{"id":20316,"date":"2019-12-04T14:19:40","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T14:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/?p=20316"},"modified":"2023-08-24T13:21:17","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T12:21:17","slug":"connecting-the-dots-when-partners-get-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/connecting-the-dots-when-partners-get-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecting the dots: when partners get together"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was early in the morning when we jumped into the clear water behind Neni\u2019s homestay in Bone Baru Village, Central Sulawesi.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThose are mullet,\u201d said Nusi, gesturing to the transparent little fishes with yellow fins that we could see schooling in the shallows. \u201cThey\u2019re still juvenile, the colour will change as they grow,\u201d she added, as we finished our swim and began preparing for the start of the second Blue Ventures (BV) partner forum.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Swimming in Bone Baru | Photo: Nisa Syahidah<\/p><\/div>\n

More on our partners<\/strong>
\n\u2013 In Wakatobi National Park, Southeast Sulawesi, Forkani<\/a>, <\/span>Foneb<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Komanangi<\/span> are supporting island communities to manage their local fisheries. Meanwhile in North Sulawesi, <\/span>Yapeka<\/span><\/a> is supporting community-led periodic octopus fishery closures in Minahasa Utara.
\n<\/span>\u2013 In the Maluku islands, the indigenous community-based network <\/span>Baileo<\/span><\/a> is using customary approaches to improve communities\u2019 welfare through sustainable resource management. <\/span>Yayasan Planet Indonesia<\/span><\/a> (YPI) is supporting local government and communities in West Kalimantan with <\/span>conservation cooperatives that combine resource management with health and financial services<\/span><\/a>.
\n<\/span>\u2013 In East Nusa Tenggara, <\/span>Yayasan Tananua Flores<\/span><\/a> has begun working with coastal communities, having spent a decade supporting communities in the highlands with sustainable forest management. And finally, <\/span>JARI<\/span><\/a> has five programmes in Lombok on West Nusa Tenggara; research, conservation, education, ecotourism, and networking.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This four day partner forum, or \u201cForum Pengelolaan Perikanan Berbasis Masyarakat\u201d (Community-based Fisheries Management Forum), was bringing together 25 people from 11 different organisations across Indonesia. Nusi for example was representing <\/span>Forkani<\/span><\/a>, a community-based NGO from Kaledupa, and Neni\u2019s husband Saleh runs the organisation <\/span>KALI<\/span><\/a> here in Bone Baru.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A short while later, all the forum attendees were gathered in the village\u2019s Aquaculture and Training Centre, where <\/span>LINI<\/span><\/a>, another one of BV\u2019s partners, has been supporting community-led aquaculture and management of the beautiful Banggai cardinalfish.<\/span><\/p>\n

Surrounded by impressive photos of LINI\u2019s work supporting octopus fishery management, the forum opened with introductions from each organisation. This was a very useful experience for me, as it was my first field trip since I started for BV, and now I\u2019ve been able to meet all of our partners in person, and learn about their work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And what a diverse and inspiring group it is! Despite coming from across the country and including an array of different cultures, all of these organisations share BV\u2019s mission of rebuilding fisheries with coastal communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTwo years ago, in the first partner forum, we only had Yapeka, Forkani, and LINI,\u201d said Marc Fruitema, BV\u2019s Outreach Regional Programmes Manager. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to see how the network has grown!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The forum was structured around five main discussion topics: participatory fisheries monitoring; periodic fishery closures; broader coastal zone management planning; marine resource governance; and advancing the legal recognition of community-led management.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Blue Ventures partner forum 2019 | Photo: Nisa Syahidah<\/p><\/div>\n

Win community hearts first<\/b><\/h3>\n

\u201cIn Darawa Village, we started with raising awareness, and then moved on to participatory monitoring, as the community were curious about their octopus resource,\u201d said Nusi. \u201cWe told them that Forkani doesn\u2019t need the data, it\u2019s theirs to keep. They are the ones who will use and manage their resources, and ensure that their octopus fishery lasts for future generations. This inspired the community, and they soon began planning their first periodic fishery closure using the new data.\u201d Nusi spoke from her heart, and with pride, as last year Darawa became the first village in Indonesia to declare a <\/span>periodic octopus fishery closure<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a <\/span>similar story with LINI and KALI<\/span><\/a>. Neither of the organisations mentioned anything about \u2018closures\u2019 for a full year, as they were nervous about putting people off. \u201cThe idea to initiate a closure must come from the communities. We just provide the information and spark the discussion \u2013 that\u2019s our role,\u201d said Surya Risuana, LINI\u2019s site coordinator. This approach has resulted in six villages within the Banggai Utara Regency uniting to <\/span>temporarily close 246 hectares to octopus fishing<\/span><\/a> in September this year!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea to initiate a closure must come from the communities. We just provide the information and spark the discussion \u2013 that\u2019s our role.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We all agreed that community-led monitoring and management are effective first steps along the path to broader management, but we also recognised that this grassroots approach will need legal recognition in order to work on a larger scale in Indonesia. As Jefferson, Baileo\u2019s Project Manager, said, \u201cWe can not only focus on grassroots movements, we also need to be heard at a national level so that the communities get rights and acknowledgement of their locally managed marine areas.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The first step towards legal recognition and access rights is to develop a complete understanding of an area\u2019s conservation status, including customary rules, natural resource exploitation, zoning plan status, and the opportunities, threats and challenges for conservation.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Rayhan, BV\u2019s small-scale fisheries technician, summarised, \u201conce we have this deep understanding of a particular area, then we can determine the best strategy to strive for legal recognition of community-led management.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The process of collating these data began in the forum, and each organisation identified what they needed to research further on their return home.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Nusi explaining Forkani’s work to the forum | Photo: Nisa Syahidah<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Photo: Nisa Syahidah<\/div><\/div>
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Photo: Nisa Syahidah<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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The first step towards legal recognition and access rights is complete understanding of an area’s conservation status | Photo: Nisa Syahidah<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

Work hand in hand \u2013 every stakeholder involved<\/b><\/h3>\n

But the forum wasn\u2019t only talking with each other and arranging post-its on the wall. Broader management planning takes a lot of work, and involving all of the stakeholders is very important, so we spent some time over the following days of the forum visiting local government and meeting fishers.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the Banggai Utara district office in Lokotoy Village, we witnessed local leaders officially sign a new resource management plan for the coastal areas and small islands in the North Banggai District, including periodic octopus fishery closures, no-take zones, and tourism and aquaculture areas. <\/span>This signing ceremony<\/span><\/a> ended with the head of the district tying a flag to a marking buoy that read: <\/span>\u201cDilarang Menangkap Gurita Selama 3 Bulan,\u201d <\/span><\/i>meaning \u201cIt is forbidden to catch octopus here for three months.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Our destination on the last day of the forum took my breath away as we approached. Set against a backdrop of tropical jungle, the colourful houses of Popisi village are raised on stilts over the Banda Sea. The community in Popisi are Bajo, the seafaring people of Southeast Asia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Popisi was one of the communities that proposed last year\u2019s periodic fishery closure<\/span><\/a>, and they have since been discussing future steps. \u201cWe need to improve our control and monitoring during the next closure, and I think we also need to involve the surrounding communities, to ensure that every fisher in the area follows the rules,\u201d said octopus fisher and collector Herdianto, as we chatted to him on the waterfront.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Popisi village | Photo: Garth Cripps<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Meeting the Popisi community | Photo: Nisa Syahidah<\/div><\/div>
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Banggai Utara district office | Photo: Nisa Syahidah<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

That night, back in Bone Baru, we were treated to a night of <\/span>dero<\/span><\/i> \u2013 a traditional communal dance where we all joined hands and moved in a circle. As we danced, mimicking the movements of octopus, I sensed a real connection between everyone present. I really feel that experiences like these are essential in forming strong partnerships, and will help us all work together for better community-based fisheries management.<\/span><\/p>\n

This forum is where most of us finally put names to faces, and many of us were learning about each other\u2019s experiences, best practices, successes, and challenges for the first time. That\u2019s the power of a forum, it\u2019s like connecting the dots: we put all of our scattered learnings together to make one bigger picture \u2013 and we all leave with a better understanding.<\/span><\/p>\n

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