No abstract

Coastal resources are important for the wellbeing and livelihoods of people in coastal communities across the world but are used and valued differently by different people at different times. As such, managing coastal resources equitably requires understanding how and when different people value ecosystems. Gleaning is an important activity in many coastal communities. However, the values of gleaners, and women in general, are often left invisible in coastal ecosystem service assessments and rarely examined in different seasons. Here, we use an exploratory case study to elicit the seasonal values of gleaning to women in a coastal community through an in-depth mixed method case study in Timor-Leste. We found that women gave a variety of instrumental and relational reasons for gleaning and that gleaning values shifted across seasons. Notably, subsistence was not a priority for all gleaners. Instead, there were a diverse range of reasons perceived as important for gleaning including to socialise or to spend time in nature. Our findings highlight the need to move beyond oversimplified understandings of gleaning as simply a matter of meeting basic material needs. The diverse and seasonal value priorities of gleaners in our case study indicate the importance of socially and temporally disaggregated assessments of coastal ecosystem services that account for relational values to support more accurate depictions of coastal livelihoods and equitable management in coastal areas.

Inland capture fisheries (ICFs) provide ecosystem services -fish for food, livelihoods and recreation -to people and therefore have an economic value. Economic valuation can inform the sustainable management of ICFs and ensure they are recognised in trade-off analysis and decision-making. This study assesses existing ICFs economic research to identify knowledge gaps. Bibliographic databases were searched for suitable peer-reviewed articles. The selected studies (n = 75) were analysed for coverage, valuation methodologies and value metrics. A majority of existing studies value recreational ICFs in developed countries. Studies have employed a wide range of valuation methodologies and therefore provide a variety of economic values measured at different units and scales. This study highlights the need for a greater quantity of ICFs economic research that covers a representative sample of ecosystems and fishery types globally. Best practice recommendations are made for a standardised framework to ensure ICFs research generates economically credible and comparable values.