Mahonia Na Dari
Research and Conservation Centre
Kimbe Bay, West New Britain, Papua New Guinea
PO Box 697
KIMBE PNG
Locally Managed Marine
Areas
A no-take Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA)
was established in 1997 adjacent to the Kilu community in Kimbe Bay. The
Kilu LMMA project involved a wide range of stakeholders, including community
leaders, local and international NGOs, dive operators and university
researchers. The Kilu LMMA was one of the first community-based marine
reserves in PNG and as such is a focal point for significant scientific
research as well as being the cornerstone of an effort to develop a network
of LMMAs in the wider Kimbe Bay and New Guinea Islands region.
Since the project’s inception, managers have used ecosystem monitoring to assess the ecological effectiveness of the LMMA, identify major threats, and characterise reef health. However, managers were also interested in socio-economic monitoring so they could customise conservation strategies to reflect the specific needs and concerns of the local community.
In 2002, four villages on Stettin Bay, a part of Kimbe Bay, set aside "no-take" zones in 2002 to protect critical areas of their inshore reef. Mahonia, with funding from Seacology, assisted these communities by providing demarcation buoys, a community-based monitoring program and community awareness materials to help educate surrounding villages on the purpose and function of the no-take areas.
While the problem of poaching within the areas by non-village fishermen continued, Mahonia responded by increasing their conservation education efforts in neighboring communities. In 2003 several neighboring communities established and demarcated their own no-take areas.
Mahonia has also contributed to the establishment of “no-take” zones in Manus, a nearby, remote Province of PNG. Loniu and the Ambahan Clan of Ahus Island have set aside a certain number of their traditional fishing reefs as ‘no take’ zones after Mahonia Na Dari conducted the marine environmental education and awareness programs in their villages. The closures were initiated by the resource owners with the objectives of replenishing the reefs with harvestable resources and strengthening their traditional management practices. Mahonia conducted baseline biological monitoring surveys on these recently-established LMMAs. The data collected from these surveys will act as the basis for future monitoring plans to assess the effectiveness of the LMMAs.