Note from the editor

Five contributions make up this edition of the Traditional Marine Resource Management and Knowledge Information Bulletin. I am happy that all these articles were unsolicited, and especially because four of them are by graduate students. I wish to encourage both of these trends!

In "A new synthesis in oceanic domestication: The symbiotic development of loko i‘a aquaculture in pre-contact Oceania", Kekuewa Kikiloi, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, examines: 1) aquaculture as a dynamic food production system, and 2) the coevolutionary or symbiotic nature of marine procurement strategies in the oceanic world.

In "Canoes, subsistence and conservation in the Louisiade Archipelago of Papua New Guinea", Mark Smaalders and Jeff Kinch examine in detail the construction and use of traditional sailing canoes, together with the economic and social roles. The authors also discuss the replacement of canoes by motorised dinghies, and the potential implications this has for marine resource use and management.

In "The coexistence of whaling and whale watching in a traditional whaling region: The case of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan", Shio Segi, a graduate student in the School of Policy Studies at Kwansei Gakuin University, examines efforts to develop a new industry in a declining rural region in western Japan. Mr Segi seeks to understand why a whale watching industry has not developed in traditional whaling communities in Japan, in an attempt to stimulate local economies devastated by the whaling ban. He examines the processes and factors regarding the coexistence of whale watching and whaling in the wider area of southern Wakayama Prefecture, and the application to other whaling communities.

We also have two articles on marine turtles by Regina Woodrom-Luna, who is also a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. In the first, "The merging of archaeological evidence and marine turtle ecology: A case study approach to the importance of including archaeological data in marine science", she summarises the results of an initial examination of archaeological evidence on marine turtles from the Pacific Islands and looks specifically at prehistoric Pacific Islander use of and impact on marine turtle populations. In a second article, "Traditional food prohibitions (tapu) regarding marine turtles among Pacific Islanders", Ms Woodrom-Luna examines traditional "laws", many of which represent indigenous conservation measures that protected turtles.

Kenneth Ruddle

Contents

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Traditional #15 (pdf: )