs but you have put it into perspective to where it would relate to my neck of the woods. Growing corn is part of the Midwest way of life and it would be impossible to just stop growing corn and start selling key chains to the very few tourists who do come through Missouri for a way of making a living. I remember either reading or talking about this network called EcoTipping Points and it's a group who focuses and tries to restore places that are not only damaging the environment but they are also in need of assistance in living. Well anyway there is an EcoTipping Point on Apo Island where this group initiated a marine sanctuary where no one can fish and its there to help restore some of the reefs. This project is not only restoring 10% of the reefs around the island but it is also informing and involving the locals. I thought this project was a great start and your blog reminded me of it.

[Sean Nash]

Well well... would you look at all of the smart talk here. I love it. Now this is the type of discourse I had hoped to ultimately bring into this network! I think it is really important that not only our current and future students see and participate in these discussions, but that they also see that the folks bringing this content back into play here... are OUR people... people who have gone before them in this class.

I think that, more than almost anything else in Saint Joseph, is what our students need today. They need to see a clear path that shows the directions they might want to go are not only very possible with hard work... but that there are even people to offer suggestions and help guide them along.

Very powerful stuff... thank you guys so much for continuing to add your two cents to what we are doing here!
;-)

Sean

[Nicole Rohr]

Ah, economics...the second language of ecologists! I just did a six week seminar talking about creating markets for ecosystem services in order to promote the protection of living resources. It was really interesting and was something I hadn't thought of before but emerging markets are already taking shape (carbon and nitrogen trading, for example) and there has been lots of talk about creating a market in the Chesapeake centered around oyster reefs.

Stephanie, I whole-heartedly agree that cooperation is needed between many different interest groups in order to come out with the best possible solution for everyone involved! Great post :)

[Stephanie Kraft]

Amen Nicole! What your post speaks about is the lovely catch-22 that conservationsits, ecologists, managers, and yes even politicians have to think about in every restoration and management plan. I like to think about it like a multi-armed balancing trick, only you have a defined amount of weight, or resource. No one interested party is going to get everything they want and that inculdes us as the "advocates" for the natural resource. While I personally believe that all natural systems have a right to exist in an undisturbed state just as we have a right to exist, this unfortunately does not cut it in management. What we ultimately have to recognize is that if the public does not place any value on a resource it will not be conserved. This does not mean if you start our with public opinion against you you cannot change the outcome. What it does mean is that if we as the advocates cannot make people care (explaining the consequences of the complete degredation of the resource, helping people to identify with the resource in another way, etc), and help lead people into alternative practices (i.e. new jobs, changing the focus of a recreational fishery from a nonnative to a native fish, etc) we will not conserve a species no matter how well we understand the biology, behavior, genetics, ecology of the organisms and system or what laws we put into place. I think this quickly can morph into a discussion on the need for cooperation between scientists, sociologists, politicians, and economists. Who thought when you went to school for ecology you had to think abot economics again :)

[Korby Trautman]

I also love the connection you made about knowing someone who owns corn. I have 2 uncles that still farm, and my grandpa lived on a tobacco and corn farm most of this life. Here is a cool link that describes different statistics about corn growth in Missouri, check it out!

[Nicole Rohr]

Hi Torin, sorry it took me a bit to get back to you...unfortunately, graduate students are not exempt from the end-of-the-semester craziness and I got sucked in! I really liked some of the questions that you posed above and wanted to address a couple of them.

When an area is designated a no-take zone then it means that you cannot fish there and applies to local fishermen as well as commercial industries. Having said that, I would like to add the caveat that each MPA (marine protected area) is set up by separate legislation (except in the case of MPA systems) and so something the definition of no-take changes a bit from place to place. There is lots of thought, opinions, and conderation for locals taken into account when creating an MPA. Many times, areas that have significant cultural significance are not included in the park.

I think the question about money from tourists is a good one. Theoretically, you would expect to see a lag in time between the extablishment of the park and the influx of tourist dollars (the park has to get pretty before people want to come) but I think tourism is a tricky business. Oftentimes, you hear that tourists end up detroying the very environment they are interested in seeing! MPA's not only have fishing regulations, but many of them have extensive rules and regulation for tourism industries as well.

Also, don't think that everyone loves national parks......

Thanks for taking the time to read my rambling posts! I think this site is great and love the insightful questions and reflections you all have!

[Nicole Rohr]

I am one of the PhD students that Nash chats about...although Nash probably describes me as much cooler than I really am! :)

I really like your questions you posed! I am giong to be back later this evening to give you some more info and places to look if you're interested :)