Satoumi Systems Promoting Integrated Coastal Resources Management: An Empirical Review

Coastal areas, eco-systems, biodiversity, and fisheries resources have been devastated worldwide because of diverse reasons. In Japan, to tackle these problems, various activities have been practiced, which deeply involve local people in Satoumi. The Satoumi activities are now spreading throughout the world. These Satoumi are extremely diverse, and it is difficult to capture them with a single definition or perspective. Because social–ecological systems in Satoumi areas are extremely complicated and highly uncertain, Satoumi co-creation requires transdisciplinary approaches in which diverse stakeholders including local residents, bilateral knowledge translators, and residential and visiting scientists play important roles. This paper reviews the various types of Satoumi in Japan and around the world, and Satoumi co-creation activities through the transdisciplinary approaches from multiple perspectives. The Satoumi co-creation includes not only the traditional single approach of resource management but also approaches to enhance the resources by direct human intervention, to conserve ecosystems that support the resources, and to survey and monitor the resources by fishers. This paper also reviews the synergy and integration of fisheries and other resource management, such as tourism-related activities in marine protected areas in Satoumi.