Browsing by Subject "Small-scale fisheries"

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Open Access
IMPACTS OF ENSO ON SMALL-SCALE FISHERIES CATCH IN GULF OF CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
(2014-04-25) Zheng, Shumin
Climatic shocks impact fisheries and the livelihoods of millions of people. Fishermen have various strategies to respond to shocks such as switching target species or engaging in alternative income activities. However, it is unclear how biodiversity in fisheries mitigates impacts to fishermen’s revenues. To answer this question, we focused on small-scale fisheries in the Gulf of California (GoC) in this study and examined how species diversity in fisheries may mitigate the impact of El Nino South Oscillation (ENSO) events. We hypothesized that species with different life histories would respond to ENSO differently in terms of direction and magnitude and that this would result in different impacts on biomass and associated catches. As result, we expect that fisheries targeting species whose responses towards ENSO are more heterogeneous will have more stable total catch and revenue. To test this hypothesis we used detailed fisheries catch and price data (2001- 2010) from government fishing offices in the GoC. The results of this research help shed light on the role of biodiversity conservation in supporting fisheries and human well-being.
Open Access
Institutional and Ecological Interplay for Successful Self-Governance of Community-Based Fisheries
(Ecological Economics, 2010) Basurto, Xavier; Coleman, Eric
The goal of this paper is to improve our understanding of the role of institutional arrangements and ecological factors that facilitate the emergence and sustainability of successful collective action in small-scale fishing social–ecological systems. Using a modified logistic growth function, we simulate how ecological factors (i.e. carrying capacity) affect small-scale fishing communities with varying degrees of institutional development (i.e. timeliness to adopt new institutions and the degree to which harvesting effort is reduced), in their ability to avoid overexploitation. Our results show that strong and timely institutions are necessary but not sufficient to maintain sustainable harvests over time. The sooner communities adopt institutions, and the stronger the institutions they adopt, the more likely they are to sustain the resource stock. Exactly how timely the institutions must be adopted, and by what amount harvesting effort must be diminished, depends on the ecological carrying capacity of the species at the particular location. Small differences in the carrying capacity between fishing sites, even under scenarios of similar institutional development, greatly affects the likelihood of effective collective action.
Open Access
“Lies build trust”: Social capital, masculinity, and community-based resource management in a Mexican fishery
(World Development, 2019-11-01) Siegelman, B; Haenn, N; Basurto, X
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd This paper relates how fishermen in San Evaristo on Mexico's Baja peninsula employ fabrications to strengthen bonds of trust and navigate the complexities of common pool resource extraction. We argue this trickery complicates notions of social capital in community-based natural resource management, which emphasize communitarianism in the form of trust. Trust, defined as a mutual dependability often rooted in honesty, reliable information, or shared expectations, has long been recognized as essential to common pool resource management. Despite this, research that takes a critical approach to social capital places attention on the activities that foster social networks and their norms by arguing that social capital is a process. A critical approach illuminates San Evaristeño practices of lying and joking across social settings and contextualizes these practices within cultural values of harmony. As San Evaristeños assert somewhat paradoxically, for them “lies build trust.” Importantly, a critical approach to this case study forces consideration of gender, an overlooked topic in social capital research. San Evaristeña women are excluded from the verbal jousting through which men maintain ties supporting their primacy in fishery management. Both men's joke-telling and San Evaristeños’ aversion to conflict have implications for conservation outcomes. As a result, we use these findings to help explain local resistance to outsiders and external management strategies including land trusts, fishing cooperatives, and marine protected areas.