Community fishery resources management on Malalison Island, Philippines: R& D framework, interventions, and policy implications

In 1991, the Aquaculture Department of the Southwest Asian Fisheries Develo pment Center launched a community-based fishery resources management projec t on Malalison Island in central Philippines, to help conserve the countrie s marine resources and to help the fisherfolk rise above their poverty. The eight-yens project integrated various disciplines in biology, economics, s ociology: public administration, and engineering in its study of fishery re sources and fishing communities and in evolving intervention strategies for resource conservation and management, and Sos community development. Thr p roject's most important accomplishment was the inculcation among the fisher folk of the importance of resource conservation and management. The most im portant lesson learned was that nn enlightened and empowered fisherfolk cou ld be effective managers and responsible users of fishery resources.