Co-operative Management of Local Fisheries: New Directions for Improved Management and Community Development

Concern over illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing has led to a number of policy, trade and surveillance measures. While much attention has been given to the impact of IUU regulation on industrial fleets, recognition of the distinct impacts on small-scale fisheries is conspicuously lacking from the policy and research debate. In this paper, we outline three ways in which the application of IUU discourse and regulation undermines small-scale fisheries. First, the mainstream construction of "illegal," "unreported" and "unregulated" fishing, and also the categorical use of "IUU" in an all-inclusive sense, disregards the diversity, legitimacy and sustainability of small-scale fisheries practices and their governing systems. Second, we explore how the recent trade-related measures to counter IUU fishing mask and reinforce existing inequalities between different sectors and countries, creating an unfair burden on small-scale fisheries and countries who depend on them. Third, as IUU fishing is increasingly approached as "organized crime," there is a risk of inappropriately targeting small-scale fisheries, at times violently. Reflecting on these three trends, we propose three strategies by which a more sensitive and ultimately more equitable incorporation of small-scale fisheries can be supported in the global fight against IUU fishing.

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Collateral damage? Small‐scale fisheries in the global fight against IUU fishing

This study conducts the first systematic literature review of climate change adaptation in aquaculture. We address three specific questions: (i) What is aquaculture adapting to? (ii) How is aquaculture adapting? and (iii) What research gaps need to be addressed? We identify, characterise and examine case studies published between 1990 and 2018 that lie at the intersection of the domains of climate change, adaptation and aquaculture. The main areas of documented climate change impacts relate to extreme events and the general impacts of climate change on the aquaculture sector. Three categories of adaptation to climate change are identified: coping mechanisms at the local level (e.g. water quality management techniques), multilevel adaptive strategies (e.g. changing culture practices) and management approaches (e.g. adaptation planning, community‐based adaptation). We identify four potential areas for future research: research on inland aquaculture adaptation; studies at the household level; whether different groups of aquaculture farmers (e.g. indigenous people) face and adapt differently to climate change; and the use of GIS and remote sensing as cost‐effective tools for developing adaptation strategies and responses. The study brings essential practical and theoretical insights to the aquaculture industry as well as to climate change adaptation research across the globe.

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Climate change adaptation in aquaculture

This work has been funded by the projects FOTOPEIX and FOTOPEX2 (2017/2279 and 2018/2002) from Fundacion Biodiversidad, through the Pleamar Program. We specially thank OPMALLORCAMAR and Direccio General de Pesca del Govern de les Illes Balears for supporting these projects. The work of J-LL was partially supported by grants TIN2017-85572-P and DPI2017-86372-C3-3-R (MINECO/AEI/FEDERUE).

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Image-based, unsupervised estimation of fish size from commercial landings using deep learning

Climate change and community fisheries in the arctic: A case study from Pangnirtung, Canada

Small-scale fisheries are an important source of livelihoods, particularly among poor coastal populations. To improve fisheries’ condition and maximize their contribution to human welfare, co-management approaches have proliferated worldwide. In this article, we conduct a systematic review of academic literature to examine the context and attributes of co-management initiatives in small-scale fisheries, and their expected outcomes. The review suggests that a supporting legal and institutional framework facilitates the emergence of co-management, because it contributes to clarify and legitimize property rights over fish resources. It is also found that co-management delivers both ecological and social benefits: it increases the abundance and habitat of species, fish catches, actors’ participation, and the fishery’s adaptive capacity, as well as it induces processes of social learning. Furthermore, co-management is more effective if artisanal fishers and diverse stakeholders become involved through an adaptive institutional framework. However, the review also suggests that more research is needed to discern when co-management initiatives can transform pre-existing conflicts, challenge power asymmetries and distribute benefits more equitably.

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A systematic review of co-managed small-scale fisheries: Social diversity and adaptive management improve outcomes

Learning is increasingly considered a means to achieve sustainability in practice and has become a prominent goal of sustainability interventions. The UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves see ...

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Learning to live with social-ecological complexity: An interpretive analysis of learning in 11 UNESCO Biosphere Reserves

In the context of collaborative resource management, mental models can provide insights on participants’ understanding of the resource management system and in so doing allow researchers and practitioners to derive lessons about the success or failure of comanagement approaches. We analyzed individual and group mental models in the comanaged small-scale fishery of La Encrucijada, Mexico, active since 2009. Mental models reveal a strong consensus around the idea that the comanagement initiative is a government-led partnership to subsidize fishers. This belief reflects a history of state paternalism and coexists with a diversity of views about who are the actors involved in comanagement, their role in the fishery, and the resources mobilized through comanagement. We argue that local participants’ limited understanding of the collaborative mechanisms established by the comanagement initiative suggests a failure of the promoting actors to communicate the initiative’s environmental and social goals and to exploit its transformative potential in terms of actors’ empowerment and participation in the long term. This research contributes to the burgeoning literature on the use of mental models as a means to unravel the cognitive aspects that may lie underneath the success or failure of natural resource governance.

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Laia d’Armengol

Papers

A systematic review of co-managed small-scale fisheries: Social diversity and adaptive management improve outcomes

Learning to live with social-ecological complexity: An interpretive analysis of learning in 11 UNESCO Biosphere Reserves

What does comanagement offer? Exploring users’ knowledge through mental models in the fishery of La Encrucijada Biosphere Reserve, Mexico