Contextualising the coupled socio-ecological conditions of marine megafauna bycatch

We apply an integrated and interdisciplinary conceptual framework to assess the potential for uptake of bycatch reduction measures by small-scale fisheries along the Andaman coast and eastern Gulf of Thailand, and in Sabah, Malaysia. Specifically, we characterize the current governance, socio-economic, ecological, and scientific context for marine megafauna bycatch, and identify the enabling and limiting factors to bycatch reduction at each location. Enabling factors are those that motivate or facilitate conservation actions among resource users, managers, and other stakeholders, while limiting factors are those that act as barriers to conservation. We conduct a comparative analysis of the strength of enabling and limiting factors at the two study locations by using a qualitative scoring system. Overall, conditions in Thailand appear to be relatively more supportive of bycatch reduction than Sabah. Many enabling factors, such as community based marine management and positive attitudes towards conservation, occur at the local scale, suggesting potential marine megafauna bycatch reduction approaches can be implemented successfully from the bottom-up. We show that intervention points for reducing marine megafauna bycatch lie within a much broader realm than conventionally considered in bycatch reduction schemes. Effective policies for reducing marine megafauna bycatch thus have to address multifaceted drivers of small-scale fishing behaviour in addition to ecological considerations. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.