Immediate impact of COVID-19 across tropical small-scale fishing communities.

The volume and value of fish catches by Indonesia's small-scale fisheries have declined significantly since national government restrictions on travel and social distancing were imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a digital data collection system (OurFish), that records purchases by fish traders from small-scale fishers, data was collected across 82 coastal communities in Southeast Sulawesi. We found that the number of active fishers and traders declined by more than 90% after the onset of the pandemic and the average weight of catch per fishing trip increased across fishers. Although the average price per kilogram of fish declined after the pandemic began, fishers that were able to maintain fishing had on average higher catches and therefore daily catch value was maintained. High value fisheries that usually enter export supply chains were more negatively impacted compared with lower value species that are commonly sold to local markets. We interviewed 185 small scale fishers and fish traders across 20 of the 82 communities in Southeast Sulawesi province, recording the perceived level of impact on local fisheries and the fish trade, causes of this impact and proposed coping strategies. Over 50% of both fishers and fish traders believed low demand for fish from traders and a decline in the price received for fish were disrupting their lives. Approximately 75% of both male and female fishers are coping by continuing to fish, highlighting that there were few alternative livelihoods available at the time of the interviews. Our results provide key insights into the vulnerability of small-scale fishing communities to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Pending Matter of Co-Management in Geotourism: an analysis of the Global Geopark El Hierro

The present study was designed to analyse community participation in the co‑management of the UNESCO Global Geopark of El Hierro (The Canary Islands, Spain) after its first revalidation process in 2018 (where this aspect figured as central, pending attention) and previous to the 2022 revalidation. The study was carried out at the height of the crisis caused by the Covid‑19 pandemic and was planned to detect whether in the later process of regeneration, the island should finally tackle the co‑management principle central to the socio‑ ‑geological model of the UNESCO GLOBAL Geopark for resilience, and if the community itself perceived the need to take control of their own destiny and destination, above all in its aspect of geotourism. The preliminary results show clearly that the Global Geopark is considered to be important by the community and that there is also a strong desire for greater participation and implication than at present. © PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural.

Development from a distance: Exploring an international non-profit's interactions with communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A case study analysis of an international development non-profit identifies strategies and decision-making processes utilized to engage community members in person and virtually during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The strategies employed led to a continuation of projects in the field, potentially excluding some stakeholder groups from decision-making processes at the community level. Staff members described how power dynamics and geographic distance affected internal decision-making for community involvement, highlighting the importance of adopting a critical self-reflection approach to facilitate communication among an intercultural team for more equitable community engagement.

The potential effects of COVID-19 lockdown and the following restrictions on the status of eight target stocks in the Adriatic Sea

The COVID-19 pandemic had major impacts on the seafood supply chain, also reducing fishing activity. It is worth asking if the fish stocks in the Mediterranean Sea, which in most cases have been in overfishing conditions for many years, may have benefitted from the reduction in the fishing pressure. The present work is the first attempt to make a quantitative evaluation of the fishing effort reduction due to the COVID-19 pandemic and, consequently, its impact on Mediterranean fish stocks, focusing on Adriatic Sea subareas. Eight commercially exploited target stocks (common sole, common cuttlefish, spottail mantis shrimp, European hake, red mullet, anchovy, sardine, and deepwater pink shrimp) were evaluated with a surplus production model, separately fitting the data for each stock until 2019 and until 2020. Results for the 2019 and 2020 models in terms of biomass and fishing mortality were statistically compared with a bootstrap resampling technique to assess their statistical difference. Most of the stocks showed a small but significant improvement in terms of both biomass at sea and reduction in fishing mortality, except cuttlefish and pink shrimp, which showed a reduction in biomass at sea and an increase in fishing mortality (only for common cuttlefish). After reviewing the potential co-occurrence of environmental and management-related factors, we concluded that only in the case of the common sole can an effective biomass improvement related to the pandemic restrictions be detected, because it is the target of the only fishing fleet whose activity remained far lower than expectations for the entire 2020.

Models of hospital care during COVID-19 pandemic in Italy: results from a survey of physicians

During COVID-19 pandemic, COVID Hospitals were created throughout Italy and several different models of care for COVID-19 patients were implemented. Methods. We conducted a survey on physicians dedicated to the care of COVID-19 patients with the aim of describing specific models of hospital care that were implemented during the first wave of the pandemic in Italy. The survey included seven questions with an estimated response time of approximately 5 minutes. The questionnaire went through a face validation process and pilot testing. The final version of the questionnaire was disseminated through a national limited social platform for physicians involved in the care of COVID-19 patients. Results. In the time period between May 1st, 2020 and July 1st, 2020, 350 physicians from all over the Country participated to the survey. In most cases, old departments were transformed to COVID units, and new units dedicated to COVID-19 patients were created. A multidisciplinary team of specialists was available in half of the models of care described. The geriatrician was always part of the mulridisciplinary team. Over one third of the multidisciplinary teams for the care of COVID-19 patients also included infectious diseases specialists and pulmonologists. Conclusions. According to findings from our survey, co-management of care and multidisciplinary models were available for half of COVID-19 patients during the first wave of pandemic. Such models may offer significant advantages in terms of favourable outcomes and mortality, especially in complex older adults. © by Società Italiana di Gerontologia e Geriatria (SIGG).

Marine reserves and resilience in the era of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced coastal communities around the world to re-evaluate their approaches to marine conservation and marine protected area (MPA) management. Initial studies have called for the need for improved social-ecological resilience of MPAs to improve the adaptive capacity of communities and ecosystems to respond to future crises. However, as posed by Armitage and Johnson (2006), it is critical that MPA managers ask the question "for what and for whom are we trying to promote resilience?" in designing more resilient MPAs for a post-pandemic world. Based on a systematic literature review of marine reserve impacts and supported by fieldwork conducted in the Wakatobi National Park in Indonesia over the course of the COVID-19 crisis, this study examines what opportunities for transformations in MPA management and governance have emerged, and how MPAs can focus on incorporating principles of equitable resilience as they build back from the pandemic. The findings demonstrate how equitable resilience can be undermined when the voices and interests of local communities are sidelined in favour of powerful interest groups such as tourism or NGOs. Ultimately, the paper concludes that planning for resilience in MPAs must synchronize with local realities to better realize the potential for system transformation and a reimagining of MPA capacity to better serve local communities.

An Integrated Landscape–Seascape Approach in the Making: Facilitating Multi-Stakeholder Partnership for Socio-Ecological Revitalisation in Eastern Coastal Taiwan (2016–2021)

Over the past decade, integrated landscape (–seascape) approaches—IL(S)As—have been gaining prominence as holistic, collaborative, and tangible solutions to biodiversity conservation and sustainability challenges. On-the-ground implementation of IL(S)As, however, is a complex task. The Xinshe “Forest–River–Village–Ocean” Eco-Agriculture Initiative (the Xinshe Initiative), established in October 2016 and facilitated by the authors, is an ILSA aimed at the socio-ecological revitalisation of the Xinshe ridge-to-reef landscape–seascape in eastern coastal Taiwan. The objective of this paper is to summarise and demonstrate our experiences with facilitating the Xinshe Initiative over the five-year period (2016–2021). This is a case study participatory action research based on mixed qualitative methods of data collection and analysis. Research findings reveal the importance of: (1) locally sensitive boundary setting and checking by the means of inclusive and participatory processes;(2) various facilitation tools and engagement strategies for the continuity of multi-stakeholder interest and engagement;(3) five socio-ecological perspectives of the Satoyama Initiative for determining environmental and socio-economic objectives;(4) regular, consistent, and locally sensitive monitoring and evaluation tools for the effectiveness of adaptive co-management;and (5) enabling conditions (relational, knowledge, and political resources) for promoting the Xinshe ILSA-related experiences “from -scape to scale”.

A Framework for Simulating Ecosystem Effects in Data-Poor Small-Scale Fisheries Using Science-Based and Local Ecological Knowledge-Based Models

The constant demand for seafood products and the undeniable effects of fishing on marine ecosystems make it urgent to implement an ecosystem approach, even in data-poor scenarios such as small-scale fisheries. Understanding the impacts of fishing is essential for promoting management strategies that prevent irreversible damage to marine ecosystems. Thus, ecosystem quantitative science-based models have been frequently used to evaluate the effects of fishing, although fishers’ local ecological knowledge (LEK) can aid the implementation of qualitative models, particularly in data-poor conditions. Here, we present a framework for simulating and assessing the effects of fishing following two strategies: 1) for both types of models, we simulated species removal scenarios, and 2) for quantitative science-based models, we fitted time series to dynamically assessed impacts. The impacts were analyzed through ecological indicators commonly used for quantitative models, and because these indicators cannot be easily estimated for qualitative models, we propose the use of topological indicators in both types of models. The approach was applied to three case studies of small-scale finfish fisheries in northwestern Mexico. We found that the ecosystem response to species removal was different in each case study and that the target species can play an important role in ecosystems, but their removal does not generate abrupt changes in the ecosystem structure. The quantitative science-based models were able to reproduce the historical catch trends, which allowed us to reveal that changes in ecosystems appear to be mostly influenced by primary productivity rather than fishing effort. Furthermore, topological and ecological indicators showed similar trends in the quantitative models, which suggests that the former could be useful when data-poor conditions allow only qualitative models. This result confirms the relevance of the participation of fishers in generating qualitative models and their decisive role in the discussion of co-management strategies and risk scenarios in a better-informed manner.