Rhodes, K.L., Warren-Rhodes, K., Houk, P., Cuetos-Bueno, J., Fong, Q. and Hoot, W. 2011. An Interdisciplinary Study of Market Forces and Nearshore Fisheries Management in Micronesia. A Report of the Marine Program of the Asia Pacific Conservation Region, The Nature Conservancy. Report No. 6/11. 121 pp.

The current study examines market forces driving overfishing in the eight jurisdictions of Micronesia: Yap, Kosrae, Pohnpei and Chuuk, Palau, the Marshall Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam. Case studies, fisher surveys, and literature reviews were used to analyze the historical context of coastal fisheries and to identify potential changes in socio-economic, political, and management practices that could improve sustainability. Similar to past research on these subjects, this study’s overall conclusion is that coastal fisheries are in decline throughout Micronesia and a substantial reduction in catch volume is needed until sustainable management targets can be achieved. To accomplish this, reforms in the ways that coastal fish are marketed and managed are needed in all jurisdictions to ensure long-term socioeconomic security, including providing equity to fish prices and the protection of undersized fish and spawning stocks to improve fish population growth. Catalyzing declines of marine resources in some jurisdictions are open access property regimes that dampen the sense of resource ownership and responsibility and stimulate the “race to fish.” Resource declines were typically most severe in open access jurisdictions, while those with low population density and those operating under stronger and more intact customary marine tenure systems tended to be less overfished. Nonetheless, degraded fisheries and impacts to fish stocks from unsustainable fishing practices were noted in all jurisdictions, regardless of the level of traditional management being exercised.