Satoumi is advocated for coastal sustainability under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI), and has provided a basis for countries around the world to formulate national biodiversity strategies and action plans. Given the significant impact of environmental changes and socio-economic decline, relevant policy directions and practices are urgently required to promote the sustainable development of fishing communities in Taiwan. However, local residents and communities are not sufficiently aware of or involved in this concept to facilitate the development of a holistic Satoumi implementation strategy. Therefore, this study integrates the concepts of Satoumi actions and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and has adopted a questionnaire survey to investigate the perceptions of 202 fishing community residents in the Gongliao District of New Taipei City and Yilan County towards these concepts. The standpoint and perception of the fishing community residents regarding Satoumi actions and SDGs provided a valuable reference. The results of the perception of Satoumi actions revealed that all of the respondents recognized Satoumi actions. However, the ranking demonstrated the urgency for some actions (e.g., clear marine litter), and measures that have been implemented in Taiwan but still need improvement (e.g., fish stocking practices). Satoumi actions were associated with two key factors that affect the perception of residents at Satoumi: “Empowerment through community-based industry and environmental education”, and “Conservation of crucial biological resources and habitats”. For the SDGs perceptions, the two factors were “Marine socio-economic sustainability” and “The sustainable use of marine ecological resources”. This study also adopted cluster analysis and identified three characteristically different groups of residents: The Conservation Priority Group, Industry–Society Priority Group, and Balanced Development Group. According to the major research findings, policies implemented in coastal areas of Taiwan have aligned with global sustainability trends. However, the attitude of the Industry–Society Priority Group, which has the largest sample size, should be changed to that held by the Balanced Development Group, in order to formulate a strategy for a balanced development that secures existing livelihoods and aligns with expectations on environmental sustainability. This study suggests that methodologies that encourage stakeholder interactions, dialogues, and consensus-building should be utilized to develop strategies for future work. Furthermore, policy tools related to coastal management should be analyzed to establish a comprehensive toolkit for coastal governance. Finally, Satoumi requires public–private collaboration to achieve both biodiversity conservation and transformative change towards more sustainably and equitably social, environmental, and economic coastal development.

Multiple changes in marine resources (e.g., abundance, movements, distribution, biomass) caused by climate change are critical operational risks, leading to production uncertainty for capture fisheries. Therefore, risk management measures of coastal and offshore fisheries are critical issues in terms of operational sustainability. In this study, a questionnaire survey data set collected from fishers was analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and a structural equation model (SEM) to examine fishers’ perceptions and the relationships among risk sources, production uncertainty, and adaptation measures. The results revealed that significant negative impacts existed between risk sources and adaptation measures, which means risk sources cannot directly influence risk management measure selection. However, production uncertainty could be an important mediator for risk management, thus most respondents think that mitigating production uncertainty is necessary. Eventually, the results could provide managerial implications for the fishery operators, policymakers and the government agencies.

This study shows how collaborative governance actions have been practiced to initiate restoration efforts in northeastern Chinese Taipei’s Mao’ao Bay since 2019. The objectives of these actions were (1) to integrate different voices of multiple stakeholders to achieve harmony within specific social-ecological systems in coastal areas; (2) to empower local communities and stakeholders to facilitate management in the socio-ecological production landscape and seascape (SEPLS) involving coastal villages; and (3) to engage local people in restoring coastal ecosystems in the SEPLS by developing a collaborative governance mechanism. We established a public–private collaboration framework for managing Mao’ao Bay. Actions comprised three main activities. First, we identified stakeholders’ critical attitudes, issues, and development strategies through importance-performance analysis (IPA) and a focus group meeting. Second, Satoumi environmental education was organised to increase awareness among the local people on marine environmental conditions. Meanwhile, training courses enabled local residents to conduct intertidal/underwater ecological surveys. Third, an ecological survey team was established to conduct underwater investigations on economically important local seaweed species, such as Gelidium spp., and to verify the marine ecosystem condition step by step. Lessons learned from these actions include: (1) the techniques applied were useful for information gathering and sharing toward development of strategies; (2) environmental education and underwater survey training courses not only enhanced locals’ awareness of resource utilisation but also nurtured citizen scientists to help monitoring of coastal resources; (3) the public–private collaboration not only established governance of coastal resources, but also enhanced the local people’s capacity for long-term SEPLS management. Keywords Socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS) Collaborative governance Stakeholders Satoumi Participatory action research (PAR) Citizen science Mao’ao Bay Chinese Taipei