Browsing by Author "Smith, Allan H."

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Co-Management of the White Sea Urchin Resource in St. Lucia
(1991) Smith, Allan H.; Walters, Randolph
"This study reviews the development of a management strategy for the exploitation of the white-spined sea urchin (Tripneustes ventricosus) on the island of St. Lucia. The strategy was developed in response to a situation of continued over harvesting, which had resulted in Government's closure of the fishery to allow the recovery of the stock."
Community-Based Management of Fishery Resources in the Caribbean
(1991) Chakalall, Bisessar; Smith, Allan H.
"Modern fisheries management strategies, such as closed areas and seasons, quality of catch and gear restrictions, have not yielded the expected and desired results in the small islands of the Caribbean, the Lesser Antilles. Even though the commercial, nearshore, demersal and reef resources are fully exploited or overfished, little or no effort is being made to observe or enforce current management regulations. This paper examines the approach and application of community-based management as a strategy for resolving the 'commons problem' created by the open access fisheries of the Lesser Antilles. "A major conclusion is that community-based management can be applied to the small-scale fisheries of the Caribbean through existing legal and institutional structures and with certain changes in policies. The experience which is lacking can only be gained through trial and error and by building on the existing traditional practices being observed by fishermen. Community-based management would form the backbone for fisheries management, to be supported by modern management strategies. National fisheries management bodies will have to change their functions in that they will now provide advice and technical assistance to the holders of the exclusive-use rights, who will manage the resource in conjunction with the diverse interest groups of the coastal community."
Community-Based Use of Mangrove Resources in St. Lucia
(1992) Smith, Allan H.; Berkes, Fikret
"The sustainable use of mangrove forests can effectively contribute to their conservation. The experience with an integrated conservation-development project in St. Lucia showed that charcoal producers using mangrove fuelwood resources in a Marine Reserve Area have successfully changed their harvesting practices, reversing a trend of mangrove destruction. The conditions under which this change occurred included strengthening the organization of local users and their resource-use rights, and building a community-based management system, leading to the avoidance of open-access conditions. Surveys of the mangrove, undertaken before and after management intervention, showed that while the mean stand diameter of the fuelwood trees did not change significantly, there was an increase in the density of stems and in total basal area of timber."
Coral Reef Monitoring for Management of Marine Parks: Cases from the Insular Caribbean
(1991) Smith, Allan H.; van't Hof, Tom
"Management of coral reefs, and indeed any other natural resource, most often implies amelioration of minimization of man's impacts. Of the range of impacts associated with reef degradation, those most relevant to the insular Caribbean are: overfishing, use of destructive fishing methods, eutrophication by nutrients from sewage, waste water and fertilizers, sedimentation, and physical damage from recreational and commercial use, including damage by anchors and divers."
Solutions to the 'Tragedy of the Commons': Sea Urchin Management in St. Lucia, West Indies
(1990) Smith, Allan H.; Berkes, Fikret
"Possible solutions to the commons problem have rarely been investigated systematically by the use of biological data on the sustainability of the resource. The edible sear urchin (Tripneustes ventricosus) resource of St. Lucia is highly prized but vulnerable to over-exploitation because of its shallow water distribution. We examined sustainability in three study areas. The resource was depleted in the study area in which access was free and open. It remained sustainable in the other two areas in which there were access controls. In one case, the area was under government control as a marine reserve, a measure that enjoyed local support; in the other, there was a locally practiced 'closed season' and community-based management of access into the bay. The results indicated that both government controls and informal, community-level controls can lead to successful resource management outcomes."