Coral reefs are among the most interesting ecosystems on this planet. Located mostly in developing countries they are often prime examples of renewable resource exploitation under open access property rights regimes. Such resources will almost inevitably be depleted over time. To effectively conserve them calls for policy tools beyond classic resource management, requiring a comprehensive analytical framework. This dissertation approaches open access exploitation by traditional users from three distinct methodological perspectives: Qualitative analysis based on interviews and observation (anthropology of fishing), theoretical economics, and quantitative statistical analysis (econometrics) of household survey data.; An extensive case study of the artisanal reef fishery in Minahasa, eastern Indonesia shows how development, migration and fishing impact the coral reef. The case study finds strong evidence that regional and global development have set in motion economic, social and demographic processes, that are leading to over-exploitation. In particular, behavior of individual fishermen seems primarily driven by economic considerations and is very adaptive. More importantly, the impact of development on the resource works primarily through incentives and markets rather than through technology and innovation.; To explain the behavior of fishermen several different modeling approaches to renewable resource exploitation in a traditional setting are explored. The models test assumptions about household motives, markets and production technologies. A central distinction is made between economic and subsistence-based explanations of exploitation. These models and the hypotheses they give rise to are tested by estimating labor supply functions for Minahasa fishermen. The results conform to theory.; At the aggregate resource level, a model of open access exploitation is combined with a distance-based approach to incomplete markets. Utilizing the substantial variation in the development of markets in Minahasa, econometric evidence confirms that the expansion and integration of labor markets protects the resource, while the expansion of product markets lead to over-exploitation. Tentative policy conclusions point in the direction that non-fishery policy instruments, in areas such as development, employment, population, migration and social policy, could be more effective at conserving the resource than classic fisheries management.
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