ABSTRACT
We have degraded the local environments we live in and these changes are now being modulated by anthropogenic forcers at broad regional and global scales. Advising people who are responsible for a bay, an island or even a small country, about why and how they can mitigate the local impacts of global environmental change is difficult. There is a reason for this: ecosystem degradation at local scales are rightly priorities for guardians of our coastal ecosystems, but political interventions to deal with the drivers of environmental change seem beyond even the largest government agencies, let alone local communities. The East Otago Taiāpure, a fishery Customary Protection Area (CPA) that gives a legislative platform for local Māori (New Zealand’s indigenous people) communities to lead management of local coastal ecosystems, provides a case study of community-led management of a local fishery. The Taiāpure has been the site of research on how kelp forests and their associated values will respond to changing ocean environments for more than ten years. This research has been strongly supported by managers of the Taiāpure and the findings shared extensively with the local community. The most important finding from this work is that intact and properly functioning ecosystems will bring benefits today and provide the best chance of successful outcomes in the future. Coastal seas can be resilient against global change and the more extreme climate, but degradation of habitats and overexploitation of fisheries can put these ecosystems and the values they provide at greater risk.
