This book delves into the history of Rhode Island's iconic oysters, quahogs, and all the well-known and lesser-known species in between. It offers the perspectives of those who catch, grow, and sell shellfish, as well as of those who produce wampum, sculpture, and books with shellfish -- particularly quahogs -- as their medium or inspiration. It was the 2015 winner of the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities "Innovation in the Humanities" Award and grew out of the 2014 R.I. Shellfish Management Plan, which was the first such plan created for the state under the auspices of the R.I. Department of Environmental Management and the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council.
Close to one-half of all Americans live in coastal counties. The resulting flood of wastewater, stormwater, and pollutants discharged into coastal waters is a major concern. This book offers a well-delineated approach to integrated coastal management beginning with wastewater and stormwater control. The committee presents an overview of current management practices and problems. The core of the volume is a detailed model for integrated coastal management, offering basic principles and methods, a direction for moving from general concerns to day-to-day activities, specific steps from goal setting through monitoring performance, and a base of scientific and technical information. Success stories from the Chesapeake and Santa Monica bays are included. The volume discusses potential barriers to integrated coastal management and how they may be overcome and suggests steps for introducing this concept into current programs and legislation. This practical volume will be important to anyone concerned about management of coastal waters: policymakers, resource and municipal managers, environmental professionals, concerned community groups, and researchers, as well as faculty and students in environmental studies.
This book assesses the dimensions of our scientific knowledge as it applies to environmental problems in the coastal zone. The volume contains 10 papers that cover different aspects of science, management, and public policy concerning the coastal zone. A consensus is presented on several key issues confronting science for developing a more holistic approach in managing this region's intense human activities and important natural resources.
The goals of the National Workshop on Micro-enterprise Development in Coastal Communities in the Philippines were to exchange experiences and good practices and to identify financial and institutional support services and facilities to sustain livelihoods and micro-enterprise development in coastal areas. The workshop was attended by 45 participants from people's organizations, fisherfolk cooperatives, non-governmental organizations, national government agencies and financing institutions. The discussions at the workshop showed that livelihood diversification and the improvement of income and employment opportunities in coastal fishing communities are crucial for their participation in the conservation and management of aquatic resources. Key elements of sustainable micro-enterprise development as identified by the workshop include capability building of fisherfolk organizations such as cooperatives and associations to implement livelihood projects, the preparation of feasibility studies and business plans, technical skills development, sound financial management practices, development of innovative and high quality products, access to new markets including urban and regional markets and the full participation of fisherfolk in the identification of livelihood activities and micro-enterprises. The Pilot Project in Support of the Development of Micro-enterprises in Banate Bay, Iloilo and Southern Iloilo was implemented by the University of the Philippines in the Visayas in cooperation with the Banate Bay Resource Management Council Inc. and the Southern Iloilo Coastal Resource Management Council with support from FAO. A number of microenterprises were introduced and supported in the municipalities of Banate Bay and Southern Iloilo including fish ball production, shrimp paste production, oyster and mussel culture, salt production and iodization, fish marketing and fish sauce production. Training programmes were conducted for fisherfolk on product development and marketing of their products. Good coordination with local government units, active participation of all stakeholders and conduct of appropriate training programmes are considered essential for the sustainability of the micro-enterprises. The involvement of fisherfolk in livelihood activities and micro-enterprises is strengthening their participation in the fisheries and aquatic resources management councils of Banate Bay and Southern Iloilo. The experiences of the pilot project also suggest that in order to make various income generating livelihood initiatives sustainable and stand on their own feet, many of these need to develop further into full-fledged micro-enterprises. Considerable scope lies in farming of aquatic organisms such as seaweed, shellfish and various fish species as well as in fisheries related value adding activities such as fish processing and marketing. As far as the relationship between the conservation of aquatic resources and the generation of income is concerned, the quality of the aquatic environment and the economic success of mariculture micro-enterprises and activities are directly related. This should create a strong motivation for fisherfolk enterpreneurs involved in such type of enterprises to be strong advocates and stewards of a healthy coastal ecology. In the long term, fisherfolk will benefit from the development of various micro-enterprise initiatives. It is clearly in their interest.
