[New
Scientist]: The island nations of the south-western
Pacific are considering
allowing citizens to reclaim legal control of their local seas, in the
hope they can use their traditional knowledge, customs and laws to
protect fish stocks and biodiversity.
The move is a tacit acknowledgement that western-style centralised
fishing regulations are failing to protect many of the world’s marine
ecosystems.
Two important aspects to this story: First, the continuing decline
of fisheries worldwide. Second, yet another example of the value —
that we’ve already seen in architecture and medicine — of the hard-won
experience of traditional knowledge, even as traditional cultures
conitnue to disappear.