Influence of resource use and management on coral reef health in the Comoros

Background/Question/Methods

Humans reap benefits from ecological systems like coral reefs through both resource use and preservation, yet we find it difficult to balance our resource use with maintenance of ecological integrity. We addressed this issue looking specifically at coral reefs of the Comoros, investigating the impacts of eight anthropogenic activities and the effects of managing two such activities on reef health. We used social and ecological science methods with the goal of identifying major reef-impacting activities and the most successful management attributes for negotiating the balance between resource use and reef conservation.

Results/Conclusions

We found that reef health was influenced by fishing and sand extraction practices in addition to environmental and geographic factors and no clear differences in reef health were found between areas employing co-management and traditional management strategies. While co-management encouraged strong fishery management through education and gear restrictions, there were not (yet) clear benefits to reef health. In addition, the strong management found at some traditionally managed sites indicated that successful management may rely upon adherence to principles of common pool resource governance such as congruent rules, use of monitoring, and nested units of management, and need to be further investigated at the community and individual decision-making levels.