Gender and generation: crucial aspects of local fisheries management on Lelepa Island, Vanuatu

Lelepa is a small island off the northwestern coast of Efate in central Vanuatu. The history of the inshore fisheries of Lelepa Island is the story of changing technologies, changing gender roles and, most profoundly, changing needs and priorities of fisherpeople. Over time, marine species have developed a market value prompting a shift from fishing for community food to fishing for personal income. Through commercialization and overharvesting, fisheries habitats have been degraded and fish and shellfish stocks depleted. Since the mid-1990s the people of Lelepa have embarked on a process of local management through a process led and dominated by elder males in the community. Constraints of history and culture work against the inclusion of women and youth, two groups who are central agents in harvesting. The views of men and women, elders and youth reveal a basic lack of communication around marine resource issues and a tendency to label "the other" as destructive, greedy or ignorant. The knowledge and energies of women and youth are needed for successful local management.