Degradation of coral reef ecosystems began centuries ago, but there is no global summary of the magnitude of change. We compiled records, extending back thousands of years, of the status and trends of seven major guilds of carnivores, herbivores, and architectural species from 14 regions. Large animals declined before small animals and architectural species, and Atlantic reefs declined before reefs in the Red Sea and Australia, but the trajectories of decline were markedly similar worldwide. All reefs were substantially degraded long before outbreaks of coral disease and bleaching. Regardless of these new threats, reefs will not survive without immediate protection from human exploitation over large spatial scales.

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Global Trajectories of the Long-Term Decline of Coral Reef Ecosystems

A national survey of recreational and indigenous fishing was conducted in Australia during 2000-01 The survey was a joint initiative of Commonwealth and State governments Grants from the Natural Heritage Trust, Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, State and Territory fisheries agencies supported the project The national survey was a multifaceted project designed to provide a range of information about non-commercial fishing in Australia The project comprised three independent surveys, the National Recreational Fishing Survey, the Indigenous Fishing Survey of Northern Australia and the Overseas Visitor Fishing Survey Different methodologies and analytical approaches were required for each of these surveys, reflecting their varying characteristics

The National Recreational and Indigenous Fishing Survey

There are two broadly conceptualized ways in which conservation knowledge may evolve: the depletion crisis model and the ecological understanding model. The first one argues that developing conservation thought and practice depends on learning that resources are depletable. Such learning typically follows a resource crisis. The second mechanism emphasizes the development of conservation practices following the incremental elaboration of environmental knowledge by a group of people. These mechanisms may work together. Following a perturbation, a society can self-organize, learn and adapt. The self-organizing process, facilitated by knowledge development and learning, has the potential to increase the resilience (capability to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change) of resource use systems. Hence, conservation knowledge can develop through a combination of long-term ecological understanding and learning from crises and mistakes. It has survival value, as it increases the resilience of integrated social--ecological systems to deal with change in ways that continue to sustain both peoples and their environments.

of Conservation Practice for Social-Ecological System Resilience

https://www.portalces.org/sites/default/files/migrated/docs/1223.pdf

Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Concepts and Cases

Knowledge, Learning and the Evolution of Conservation Practice for Social-Ecological System Resilience

Centuries of fishing and hunting have given Torres Strait Islanders an intimate familiarity with the sea and its inhabitants, including what may be an unparalleled understanding of dugong behaviour. And the waters around the islands are rich. Sea turtles and dugongs - endangered species in many other tropical waters - are so abundant that they form a large part of the islanders' diets. Coral reef fish and lobsters abound. But various impacts of the outside world have robbed the islanders of their ability to make a good living from their waters. The authors discuss how such Fourth World peoples (the islanders are Melanesian, but the islands are Australian) may find themselves at an even greater disadvantage than some Third World peoples in exploiting their natural resources for their own benefit. This text is based on five years of fieldwork. The book treats in detail the history of fishing in the islands; the practices of dugong hunting, turtle hunting and fishing; the islanders' detailed knowledge of the behaviour of marine animals; traditional fishing rights and their doubtful value today; the impediments to the islanders making effective use of their marine resources; and the very high consumption of local seafood, despite the high consumption of imported foods.

J. W. MacFarlane

Papers

Traditional fishing in the Torres Strait Islands