The tragedy of the commodity is not inevitable: Indigenous resistance prevents high-value fisheries collapse in the Pacific islands

•The emergence of export markets for high-value fisheries tends to lead to collapse.•We examine three case studies of resistance to the high-value seafood trade.•Despite short-term financial incentives, fishing communities rejected export markets.•Communities asserted Indigenous values and governance in the face of capitalist incursion.•Communities recommonized their fisheries and prevented collapse.