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Community Adaptation to Outbreaks of Ciguatera Fish Poisoning (Cuba)

A case study approach will be applied to understand the public health and sustainable livelihood implications of ciguatera fish poisoning in Cuba, including potential impacts of climate change, and to determine what adaptive, coping and mitigative measures, if any, are necessary for affected communities to respond to the presence of ciguatera, a natural toxin.

According to Lehane (1999) ciguatera fish poisoning is the most common fish intoxication in the world and is increasing in incidence, prevalence and distribution. This project seeks to engage interested and affected communities in the development of an improved understanding of the linkages between coral reefs, climate change, near-shore reef fisheries, human infrastructure, public health, sustainable livelihoods, ecosystem management, tourism and other topics in order to determine what adaptive, coping and mitigative measures, if any, are necessary for affected communities to respond to the presence of this natural toxin.

The case study methodology will involve the collection of both qualitative and quantitative data, and will rely heavily on community involvement in both the information gathering and analysis stages.

The characterization of the ciguatera problem as a complex system is supported by Berkes' (2003) observation that "fisheries are always complex systems of humans and nature". The characteristics of alternatives to conventional management elaborated by Berkes (2003) are very similar to the characteristics of the research proposed here. They are:

* a shift in philosophy to embrace uncertainty and complexity;
* an appreciation of fisheries as social-ecological systems and more broadly as complex adaptive systems; an expansion of scope of management information to include fishers' knowledge;
formulation of management objectives that incorporate livelihood issues; and
* development of participatory management with community-based institutions and cross-scale governance.

The adaptive, coping and mitigative strategies that are available to communities facing the threat of ciguatera fish poisoning will be emphasized. The research proposal has been developed at the request of Cuban Ministry of Health professionals, who perceive ciguatera to be a growing problem in their country and are interested in the ecosystem health approach.

Brief Overview of Research & Results

Ciguatera fish poisoning appears clinically as a combined gastro-intestinal-neurological disease. It has acute and chronic phases and can in rare cases be fatal. In recent years, occurrences of marine intoxications, including ciguatera, appear to be rising, attributable in part to local and regional ecosystem disturbances (such as overfishing and nutrient pollution). Both the problem of ciguatera fish poisoning (e.g. through damage to coral reefs) and responses to it (e.g. prohibitions on catching certain fish, such as barracuda) are set in a complex set of interactions between ecological and socio-economic processes. Ciguatera management is made much more complicated by the lack of an effective field test for the toxins involved; the wide variety of symptoms it can causes in humans; and, the wide range of fish species (over 400) that are potentially involved.

This study applied an ecosystem approach to human health to the study of community adaptations to ciguatera fish poisoning in three near-shore coral reef fishing communities in Cuba. It was conducted in partnership with the Cuban Ministry of Public Health, and received support from the Canadian Public Health Agency, the International Development Research Centre and the Pan-American Health Agency. The research built on the literature related to complex adaptive social-ecological systems; the resilience of social-ecological systems; and, in particular, the ability of such systems to build and increase the capacity for learning and adaptation (Walker et al., 2002). The preliminary research findings advance this discussion through the application of situated learning theory. The research also explicitly incorporates the concept of post-normal science to this topic (which is characterized by high system uncertainty and high decision-making stakes), through the involvement of an extended peer community in the research process.

In the research, the concept of communities of practice has been applied to the key stakeholders in the coastal communities involved. The analysis focuses, however, not only on the communities of practice, but also on the 'just plain folks' who live there. Through the lens of legitimate peripheral participation, their actions can be seen as situated in the community, influenced by both its history and context, and built on a base of both unintentionally acquired and incomplete knowledge that enables non-experts to make pragmatic decisions and take action in the face of uncertainty. The interaction between community members and local communities of practice informs our understanding of the social construction of knowledge and of community learning and adaptation. It may ultimately contribute to efforts to improve the 'resilience' of near-shore coral reef ecosystems through a strengthening of local ecological understanding, and of sport fishers’ communities of practice.

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