An Example from East Timor: The Beloi Map

What does the map show?

• Local fishermen say they are catching less fish every year and the situation does not seem to be improving with more and more fishermen depending on reef resources;
• One of the reasons pointed out during the conversations with the villagers was that there is no other livelihood activity for the locals;
• Fishing is a major source for both revenue and subsistence;
• The villagers used to manage the reefs with customary marine tenures. According to these traditional practices, some species (beche de mer, lobster, shellfish, octopus and others) are harvested in specific periods of the year;
• However, during the Indonesian occupation period customary law tended to be subsumed, appropriated or simply ignored in the process of policy making and management, precluding any official recognition of customary authority.
• Villagers benefit from the reefs via subsistence fishing and by selling fish for a broker in Díli.
• Reef fishing is preferred by locals because of three main reasons
  • Traditional cooking methods in Timor-Leste emphasise the preparation of the whole fish instead of cooking cutlets or fillets;
  • The external market (Díli) puts pressure over Beloi fishermen, through the broker, to target reef fish instead of pelagic fish and
  • There is no reliable fish storage facility in Beloi;
    • Most of the ice is supplied by the brokers in Díli, which pay better prices for small reef fish in relation to larger pelagic ones;
    • Small fish are easier to store than large fish;
    • It is safer and involves less risk to fish on the reefs than to fish in the open waters.
• The only source of electricity available in Beloi is petrol generators.
• The cost to maintain these generators in Atauro, however, is prohibitive for the villagers.
• This helps create another very strong influence / dependency relationship between the fishermen on the Island and the brokers in Díli. The later send iceboxes every week to Beloi so the fishermen can preserve their week’s catch and send it back to Díli the following week.
• There are some reports by locals emphasising lower than normal prices paid by the brokers if the ice cannot be delivered.
• In fact, fishermen are subjected to the whim of the broker. Due to this high level of dependency through the control of fish conservation brokers pay whatever they want to the fishermen, and they accept anything they get from the brokers.

On the left hand side of map above, one can see that the growing tourism industry is already a part of every day life in Beloi:

• Some tourist-related activities in the village include art-crafted utensils that are sold to the visitors and the transportation of tourists between Díli and Beloi by some fishermen.
• Tourism provides income and work opportunities for the locals but it can also cause conflicts related to cultural issues.
• Tourism may also increase fishing pressure over the reefs, as there are more people to be fed in the village.
• This pressure, however, could be alleviated through shifting the target fish from demersal to pelagic fish.
• There is potential for the implementation of a community-based Dive Centre in the village.

Discussion on future options

• During this work a shared picture of the reef/community system was created to help understand the relationships between cultural, ecological and economic aspects. Some of the solutions for the village’s problems were evaluated through a collective understanding of the system.
• One cannot argument about reducing fishing activities without generating alternatives to feed the villagers or to provide other income sources.
• Tourism may be an option for income, however villagers still depend on fisheries for their livelihood.
• An alternative, proposed during the conversations with the villagers, was the utilisation of different fishing techniques to capture pelagic fishes.
  • Fishing in the reef walls and in the open ocean, which are not far from the coast, are likely to reduce fishing pressure on the reefs. However, villagers do not have the capital to invest in fishing equipment and technology (nets and fishing lines) for this kind of fishing.
• Tourism may provide the financial means to invest on fishing gear, however there is the necessity to build capacity within the villagers in order to better deal with the new fishing paraphernalia – i.e. reels, longer fishing lines.
• Therefore, small scale, traditional and sustainable fishing should be developed rather than industrial fishing.
• Capacity building is also necessary to prepare the community to receive tourists in the village and to guarantee that cultural impacts will be lessened through respect for local beliefs and traditions. An important issue in relation to capacity building is that cultural beliefs and respect to local traditions must be reinforced.
• The fishermen in Beloi have already discussed the construction of a storage facility in Díli with the Timor-Leste’s National Directorate of Fisheries and Aquaculture. The idea is to build a shed with a freezer in Díli where the fishermen can conserve their catches and sell it straight to the customers getting better prices and not depending on the whim of the middlemen. The idea is being analysed, however the main issue is the lack of funds for the construction of this amenity.
  
  

In this conversation map:

• there was no specific meeting with the community and stakeholders group all together;
• there was a series of informal open conversations with individuals about their place and specific issues;
• the map was designed later, by the researchers;
• the map includes the community understandings and the researchers interpretation of the place;
• the community had no direct influence on the design of the map;
• the map was sent back to the community and stakeholders for feedback.

Example 2 From Ebor Australia

Example 3 From NSW Regional Conference

Conversation as a visioning and learning tool

Workbooks (PDF)

Developing A Community Strategic Plan 28.3Kb

Project Management by Communities 33kb

Community Visioning 41.1Kb

Monitoring 41.9Kb