Problem overview:

     Integrating stakeholders: Fisheries research instills the belief that the taking and analysis of fisheries data is a difficult and highly specialized task and thus many government workers were, in the past, seldom inclined to invite participation of "lay" people in gathering data. More recently, however, fisheries surveys have included local divers and fishermen as aids in government survey activities.

     Training and educational initiatives: Data gathering is a simple task. Researchers have relied on high school students to gather data on daily subsistence catches and household fishing activities (fishing methods, effort and catches) in their own extended families. They have been given fishing log sheets and data gathering equipment along with instructions on how to record data.

     Meeting information requirements: Management of nearshore marine resources requires some form of assessment and monitoring. Most of the assessment and monitoring associated with community based projects is based on simple and direct observations by fishers and the rest of the village people who live in the area and the information may, or may not, be passed on to the National fisheries agents. When information is specifically requested as part of the community management programme and a programme set up to collect the information, the villagers are likely to be more observant and communicative.

Background in summary:

     Community monitoring of a bait fishery in the Solomon Islands: Customary ownership or tenure over sea areas in the Solomon Islands still exists. Access to areas where traditional rights of tenure, or usage of natural resources have become custom, can only be maintained through negotiation of an agreement and the payment of compensation or royalty payments.

     Fishery data monitored and transferred to authorities: Fees were agreed to and fishing areas mapped and duly authorized. Village people kept accurate records of fishing activity to be sure they were paid correctly. At least one crewmember in each boat was shown how to use the maps and the new log sheets. The log sheets were then passed to the Fisheries Department for reference in the event of village complaints. This new system reduced conflict, and the fishery has been reasonably successful.

     Community subsistence fishery assessment in Samoa: In 1988/89, FAO/UNDP conducted a project to assess the subsistence fishery in Western Samoa. The project team used senior high school students to record daily subsistence catches in their own extended families.

     Students are guided with narrative and illustrative instructions: Instructions, in English and Samoan, are: "Enter the numbers and average length (cm) of all fish and other sea creatures caught by people in your household during each whole day (including the night). Measure the animals as in the drawings. Use this form for one week and fill in one daily column after each day."

     Time series data and data quality control: Students kept a "weekly fishing log" of household fishing activities (fishing methods, effort and catches) over a 7-day period (King, 1990). The survey could be repeated at intervals over the year to detect seasonal variations in catches. Teachers provided a data quality check by marking the student logs and indicating which entries were likely to be unreliable.

     The project yielded a surprising amount of information: such as

• Estimates of sustainable yield by area.
  
  
• Quantity and diversity of the catch from each village
  
  
• Type of ecosystem available for fishing
  
  
• Index of the productivity of the reef (King 1995).
  
  

Peer Review Committee Good practice rating: (1 for the best, 5 for the lowest score)
Sustainability		Efficiency
3	Improvement in either the environment of economic condition with no harm to the other.	2	Cost efficient.
3	Sustainable over time (not one-off)	Process
Adaptability		2	Participation of the community
3	Location adaptability (can the project be done in other places?)	2	Participation of resource owners/users
3	Socio-cultural adaptability.	2	Partnerships between various actors (Governments, NGO, Academia, Private)
2	Level of development adaptability.	-	Degree of coordination and cooperation between government departments.
2	Style of government adaptability.	2	Ability to attract political interest/support
3	Degree of decentralization adaptability.	2	Procedures for feedback and review.
Comments on this example:      Training and educational initiatives: Authorities benefit from cost reduction by using high school students to gather field data instead of sending officials out into the sight. On the other hand, students also benefit from gaining first hand knowledge on how to properly collect scientific data with proper data collection material, such as, the use of a fish log. Additionally, the students gain a certain sense of involvement with what is happening around them in their surrounding environment. Hopefully, this will lead them to be more nature conscious and become future adults that could help solve environmental problems. Sustainability of the project: The Solomon Island monitoring programme is an on-going partnership between commercial enterprise, government and the community. It is driven by the commercial use of the fishery and not for conservational purposes. Therefore, if there is no longer commercial interest or the area loses its commercial value, the programme may no longer persist. The Samoan project was a one-off operation. The current Samoa Fisheries Extension and Training Programme does not include an element of community monitoring as the principal planners see no reason why the community should co-operate with such a programme. Adaptability of the project to other situations:      Style of government adaptability: Using community members to gather information on the condition of a resource does not necessarily depend on a democratic style government, or on giving authority to the local communities. But these factors do help improve cooperation and the quality and quantity of information that can be provided. The nice thing about community-based monitoring programs is that they do require top down data control yet also need bottom up observational capability. Process of decision making and implementation:      Meeting information requirements: Some people may think that it is risky to rely on students or local fishermen to gather field data, since fishermen are rather under educated and students may be too immature. Somehow, this example has proven this belief wrong. As the content said, local fishermen tend to know more about fishery resources than scientist. They just dont know how to present the data in scientific format. As for students, data collected by them are being double checked by their teachers. Therefore, the quality of the data should be reliable. All in all, it is a very clever and cost-effective idea to use volunteers, which in this case, are local fishermen and students, to do the job. Cost efficiency:      Integrating stakeholders: Integrating fisherman and high school students in the data gathering process has helped reduce the cost of hiring professionals, such as, research firms or academics to do the job. Consequently, the same amount data is gathered in the end, while the cost for arriving with such data is much cheaper.