![Sample our Geography journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5937/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Geography.jpg"})
Abstract
This study examines the potential socio-spatial impacts of a new series of marine protected areas (MPAs) on fishers in Moorea, French Polynesia. The establishment of the MPAs is contextualized within recent and historical processes of economic development and theories of women in development and gender, culture and development. Seventy adults from three neighborhoods in Moorea were interviewed. Analysis of the data provides new information about the characteristics of fishing in Moorea. Unlike most fishing cultures and communities throughout the Pacific Islands, men and women in Moorea have similar, as opposed to segregated, spatial patterns of fishing activities and fishing methods. The study also points out the potential negative impacts of the MPAs on both men and women, particularly younger and lower-income fishers.
Este estudio examina los potenciales impactos socio-espaciales de una nueva serie de áreas marinas protegidas (AMPs) sobre pescadores en Moorea, en la Polinesia Francesa. El establecimiento de las AMPs es contextualizado dentro de los procesos recientes e históricos de desarrollo económico, y teorías de la mujer en el desarrollo y género, cultura y desarrollo. Setenta adultos de tres barrios de Moorea fueron entrevistados. El análisis de datos provee nueva información sobre las características de la pesca en Moorea. Contrariamente a la mayoría de las culturas y comunidades de pesca de las Islas del Pacífico, los hombres y mujeres en Moorea tienen patrones espaciales de actividades y métodos de pesca similares, y no segregados. El estudio también destaca los potenciales impactos negativos de las AMPs tanto en hombres como en mujeres, particularmente pescadores jóvenes y de bajos recursos.
Acknowledgements
The research and writing of this article has been supported by the National Science Foundation (SBR-9806256 and SBR-0137458) and a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Program on Global Security and Sustainability (00-65195-GSS). The authors are grateful to Tehea Tramier, Claude Carlson, Annie Aubanel and Christian Monier for fieldwork assistance. The authors also acknowledge the generosity of people too numerous to name from Moorea and Tahiti, as well as the staff and fellow researchers at the UC Berkeley Richard B. Gump South Pacific Research Station and the Centre de Recherches et Observatoire de l'Environnement in Moorea. The authors would also like to thank three anonymous reviewers, Kathleen O'Reilly, Nina Laurie, Sarah Halvorson and Robyn Longhurst for very helpful advice. This is Contribution No. 173 of the UC Berkeley Richard B. Gump South Pacific Research Station.
Notes
1. The five island groups are the Societies, the Tuamotus, the Marquesas, the Australs and the Gambiers.
2. Economic figures after 2006 are not available at the time of publication.
3. Tourism figures after 2006 are not available at the time of publication.
4. The term ‘marine protected area’ or ‘MPA’ (aire marine protégée or AMP in French) was one of many terms used by participants in the process of creating MPA in Moorea. In this article we use the term MPA to describe a zone that partially or fully restricts marine resource extraction.
5. It is important to note that definitions of the Pacific Islands region and its division into three broad categories of people: Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia are Western constructs. The Pacific Islands are diverse in terms of culture, history, political economy, etc. making it impossible to paint broad generalizations. Nevertheless, the Pacific Islands serve as a useful unit for many governmental and cultural organizations. In relation to women and fishing, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community maintains a Women in Fisheries Information Bulletin which serves as the leading source of information about women and fishing in the Pacific (http://www.spc.int/Coastfish/news/WIF/wif.htm).
6. Other studies have focused on user groups more generally, stratified mainly by type of use, such as commercial fishers, recreational fishers, tourists, kayakers, surfers, scientists, etc.
7. In 2002, women constituted approximately 43% of employed people in French Polynesia, up from 28% in 1977. They are concentrated in specific sectors, especially in domestic services, public health, tourism and financial services. Women account for 32% of labor in (reported) small-scale commercial fishing and 20% of labor in commercial agriculture (Villedieu-Liou Citation1995, 2–3). These data perhaps best reflect conditions on the island of Tahiti, French Polynesia's only commercial center, where a majority of expatriates from France also live and work. There are no published data on either employment in small-scale or subsistence food production.
8. Food production has not been paramount because French Polynesia was importing over 80% of its food by 1989 (Association pour la Developpement et la Promotion des Actions Économiques de la Polynésie Française Citation1989). The majority of people can afford imported food because of an artificially high standard of living that is partially subsidized by France (US$17,500) (Institut Statistique de la Polynésie Française Citation2006).
9. This cultural invention or ‘geographical imagination’ can be contextualized in a body of theory that explores the racialized and sexualized tropes of Pacific Island people that have been instrumental in the capitalist, colonial and military projects that have shaped the histories of many Pacific Islands (see Keesing Citation1989; Porter Citation1990; Obeyesekere Citation1992; Smith Citation1992; Buck Citation1993; Teaiwa Citation1994; Edmond Citation1997; Lockwood Citation2004; Jolly Citation2005, Citation2007, Citation2008, among others). Because this article focuses on fishing as opposed to tourism development, this area of research is not fully reviewed or engaged here.
10. Fishers were asked to identify themselves as professional/commercial, subsistence or leisure fishers. Explanations for each category were as follows: professional/commercial: one who earns an income from fishing; subsistence: one who regularly depends on fishing to provide food for self or household; leisure: one who fishes for recreation or pleasure and does not depend on fishing for either an income or food provisioning. We were unable to correlate these categories with exact data on source of income and income levels, because asking direct and detailed questions about these topics was considered too sensitive. Other questions were posed in the interviews to substantiate the category chosen, such as ‘Does fishing represent none, a little, half, or most of your income?’ and ‘How many times do you fish each week?’
11. Because there were only two informants in the high income category, we will not make generalizations about this category of people.
12. When an interview participant indicated more than one fishing spot, the distance of all of them was averaged. When an interview participant indicated a fishing area larger than a single point on the map, the centroid of the area (polygon) was calculated as the average distance.