Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation

NOAA’s Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary is undergoing a mandatory review process to consider evolving from its current status as a sanctuary that manages a single species, the humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), to a sanctuary that uses an ecosystem-based approach to manage all of the biocultural resources within its boundaries. The revised plan will be built upon both Native Hawaiian and Western scientific principles. This capstone project consists of three parts. (1) A literature review examining ecosystem-based, customary, and collective management approaches in the Pacific, and the compilation of an annotated bibliography, table of key terms and case studies from the literature. (2) Based on background reading and experiences in Fiji and Hawai’i, three brief case studies serve as examples of different management systems that share a common goal of utilizing customary knowledge to sustainably manage natural resource use. (3) The analysis of core concepts the author considers fundamental to successfully uniting ecosystem-based and customary practices into a collective management approach. This includes ideas for Hawai’i specific collective approach, Aloha ‘Āina, and discussion of current and future products of this Capstone Project.