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The coastal ecosystems of the Philippines are among the most heavily fished areas in the world. High dependency on fishery resources by an expanding population have resulted in overexploited and deteriorated fish stocks, perpetuating widespread poverty in fishing communities. Reducing fishing pressure through livelihood support provision for fishers could potentially alleviate poverty and mitigate deteriorating fisheries at the same time. However, this requires understanding fishers' behavior toward exiting the fishery and how different socioeconomic factors affect this behavior. We determined fishers' willingness to exit the fishery for different catch and monetary incentive scenarios in 6 coastal towns in the South China Sea biogeographic region of the Philippines. Half the fishers surveyed would continue fishing even when catches fall to 0.5. kg a day. This translates to less than US$1 gross income which is only about 15% of the daily fishers' household expenses in the studied towns. For monetary incentives, 18% of fishers were already willing to exit the fishery at US$111 monthly incentives. This proportion increased to 51% when the offer was increased to US$222 which is about the same as the fishers' monthly household expenses. When the offer was increased to US$333, 18% of fishers still said they would prefer to continue fishing. Fishers who were newer to the fishery and exerting less fishing effort showed more willingness to exit the fishery for both catch and monetary incentive scenarios. Age and educational attainment also influenced fishers' exit decision. These findings demonstrate high heterogeneity in fishers' behavior toward exiting the fishery and that properly targeting those who are more willing to exit the fishery in livelihood programs might both effectively reduce fishing pressure and give fish stocks and other marine ecosystems a chance to recover while improving the fishers' well-being.

As threats to coastal and ocean systems grow in scale and complexity, the calls for new approaches to research and management grow in volume. The Modeling and Decision Support Working Group (MDSWG) of the CRTR Program has developed two participatory gaming tools that address the need for integrative approaches to coral reef management. SimReef is a regional model and role-play game aimed at policy makers and industry representatives. It simulates coastal development trajectories and trade-offs between environmental, social and economic concerns. ReefGame is a local-level model and board game that helps local people and reef managers explore interactions between livelihoods, reefs and fisheries. We have used these tools successfully in participatory workshops in the Philippines and Mexico. These experiences demonstrate that using games with stakeholders can be a powerful way to educate and involve the public in coral reef management.

The principal anthropogenic factors driving reef degradation have been known for years, if not decades. Overfishing, sedimentation and nutrient loads are just some of the key impacts of human activities in and around reef communities. Therefore, the future of reefs does not rely on generating new knowledge, but rather on implementing and integrating the knowledge we already have. This will require creating effective links between researchers, managers and communities to promote mutual learning, negotiation and collaborative action for reef management. Combining agent-based models and role-play games, through a technique known as Companion Modelling (ComMod), creates a dynamic and interactive setting that can contribute to research, education and participatory goals across diverse stakeholders. Incorporating the decision-making processes of individuals into each time step, through the role-play game, means that socio-economic rationalities are seamlessly integrated with the bio-physical dynamics embedded in the models. ComMod has been used successfully as a communication and learning tool in participatory workshops in both the Mesoamerican Reef (Mexico) and the Bolinao-Anda reef complex (Philippines). These experiences demonstrate that simple, generic ecological dynamics are very effective in communicating key conservation messages to a lay audience. However, a comprehensive understanding of local cultural, economic and social characteristics is crucial to develop a coupled model/role-play game that can successfully engage stakeholders.