Whose Reality Counts?: Putting the first last

Most research in the area of common property (common-pool) resources in the last 2-3 decades sought the simplicity of community-based resource management cases to develop theory. This was mainly because of the relative ease of observing processes of self-governance in simple cases. However, this creates a problem. Whether the findings of small- scale, community-based commons can be scaled up to generalize about regional and global commons is much debated. Even though some of the principles from community-based studies are likely relevant across scale, new and different principles may also come into play at different levels. Cross-scale institutions (such as institutions of co- management) have something in common: they provide ways to deal with complex adaptive systems. They all pertain to various aspects of complexity, such as selforganizatio n, uncertainty, and resilience, and deal with the challenges of scale. Communities themselves can be seen as complex systems -- embedded in larger complex systems. Thus, community-based resource management needs to deal with cross-scale governance and external drivers of change, as I illustrate with examples of marine commons.

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From Community-Based Resource Management to Complex Systems: The Scale Issue and Marine Commons

List of Diagrams - List of Graphs - List of Maps - List of Tables - List of Abbreviations - Glossary of Foreign Terms - Introduction - Security and Vulnerability in Livelihood Systems - Coping and Adapting - Monitoring How People Feed Themselves - Drought, Food Insecurity and Early Warning in Mali - Livelihood Safety Nets: the Inner Niger Delta in the Sahel - Livelihood Systems - Production Entitlements - Exchange Entitlements - Coping and Adaptive Entitlements - Tracking and Tackling Food Vulnerability - References - Index

Adaptable Livelihoods: Coping with Food Insecurity in the Malian Sahel@@@Securite alimentaire et strategies de maitrise chez les pecheurs du delta interieur du fleuve Niger au Mali

(2009). Indigenous ways of knowing and the study of environmental change. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand: Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 151-156.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03014220909510568

Indigenous ways of knowing and the study of environmental change

Ecological complexity, fuzzy logic, and holism in indigenous knowledge

Fisher knowledge as expert system : A case from the longline fishery of Grenada, the Eastern Caribbean

There is a need to include social objectives in fisheries management, and this paper focuses on one set of social considerations, those regarding livelihood. We pay particular attention to sustainable livelihood strategies, the importance of commercial pelagic longline fishing for the entire community livelihood system, and implica- tions for management. Field data were obtained between December 2002 and March 2004 in Gouyave, Grenada, using participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and a quantitative survey. The economic base (fishing and agriculture) of the community is both unpredictable and seasonal, therefore individuals and households engage in diverse strategies to secure their livelihood. Three livelihood strategies were deemed important: 1) livelihood diversification, developing additional sources of income from agriculture, wage labor, and trade work, 2) fishing diversification, learning to switch to alternative gear and species, and 3) the availability of an informal "social secu- rity net" involving cash and in-kind assistance. These strategies help to spread the flow of income and food during lean times and across seasons. A major management implication is that fishery managers need to pay attention to the multi-species nature of fisheries and to the importance of livelihood diversification, including reliance on other economic sectors.

https://umanitoba.ca/institutes/natural_resources/canadaresearchchair/Grant%202007_Grant%20et%20al_Livelihoods_GCR.pdf

UNdERSTANdING THE LOCAL LIVELIHOOd SYSTEM IN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: THE PELAGIC LONGLINE FISHERY IN GOUYAVE, GRENAdA

Migratory marine resources pose a challenge to common property theory. A given fish stock (e.g. a tuna species) may be used by coastal and offshore fisheries, by small and large-scale harvesters, and more than one nation. The movement of the stock makes it difficult to develop shared values and mutually agreeable rules among the users who can monitor one another’s behaviour and impose sanctions. Migratory resources pose cross-boundary issues. It may be necessary to have commercial fishery quotas enforced by government authorities, as communitybased solutions would not be effective. In the case of resources fished by several nation states, international institutions are needed. Such resources pose cooperation and enforcement problems that cannot be solved at the local or national levels. A case in point is the migratory pelagic fish caught by the fishers of Gouyave, Grenada, West Indies. The International Commission for Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) reported that Atlantic Blue Marlin (Makaira nigricans), Atlantic White Marlin (Tetrapturus albidus), and Atlantic Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) fish stocks are overexploited. The ICCAT adopted management measures to rebuild these stocks, which requires countries throughout the region to reduce landing levels to those in 1996. Stock assessments and management strategies were based solely on scientific assessment. The new regulations impact livelihoods in the fishing community of Gouyave. Fishers, stakeholders, and community members disagree with the proposed plan to reduce landings of these species. Based on their local knowledge and technological experimentation, they argue they have information to contribute to the assessment of the status of the pelagic fishery that would be important for management planning. They argue that the government should take a more holistic approach to managing large pelagic species, and that ICCAT’s objective of rebuilding stocks cannot be achieved without causing much economic hardship on the community. Stakeholders note that to ensure sustainability of the fishery and the community, management strategies could include: (1) maintaining economic viability of the fishery; (2) monitoring the bait fishery; (3) maintaining proper quality control to ensure fish export; and (4) considering alternative livelihood options. Much could be done to improve Caribbean fisheries planning and decisionmaking by creating opportunities for management that are participatory and crossscale. In our case study, there are three levels of management: community (Gouvaye), the nation state (Grenada) and regional/international (ICCAT). While the national and regional levels are well coordinated, the community level of management, and the knowledge held by fishers, is rarely taken into account. Decision-making can be improved by creating a platform that facilitates adaptive learning, and sharing of scientific and local knowledge amongst the stakeholders. This grounded platform needs to be created first at the national level through participatory processes, and then used as a means to inform decisions at regional and international levels.

One hand can't clap : combining scientific and local knowledge for improved Caribbean fisheries management

This paper traces the history of the pelagic surface longline fishery in Gouyave, Grenada, noting 4 major periods of change from pre-1985 to 2004. Reconstructed from document reviews, newspaper articles, oral history, and key informant interviews 1) the pre-1985 period was the time when the longline was introduced and popularized by the Cubans, 2) the period of institutionalization and technology development (1986-1990) cor- responded to the strengthening of institutional arrangements and the initial improvements in technology, 3) the Coastal Fisheries Development Project (CFDP) of 1991-1999 was the period of international donor support and further technology change in longline construction, and finally 4) the 2000-2004 period marked innovation, training and fish quality control for export markets. The main point of the paper is that fisheries management is about the management of change. Fishery managers need to learn to deal, not only with technology change, but also with sur- prise and variability related to biophysical change (e.g., hurricanes), change in markets, and other external drivers such as international policies. Key considerations for managers to deal successfully with change include: learning from experience, capacity building, and the need to engage cooperatively with fishers and communities, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations.

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Sandra Grant

Papers

Fisher knowledge as expert system : A case from the longline fishery of Grenada, the Eastern Caribbean

UNdERSTANdING THE LOCAL LIVELIHOOd SYSTEM IN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: THE PELAGIC LONGLINE FISHERY IN GOUYAVE, GRENAdA

One hand can't clap : combining scientific and local knowledge for improved Caribbean fisheries management

A HISTORY OF CHANGE ANd REORGANIZATION: THE PELAGIC LONGLINE FISHERY IN GOUYAVE, GRENAdA