Building the foundations for an ecosystem approach to fisheries in Timor-Leste

Abstract

Timor-Leste, a country of 1.3 million people in Southeast Asia’s Coral Triangle, has made significant progress towards development objectives since its independence in 2002. The fisheries sector is almost exclusively small-scale and informal and has been prioritized as an effective contributor to improving the diets of inland communities and tackling chronic malnutrition. As a geologically young island, Timor-Leste’s bathymetry is extreme, restricting reefs to a thin fringing area, which poses sustainability challenges to the expansion of the sector predominantly focused on reef fishing. However, key technological and policy innovations are building the foundations for an ecosystem approach to fisheries, including a near-real-time monitoring system for small-scale fisheries (called “Peskas”), a draft National Fisheries Strategy (2018), a revised fisheries law, co-management guidelines, and research on nearshore fish aggregating devices. Successes are drawn from strong external agencies partnering with government, and self- mobilized communities and individuals promoting quasi-customary forms of communal management like tara bandu. However, challenges and obstacles persist, with limited governance and technical capacity and the lack of effective institutional frameworks being the primary hinderances to implementation of an effective ecosystem approach to fisheries.