Migration and coastal resource use in Papua New Guinea

Human migration is a considerable issue for many coastal societies, affecting the ways that people use and manage natural resources. This paper examines reasons for migration in 14 coastal communities in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and compares coastal resource use and socioeconomic conditions between migrants and non-migrants to test the hypothesis that migrants have different levels of coastal resource use than non-migrants. Migrants had lower participation in the fishery, ranked fishing as a less important livelihood strategy, and had lower involvement in village decision-making, but had higher levels of human development. Common property systems such as tenure rights may prevent migrants from accessing marine resources. However, migrantsʹ marginalization in decision-making processes may become increasingly contested where resources are scarce and migrants desire an increasing say in how they are allocated. The current limited use of coastal resources by migrants may be a latent problem that needs to be considered by resource managers, particularly in areas where rapid socioeconomic change is occurring and tenure institutions are fragile.