MongabayIn American Samoa, traditional village-based protections are outperforming federal zones for giant clam conservation.
A new study suggests that community stewardship may offer a more viable path than top-down bans, balancing local harvesting needs with species recovery.
By Sonam Lama Hyolmo for #Mongabay. https://mongabay.cc/rfWiZ2
Traditional protection proves more successful for clams in American Samoa
For coastal Indigenous communities in American Samoa, giant clams are deeply rooted in fa‘a Sāmoa (the Samoan way of life) and local food systems. According to the findings of a study published in PeerJ, it is village-based protections like fa‘asao (fishery closures) that have helped conserve giant clams lying in the islands’ shallow water coral […]