9320498 Finney This project supports the dissertation research of a student from the University of Hawaii, studying resource conservation by a fishing community in the Solomon Islands. The student is testing the theory that traditional peoples are natural conservators of their environmental resources. By conducting participant observation, time allocation analysis and economic and household surveys, the student will test the hypothesis that fishermen stop exploiting particular resource locations when the yields decline to the average yield for the area (thus leaving a given location or "patch" before it is degraded, and so conserving it). This project is important because it will advance our understanding of indigenous knowledge in tropical marine environments; it will evaluate the role of territoriality in conserving aquatic resources; and it will contribute to our understanding of human foraging strategies as they relate to resource management and conservation. This sort of knowledge will be valuable to add to our repertoire of resource conservation strategies in a world of threatened environments. ***
