ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on social responses to a fishery–tourism conflict in Onna Village of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, as a case study of policy challenges under global change. Onna Village used to subsist on agriculture and fisheries until a tourism boom arrived following Expo ’75 in Okinawa. Conflicts between fisheries and tourism were a serious social issue from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s. Resolving these issues required effective responses by the people of Onna Village. These responses included development of rules to restrict entry into coastal activities, mitigation of environmental degradation caused by tourism construction and contributions to local fishing associations by the tourism industry. Substantive actions leading to the resolution of this crisis included the formation of a structural organization to represent all stakeholders, including fishery operators, recreational marine industries, resort hotel operators and village officials. This board was able to arrange for economic incentives to the fishing industry, formulate rules that follow economic rationality and grant legitimacy to stakeholders, especially to the fishing association as a governing body of local resources. This successful approach is now being applied in other regions of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.
