More Information on "Customary Marine Tenure and Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Palau" by Robin Putney
 Robin with Palauans |
 View of Palau |
While most of world might recognize Palau as the site of a 2004 “Survivor” competition, the world’s conservation experts see it as one of the last remaining places of high marine biodiversity. According to the Nature Conservancy, this small country of 170 square miles in Micronesia supports an amazing 373 coral species, and nearly 1,300 varieties of reef fish. These waters are home to endangered and vulnerable species like saltwater crocodiles, sea turtles, giant clams and the world’s most isolated population of dugong, a relative of the manatee. Threats from overexploited fisheries, non-sustainable forest practices and increasing development have led Palauans to recognize that action must be taken to protect their environment for themselves and future generations.
Robin’s work makes a significant contribution to the fields of environmental studies and anthropology in both a scholarly and practical sense. Working closely with the Palau Conservation Society, Robin’s work helps the Palauan government understand what might be lost if current jurisdictional and natural resource management practices are not changed. In essence, Robin discovered that new “Western” methods of establishing marine protected areas were ineffective in the face of highly advanced fishing gear and foreign fishing vessels from Japan and the Philippines. Moreover, her research showed that the modern political system of elections, modeled on democratic governments, were undermining the traditional authority village chiefs used to maintain the viability of reef fisheries.
Increasingly, the younger generation in the Palauan states of Ngarchelong and Kayangel are not continuing in the traditional livelihoods of their fathers. As such, the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) that Robin gathered data on, such as the best places and time of year to harvest particular species of reef fish, was not being passed on to future generations. On a practical level, the results of Robin’s work are being used by the Palau Conservation Society to educate the youth of Palau on marine resource harvesting and management techniques, such as /bul/, the passing of moratorium on harvesting over a given period of time.
One aspect of Robin’s work that sets it apart is the depth of cultural knowledge she brought to the endeavor. As a returned Peace Corps Volunteer, Robin took extraordinary care to execute her research in a way that was respectful to the Palauans. She personally asked the village chiefs for permission to conduct her research on a potentially sensitive subject and earned their trust and candor. Because of this, Robin’s work has a level of detail and goes above and beyond what would be expected of most Master’s theses. In order to interview elders in two separate fishing communities in Palau, Putney sought the permission of two state governors, and worked closely with two Palau Conservation Society Community Conservation Coordinators to identify and to meet with elders from their respective communities. Most interviews were carried out in Palauan and then translated and transcribed for documentation and analysis of interviewee responses. The digital audio files from these interviews with 32 community elders have been archived at the Belau National Museum.
