A. Species
Scientific name: Onoclea struthiopteris
Common name(s): Ostrich fern, [aka: Matteuccia struthiopteris - this study]
Global IUCN Red List Threat Status: Least Concern
B. Location of use
Geographic location(s):
- Honshu
Country/Region: Japan / western Fukushima Prefecture
C. Scale of assessment
Scale of assessment: Individual Site
Name/Details of location: Tadami Town (37°17′–37°22′N, 139°28′–139°34′E)
D. Timescale of use
Start Year: 2004
End Year: 2009
E. Information about the use
How is the wild species sourced?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat and Wild species sourced from significantly modified habitat
Type of use: Extractive
Practice of use: Gathering/Cutting/Collecting terrestrial plants and fungi or their products from the wild
Lethal or non-lethal: Non-Lethal
Does this use involve take/extraction of: Only parts or products of the organism
Purpose(s) of end use: Food and feed
Motivation of use: Basic subsistence
Is this use legal or illegal?: Legal under national law
F. Information about the Users
Which stakeholder(s) does the record primarily focus on?: Local people
G. Information about the sustainability of use
Is there evidence that the use is having an impact on the target species?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat and Wild species sourced from significantly modified habitat
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an ecological perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: This study - applying multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and geographic information system (GIS) analysis.
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: The study focuses more on the spatial distribution of edible ferns (habitat suitability modelling) than harvested volumes and finds that the application of knowledge by expert forest harvesters is preventing fern over-exploitation, on an occurrence basis, concluding that this harvesting is ecologically sustainable (i.e., the fern's incidence of occurrence is not being reduced in local habitat).
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an economic perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: this study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: The first sprouting of this fern has been commonly eaten in East Asia. This fern has been commonly used as a sun-dried preserved mountain vegetable in Japan, and is produced by a three-day process of boiling, drying, and squeezing by hand. Although these ferns are a common species, sustainable harvesting is still an important issue because harvesting activities are generally allowed in a limited area near each settlement, with the areas serving as common-pool resources for local residents in the study communities. Given that that the incidence of these ferns is not in decline in the landscape ( i.e., ecologically sustainable), thus harvesting and use of this acceptable resource is sustainable. The study makes no clear mention of values or revenues, but does explain ferns are traded.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a social perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: this study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: The first sprouting of this fern has been commonly eaten in East Asia. This fern has been commonly used as a sun-dried preserved mountain vegetable in Japan, and is produced by a three-day process of boiling, drying, and squeezing by hand. Although these ferns are a common species, sustainable harvesting is still an important issue because harvesting activities are generally allowed in a limited area near each settlement, with the areas serving as common-pool resources for local residents in the study communities. Given that that the incidence of these ferns is not in decline in the landscape ( i.e., ecologically sustainable), thus harvesting and use of this acceptable resource is sustainable. The study makes no clear mention of values or revenues, but does explain ferns are traded.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a human health perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: this study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Ferns contain carcinogens, but health risks are mitigated by a traditional processing technique (drying and boiling).
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an animal health/welfare perspective been recorded?: not recorded
Recommendations provided in the record to maintain or enhance the sustainability of the use of the target species
The study recommends that the maps it generated could also be used to zone the area for managing visitors who harvest NTFPs for commercial or recreational use to reduce the resource degradation, as well as managing conflicts among stakeholders, such as forest managers, local community members, and outsiders.
Record source
Information about the record source: scientific_pub
Date of publication/issue/production: 2013-01-01T00:00:00+0000
Source Reference(s):
Date of record entry: 2022-12-29