Supin Wongbusarakum

2015

2016

2017

This is Year 3 of an existing CRCP-funded project under the same name. The activities in this proposal focus on Guam and Hawaii, and complement the socioeconomic monitoring aspect of a PIMPAC proposal that covers the Federated States of Micronesia, CNMI, Palau, and the Republic of Marshall Islands. This project also seeks to promote the use of and build U.S. domestic capacity in SocMon/SEM-Pasifika methods as outlined in the CRCP Socioeconomic Strategy.Social science and socioeconomic monitoring are increasingly being recognized as important dimensions of effective reef conservation and management. NOAA social scientists continue providing their expertise to build capacity of and provide technical assistance to NOAA staff and partners throughout the Micronesia region to conduct, strengthen, and sustain socioeconomic monitoring in coastal and marine management. The capacity development activities in FY 16 and FY 17 will address the key areas identified in the FY 15 socioeconomic monitoring capacity building needs survey. Training workshops and technical support focus on: developing skills in socioeconomic qualitative and quantitative data analysis and data management; developing data collecting instruments (such as survey questionnaires and semi-structured interviews and using them to gather data and building training skills so that the members can better serve as SEM trainers for their jurisdictions and regions). We will also further integrate bio-physical and socioeconomic assessments/monitoring in the Manell-Gues Habitat Blueprint site in Guam to understand the vulnerability and resilience of the ecosystems (including human communities), and will further revise the integrated monitoring plan, process and lessons for other sites. Partners in Micronesia for related activities include the Micronesia Conservation Trust, The Nature Conservancy, the Micronesia Islands Nature Alliance, the Pacific Islands Marine Protected Areas Community, the University of Guam Marine Lab and Geography Department, Palau International Coral Reefs Center, and several conservation NGOs in different Micronesia jurisdictions.In FY16 and FY17, the project also address the needs of the Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) to monitor and inform their Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Areas (CBSFA), which are designated under HRS 188-22.6 to protect fishing practices traditionally and customarily exercised for native Hawaiian subsistence, culture, and religion. To date, DAR does not have in-house capacity to conduct socioeconomic monitoring. The project team will support the CBSFA planner and NOAA fellow, who participated in the SEM-Pasifika training and data analysis training workshops in FY 15 and FY16, in their efforts through training on social scientific data collecting instruments (including survey and key informant interviewing) and data analysis with selected DAR staff and representatives from selected communities interested in establishing Community Based Subsistence Fishing Areas (CBSFA) in Hawaii.

The main outcomes of this project are:1) Improved capacity-for and know-how related to socioeconomic monitoring as a tool to improve coral reef conservation planning and management among key staff in NOAA and partner organizations. The expectation is that the Micronesia socioeconomic monitoring core team members and the representatives from DAR and the CBSFAs of the state of Hawaii have the capacity to conduct socioeconomic monitoring and help train others in their communities, jurisdictions, and in the region.2) An improved understanding of the socioeconomic conditions of reef dependent communities and their relationship with bio-physical factors in the Manell-Gues Habitat Blueprint site, including the effectiveness of the Achang Marine Preserve (tier 1 for socioeconomic monitoring per the MPA Management Checklist). Data from the socioeconomic assessment will inform management decisions across all sectors, including fisheries management, coral reef conservation, climate change adaptation, and community resilience. In Guam, biological monitoring indicates that the preserves are effective. With the first set of the socioeconomic data collected and analyzed, human-related information can be use to help evaluate management effectiveness, refine management strategies for the Preserve, and target outreach and education efforts to improve their effectiveness. For the CBSFA sites in Hawaii, the socioeconomic assessment conducted after the training by DAR will help establish baseline socioeconomic conditions at the sites and help determine the effectiveness of the program activities and the CBFSA status.3) Strategies for sustainable socioeconomic monitoring that take into consideration integrated monitoring, involving experts from multiple disciplines who work on biological and socioeconomic monitoring, as well as local stakeholders in Micronesia and Hawaii. The FY17 project supports further development of integrated monitoring plans and the design of selected monitoring sites. In FY16, in collaboration with multiple partners in Micronesia, we reviewed the existing socioeconomic data collected at different sites in Micronesia and developed a set of recommendations for data management and database of the region. We expect the experience and knowledge generated by this project shared in a manuscript to serve as an impetus for future efforts in interdisciplinary and integrated monitoring within NOAA and in partner organizations.

• Guam
• Hawaii
• International Micronesia

• Manell-Geus Watershed

Fishing

Closed

Completed

https://www.coris.noaa.gov/search/rest/find/document?searchText=projectNumber%3A31228%20OR%20projectTitle%3A%22Strengthening%20Sustainable%20Socioeconomic%20Monitoring%20of%20Reef-Dependent%20Communities%20in%20Micronesia%20%28Guam%20and%20CNMI%29%22%20OR%20projectTitle%3A%22Strengthening%20Sustainable%20Socioeconomic%20Monitoring%20of%20Reef-Dependent%20Communities%20in%20Micronesia%20%28Guam%20and%20Hawaii%29%22&start=1&max=10&f=searchPage