From Reef to Table: Social and Ecological Factors Affecting Coral Reef Fisheries, Artisanal Seafood Supply Chains, and Seafood Security

Abstract

Ocean and coastal ecosystems provide critical fisheries, coastal protection, and cultural benefits to communities worldwide, but these services are diminishing due to local and global threats. In response, place-based strategies involve communities and resource users in management have proliferated. Here, we present a transferable community-based approach to assess the social and ecological factors affecting resource sustainability and food security in a small-scale, coral reef fishery. Our results show that this small-scale fishery provides large-scale benefits to communities, including 7,353 ± 1547 kg yr(-1) (mean ± SE) of seafood per year, equating to >30,000 meals with an economic value of $78,432. The vast majority of the catch is used for subsistence, contributing to community food security: 58% is kept, 33.5% is given away, and 8.5% is sold. Our spatial analysis assesses the geographic distribution of community beneficiaries from the fishery (the "food shed" for the fishery), and we document that 20% of seafood procured from the fishery is used for sociocultural events that are important for social cohesion. This approach provides a method for assessing social, economic, and cultural values provided by small-scale food systems, as well as important contributions to food security, with significant implications for conservation and management. This interdisciplinary effort aims to demonstrate a transferable participatory research approach useful for resource-dependent communities as they cope with socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental change.

Fig 1. Kīholo Bay study area, including spatial delineation of sampling area for creel and fish flow surveys (orange outline) and locations of transects for ecological surveys of reef fish.

Background imagery shows the spatial configuration of the bay and the reef complex, and inset shows the location in the Hawaiian Islands.

Fig 2. Average biomass density by trophic group for resource fishes in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), Kaho‘olawe Island Reserve (KIR, an unfished reserve in the main Hawaiian Islands), marine protected areas (MPA) in the West Hawaii region, areas open to fishing in West Hawai‘i (referred to as ‘open’), and in Kīholo Bay.

MPAs included in this comparison are included in S1 Table. The multiple comparisons test suggest that resource fish biomass at Kīholo Bay was not significantly different from that of highly managed areas in West Hawai‘i or the sites which have little or no fishing regulations, which we refer to as ‘open’ (p = 0.07).

Fig 3. Fish flow from reef to table for Kīholo Bay, with variation in composition of key trophic groups throughout these artisanal supply chains.

The first pie chart shows the total biomass, by tropic group, of reef fish in Kīholo Bay, as determined from in-water ecological surveys. Next, the harvest by gear type is depicted, showing how different gear types target different mixes of trophic groups; the total % of total harvest by each gear type is included in the center of each pie chart. The total expanded catch is approximately 15.2% of the standing stock biomass, and the proportions of the catch vary in comparison to the standing stock trophic composition. Finally, the last three pie charts show which trophic groups are distributed to which end use (disposition); percentages indicate the proportion of the total catch directed toward each end use (given away, kept, sold).

Fig 4. Coastal fisheries catch from creel surveying efforts in Kīholo Bay and the State of Hawai‘i commercial reporting block.

(A) Total reconstructed annual catch (in kg) by gear type from a one-year creel survey at Kīholo Bay, Hawai‘i (red) compared to a 5-year annual mean of commercial marine landings by gear type (2009–2013, red) reported to the State of Hawai‘i’s Department of Land and Natural Resources for the entirety of reporting area 102. (B) Size of Kīholo Bay in reference to the DLNR reporting area 102 for commercial catches. The DAR reporting block is approximately 78 times larger than the reporting area for the Kīholo creel survey. Although the commercial catch and the Kīholo Bay catch represent very different spatial scales, the total annual catches are not significantly different (t-test: t = 1.5934, DF = 4, p = 0.1863). The category “other” includes gleaning for Kīholo Bay and trolling for commercial data. Line fishing includes handpole and rod-and-reel (which includes whipping, dunking and slide-baiting). Gleaning includes invertebrate collection.

Fig 5. Mapping artisanal seafood supply chains as “fish flow” from the Kīholo Bay coral reef fishery.

Arrows indicate locations where seafood from Kīholo is consumed. Exact locations are indicated as place-names; some destinations were only available at coarser district (moku) levels (these are indicated with asterisks). Post-landings disposition is distinguished for kept (red), given away (blue), and sold (green) seafood. Pie charts are scaled to the total catch (kg) for each destination. The numbers in each pie are the number of distribution events recorded for each destination and represent only survey-recorded end-use, not the annual expanded catch. The district boundaries, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), and transportation lines were acquired from the Hawai‘i state GIS portal [http://planning.hawaii.gov/gis/download-gis-data/].