World Fisheries E-Book

Rosemary Ommer

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 893

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

This exciting new book grew out of an international symposium held at FAO, Rome in July 2008, but it is not just a collection of papers from that symposium. Rather, the publication brings together work on social-ecological marine research that cuts across disciplines, identifies key common elements and approaches that promote resilience of marine social-ecological systems in the face of global changes, and points to next steps. The book comprises contributions on conceptual issues relating to social-ecological responses in marine systems to global changes; offers illustrative case studies of specific examples of social-ecological responses in marine systems to significant environmental changes manifested locally; develops a syntheses between natural and social scientists on the topic, and points the way forward with innovative approaches to the use of science and knowledge in management, policy and advice. World Fisheries is part of Wiley-Blackwell's prestigious Fish and Aquatic Resources Series, and encompasses chapters from many scientists at the top of their fields worldwide. Carefully drawn together and edited by four world experts in the area, World Fisheries is a landmark publication which is an essential purchase for all fisheries managers worldwide.

Leseprobe

Contents

List of Contributors

Series Foreword

Acknowledgements

Part I Social-Ecological Systems in Fisheries

1 IntroductionRosemary E. Ommer and R. Ian Perry

Reference

2 Restoring Unity: The Concept of Marine Social-ecological SystemsFikret Berkes

Introduction

Social-ecological systems concept and background

Complexity, globalization, and social-ecological systems

Participatory management and governance

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

References

Part II Modeling

3 Predicting the Impacts and Socio-Economic Consequences of Climate Change on Global Marine Ecosystems and Fisheries: The QUEST_fish FrameworkManuel Barange, Icarus Allen, Eddie Allison, Marie-Caroline Badjeck, Julia Blanchard, Benjamin Drakeford, Nicholas K. Dulvy, James Harle, Robert Holmes, Jason Holt, Simon Jennings, Jason Lowe, Gorka Merino, Christian Mullon, Graham Pilling, Lynda Rodwell, Emma Tompkins, and Francisco Werner

Introduction

Framing the problem

Geographical and temporal framework

The role of GCMs and RCMs

Developing physical-biological models for the shelf seas

Estimating potential fish production

Estimating socio-economic consequences

Methodology for national vulnerability assessment

Methodology for global assessment of a marine-based commodity: fishmeal

Opportunities and boundaries of the QUEST_Fish approach

Endnotes

References

4 Fleets, Sites, and Conservation Goals: Game Theoretic Insights on Management Options for Multinational Tuna FisheriesKathleen Miller, Peter Golubtsov, and Robert McKelvey

Introduction

Background – Tuna exploitation and management in the Western and Central Pacific

The model

The single-season subgame: The split-stream extensive model

The two-fleet interior game

The RFMO-guided seasonal game between distant-water fleets and coastal countries

Simulations and implications

Game structure of RFMO–sites–fleets interaction

Policy choices for sustaining stocks

Effects of coalition-formation

Climate-related shifts in distribution of stocks

Summary, policy implications and future directions

Acknowledgement

Endnotes

References

5 Fishing the Food Web: Integrated Analysis of Changes and Drivers of Change in Fisheries of the Bay of BiscayOlivier Thébaud and Fabian Blanchard

Introduction

Patterns of change in fisheries landings by French fleets

Drivers of change

Institutional context: a case of “regulated open access”

Increased competition in markets for fish

Effects of sea warming on the fish community structure

Perspectives

Acknowledgements

Endnotes

References

6 Interdisciplinary Modeling for an Ecosystem Approach to Management in Marine Social-Ecological SystemsAnthony M. Starfield and Astrid Jarre

Introduction

Focusing attention and setting objectives

A model of a model

Rapid prototyping

The question of balance

Frame-based modeling

People and resources

Concluding remarks

Acknowledgements

References

7 People’s Seas: “Ethno-oceanography” as an Interdisciplinary Means to Approach Marine Ecosystem ChangeMaria A. Gasalla and Antonio C. S. Diegues

Introduction

Defining “ethno-oceanography”

Ethnoecology approach

The significance of key communication: ethno-oceanography and changes in marine social-ecological systems of Brazil

“Ethno-oceanography” as a framework to approach climate and marine ecosystem change

Looking beyond uncertainty: implications of climate change to fisheries

Redefining the reach of ethno-oceanography: a conceptual approach

Concluding remarks

Acknowledgements

Endnotes

References

Part III Knowledge

8 The Utility of Economic Indicators to Promote Policy-Relevant Science for Climate Change DecisionsJudith Kildow

Introduction

Indicators

Economic indicators: a framework

Economic indicators function in multiple ways

The evidence from society

Conclusion

Endnotes

References

9 Scientific Advice for Fisheries Management in West Africa in the Context of Global ChangeBora Masumbuko, Moctar Bâ, P. Morand, P. Chavance, and Pierre Failler

Introduction

West African context

Method

ECOST/ISTAM survey results

Scientific advice: content and processes

Use and non-use of scientific advice and its implications

Improvement of the quality of scientific advice and its use in the decision process

Discussion

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Endnotes

References

10 Knowledge and Research on Chilean Fisheries Resources: Diagnosis and Recommendations for Sustainable DevelopmentEleuterio Yáñez, Exequiel González, Luis Cubillos, Samuel Hormazábal, Héctor Trujillo, Lorena Álvarez, Alejandra Órdenes, Milton Pedraza, and Gustavo Aedo

Introduction

Framework

System structure, elements, interactions, and knowledge to be considered

Current status of knowledge

Governance of the fisheries system (a system of problems)

Discussion

Future research path for fisheries management

Endnotes

References

11 Moving Forward: Social-Ecological Interactivity, Global Marine Change and Knowledge for the FutureBarbara Neis

Introduction

Social-ecological knowledge

Knowing where we want to go and finding our way there

Conclusion

Endnote

References

Part IV Values

12 Unaccounted Values: Under-reporting Sardine Catches as a Strategy Against Poverty in the Bali Strait, IndonesiaEny Anggraini Buchary, Tony J. Pitcher, and Ussif Rashid Sumaila

Introduction

Area description

The Lemuru fishery

Materials and methods

Data collection

Analytical methods

Results and discussion

Fate of landed lemuru and distribution of reported catch

Estimated true catch

Financial insecurity: lending schemes and debt-to-assets ratio

Measuring relative poverty in fisheries

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

Endnotes

References

13 “You Don’t Know What You’ve Got ‘Til It’s Gone”: The Case for Spiritual Values in Marine Ecosystem ManagementNigel Haggan

Introduction

Golden Rule #1: Love your neighbor as yourself

Golden Rule #2: The one with the gold makes the rules

Golden Rule #3: The gold goes where the gold grows

Concepts of value

The roots of whole ecosystem evaluation

Formal frameworks, 1987–1991

Measuring ecosystem value

A bridge between intrinsic and instrumental value

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Appendix 1: Catagories used in total economic value and ecosystem services frameworks

References

14 Social-Ecological Restructuring and Implications for Social ValuesGrant Murray

Introduction

Approach and methods

Social-ecological restructuring: putting climate change in context

Changes in social structures and processes

Size and connection with fishing industry

Age structure

Internal stratification

Fishing as a way of life: now and in the future

Discussion

Conclusion

Endnotes

References

15 Economic Valuation of Mangroves in the Niger Delta: An Interdisciplinary ApproachGodstime K. James, Jimmy O. Adegoke, Ekechukwu Saba, Peter Nwilo, Joseph Akinyede, and Sylvester Osagie

Introduction

Study area

Integration of remote sensing and socio-economic data

Economic valuation of mangrove resources

Methodology

Remote sensing analysis

Focus group analysis

Household survey

Empirical data processing

Estimation of net income from the sale of mangrove resources

Estimation of the mangrove area that supported mangrove income (Ak)

Annual household net income at the community level

Results and analysis

Socio-economic characteristics of household survey respondents

Area of mangrove that support income stream (Ak)

Results from the economic valuation

Conclusions

References

16 US Marine Ecosystem Habitat ValuesUssif Rashid Sumaila, Jackie Alder, G. Ishimura, William. W. L. Cheung, L. Dropkin, S. Hopkins, S. Sullivan, and A. Kitchingman

Introduction

Geographical scope of study

Assigning use and non-use values to habitat types

Direct use: Habitat associated commercial values

Direct use: Habitat associated recreational values

Non-use and indirect value: Habitat values based on iconic species

The results

Direct use: Habitat associated commercial values

Direct use: Habitat associated recreational values

Non-use and indirect value: Habitat values based on iconic species

Concluding remarks

Acknowledgements

Endnotes

References

Part V Governance

17 Historical Transitions in Access to and Management of Alaska’s Commercial Fisheries, 1880–1980Emilie Springer

Introduction

Early days: Gold and salmon; 1867–1919

1899 report by Jefferson Moser, United States Navy Commander of the steam ship Albatross

1920–1939: The records of Hubbell and Waller

The mid-century era of fisheries: 1940–1969

1954–1970 Total Catch Statistics

Species shift, changing technology, improved access, and awareness of off-shore waters: 1970s–1980s

Three Alaskan competitors: Japan, Russia/Soviet Union, and Korea

Organization of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC)

Discussion and conclusions

Endnotes

References

18 Can Fishers’ Virtuous Behavior Improve Large Marine Ecosystem Health?Valentina Giannini

Introduction

Guatemala: A case study

Vicious chains: Exploitation and degradation

Virtous chains and the Red: A partial solution to conflict and overfishing

Discussion

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

References

Useful websites

19 Ecosystem-based Management in the Asia-Pacific RegionMitsutaku Makino and Hiroyuki Matsuda

Introduction

Global comparison of fisheries sectors

Ecosystem-based management at the Shiretoko World Natural Heritage, Japan

Discussion

Conclusion

Acknowledgement

Endnotes

References

20 A Network Approach to Understanding Coastal Management and Governance of Small-scale Fisheries in the Eastern CaribbeanKemraj Parsram and Patrick McConney

Introduction

Coastal and fisheries resources

Governance issues

Network governance thinking

Tuna fishery management

Fisheries science networks

Regional fisher folk organization

Conclusion

References

21 Uncertainty Demands an Adaptive Management Approach to the Use of Marine Protected Areas as Management ToolsMichel J. Kaiser

Introduction

Quantifying the performance of MPAs

The “plaice-box” as a case study

Climate effects on MPA performance metrics

Dealing with future uncertainty

References

22 Building Resilience to Climatic and Global Change in High-Latitude Fishing Communities: Three Case Studies from Iceland and AlaskaJames R. McGoodwin

Introduction

Impacts that are forecast for marine ecosystems and the world’s coastal fishing communities

Case studies from three high-latitude fishing communities

Case Study 1: Heimaey, Iceland

Case Study 2: Dillingham, Southwest Alaska

Case Study 3: The Yup’ik community, Southwest Alaska

Conclusion: recommendations for increasing the resilience of the three high-latitude coastal fishing communities

Recommendations for Heimaey, Iceland

Recommendations for Dillingham, Southwest Alaska

Recommendations for the Yup’ik community, Southwest Alaska

General recommendations

Regarding ordinary climatic variability

Regarding severe coastal storms and extreme weather events, sea-level rise, and saltwater intrusion

Regarding changes in marine ecosystem compositions

Regarding building the capacity of fisheries-management systems to more effectively deal with global warming and change

Regarding future fisheries research

Regarding regional fisheries management organizations

Acknowledgements

Endnotes

References

23 Coping with Environmental Change: Systemic Responses and the Roles of Property and Community in Three FisheriesBonnie J. McCay, Wendy Weisman, and Carolyn Creed

Introduction

Case Study 1: Fogo Island, Newfoundland, Canada

Case Study 2: Pacifico Norte, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Case Study 3: US Surfclam Fishery

Conclusion: Enclosures, feedback, and the future

Acknowledgements

References

Part VI Conclusions

24 Conclusion: Hierarchy, Power, and Potential Regime Shifts in Marine Social-Ecological SystemsRosemary E. Ommer and R. Ian Perry

References

Index

A color plate section falls between pages

World FisheriesA Social-Ecological Analysis

Fish and Aquatic Resources Series

Series Editor: Tony J. Pitcher

Professor of Fisheries Policy and Ecosystem Restoration in Fisheries, Fisheries Centre, Aquatic Ecosystems Research Laboratory, University of British Columbia, Canada

The Wiley-Blackwell Fish and Aquatic Resources Series is an initiative aimed at providing key books in this fast-moving field, published to a high international standard.

The Series includes books that review major themes and issues in the science of fishes and the interdisciplinary study of their exploitation in human fisheries. Volumes in the Series combine a broad geographical scope with in-depth focus on concepts, research frontiers, and analytical frameworks. These books will be of interest to research workers in the biology, zoology, ichthyology, ecology, and physiology of fish and the economics, anthropology, sociology, and all aspects of fisheries. They will also appeal to non-specialists such as those with a commercial or industrial stake in fisheries.

It is the aim of the editorial team that books in the Wiley-Blackwell Fish and Aquatic Resources Series should adhere to the highest academic standards through being fully peer reviewed and edited by specialists in the field. The Series books are produced by Wiley-Blackwell in a prestigious and distinctive format. The Series Editor, Professor Tony J. Pitcher, is an experienced international author, and founding editor of the leading journal in the field, Fish and Fisheries.

The Series Editor, and Publisher at Wiley-Blackwell, Nigel Balmforth, will be pleased to discuss suggestions, advise on scope, and provide evaluations of proposals for books intended for the Series. Please see contact details listed below.

Titles currently included in the Series

1. Effects of Fishing on Marine Ecosystems and Communities (S. Hall) 1999

2. Salmonid Fishes (Edited by Y. Altukhov et al.) 2000

3. Percid Fishes (J. Craig) 2000

4. Fisheries Oceanography (Edited by P. Harrison and T. Parsons) 2000

5. Sustainable Fishery Systems (A. Charles) 2000

6. Krill (Edited by I. Everson) 2000

7. Tropical Estuarine Fishes (S. Blaber) 2000

8. Recreational Fisheries (Edited by T. J. Pitcher and C. E. Hollingworth) 2002

9. Flatfishes (Edited by R. Gibson) 2005

10. Fisheries Acoustics (J. Simmonds and D. N. MacLennan) 2005

11. Fish Cognition and Behavior (Edited by C. Brown, K. Laland and J. Krause) 2006

12. Seamounts (Edited by T. J. Pitcher, T. Morato, P. J. B. Hart, M. R. Clark, N. Haggan and R. S. Santos) 2007

13. Sharks of the Open Ocean (Edited by M. D. Camhi, E. K. Pikitch and E. A. Babcock) 2008

14. World Fisheries (Edited by R. E. Ommer, R. I. Perry, K. Cochrane and P. Cury) 2011

15. Fish Cognition and Behavior, Second Edition (Edited by C. Brown, K. N. Laland and J. Krause) 2011

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

World fisheries : a social-ecological analysis / edited by Rosemary E. Ommer ... [et al.]

p. cm. — (Fish and aquatic resources series)

Based on a symposium held in Rome in July 2008, sponsored by the Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics Program and other bodies

Includes bibliographical references and index

ISBN 978-1-4443-3467-8 (hardcover : alk. paper)

1. Fishery management. 2. Marine fishes—Ecology. 3. Fisheries—Environmental aspects.4. Fisheries—Social aspects. 5. Sustainable fisheries. I. Ommer, Rosemary. II. GlobalOcean Ecosystems Dynamics (Program)

SH328.W67 2011

338.3'727—dc22

2010031135

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This book is published in the following electronic formats: ePDF (9781444392227); Wiley Online Library (9781444392241); ePub (9781444392234)

List of Contributors

Jimmy O. AdegokeDepartment of GeosciencesUniversity of MissouriKansas City, Missouri, USA

Gustavo AedoUniversidad de ConcepciónBox 160-C, Concepción Chile

Joseph AkinyedeSpace Application DepartmentNigerian Space Research and Development AgencyGarki-Abuja, Nigeria

Jackie AlderUnited Nations Environment ProgrammeUnited Nations DriveGigiri, Nairobi, Kenya

Icarus AllenPlymouth Marine LaboratoryProspect Place, Plymouth, PL13DH, UK

Eddie AllisonThe WorldFish CenterPO Box 500GPO, 10670 Penang, Malaysia

Lorena ÁlvarezPontificia Universidad Católica de ValparaísoBox 1020, Valparaíso, Chile

Moctar BâInstitut de recherche pour le développement (IRD)Research Unit Osiris,Route des Hydrocarbures, BP 1386, Dakar, SenegalEmail: [email protected]

Marie-Caroline BadjeckThe WorldFish CenterPO Box 500GPO, 10670 Penang, MalaysiaEmail: [email protected]

Manuel BarangePlymouth Marine LaboratoryProspect Place, Plymouth, PL13DH, UKEmail: [email protected]

Fikret BerkesNatural Resources InstituteUniversity of ManitobaWinnipeg MB R3T 2N2, CanadaEmail: [email protected]

Fabian BlanchardIFREMERLaboratoire des Ressources HalieutiquesBP 477, 97331 Cayenne Cedex, French Guyana

Julia BlanchardCentre for the Environment, Fisheries and Aquatic ScienceLowestoft Laboratory, Pakefield RoadLowestoft NR33 0HT, UK

Eny Anggraini Buchary Fisheries Centre University of British Columbia2202 Main MallVancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, CanadaEmail: [email protected]

P. ChavanceInstitut de recherche pour le développement (IRD)CRH IRDAvenue Jean Monnet34200 SèteFranceEmail: [email protected]

William W. L. CheungSchool of Environmental SciencesUniversity of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

Kevern L. CochraneFisheries and Aquaculture DepartmentFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,via delle Terme di CaracallaRome 00153 Email: [email protected]

Carolyn CreedRutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

Luis CubillosUniversidad de ConcepciónBox 160-C, Concepción, Chile

PhilippecuryIRD UMR EME-212 (Ecosystème Marins Exploités-Exploited Marine Ecosystems) CRH (Centre de Recherche Halieutique Méditerranéenne et Tropicale IDR, Ifremer & Université Montpellier II Avenue Jean Monnet, BP 171 34203 Sète Cedex France

Antonio C. S. DieguesGraduate Course of Environmental Sciences/NUPAUBUniversity of São Paulo (USP)Cidade Universitária, 05508-060 SP Brazil

Benjamin DrakefordCentre for the Economics and Management of Aquatic ResourcesUniversity of PortsmouthSt George’s BuildingPortsmouth PO1 2HY, UK

L. DropkinEdgeResearch1901 N Ft. Myer Road, Suite 702Arlington, VA, USA

Nicholas K. DulvyDepartment of Biological SciencesSimon Fraser UniversityBurnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada

Pierre FaillerCentre for the Economics and Management of Aquatic Resources (CEMARE)University of Portsmouth, St George’s Building141 High StreetPortsmouth, PO1 2HY, UKEmail: [email protected]

Maria A. GasallaFisheries Ecosystems Laboratory (LabPesq)Department of Biological OceanographyInstituto Oceanográfico, University of São Paulo (USP)Cidade Universitária, 055080-900 SP, BrazilEmail: [email protected]

Valentina GianniniCa’ Foscari UniversityCannaregio 873, I-30121Venice, ItalyEmail: [email protected]

Peter GolubtsovPhysics DepartmentLomonosov Moscow State UniversityLeninskiye Gory, Moscow, 119991, Russia

Exequiel GonzálezPontificia Universidad Católica de ValparaísoBox 1020, Valparaíso, Chile

Nigel HagganUBC Fisheries Centre2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4Email: [email protected]

James HarleProudman Oceanographic LaboratoryJoseph Proudman Building6 Brownlow Street, Liverpool L3 5DA, UK

Robert HolmesPlymouth Marine LaboratoryProspect Place, Plymouth, PL1 3DH, UK

Jason HoltProudman Oceanographic LaboratoryJoseph Proudman building6 Brownlow Street, Liverpool L3 5DA, UK

S. HopkinsEdgeResearch1901 N Ft. Myer Road, Suite 702 Arlington, VA, USA

Samuel HormazábalUniversidad de Concepción Box 160-C, Concepción, Chile

G. IshimuraSchool of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

Godstime K. JamesSpace Application DepartmentNigerian Space Research and Development AgencyGarki-Abuja, Nigeria Email: [email protected]

Astrid JarreMarine Research (MA-RE) InstituteUniversity of Cape TownPrivate Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa Email: [email protected]

Simon JenningsCentre for the Environment, Fisheries and Aquatic ScienceLowestoft Laboratory, Pakefield Road Lowestoft NR33 0HT, UK

Michel J. KaiserSchool of Ocean SciencesCollege of Natural SciencesBangor University, Menai Bridge, UK Email: [email protected]

Judith KildowNational Ocean Economics Program12645 Summit Ridge RoadNevada City, CA 95959, USAEmail: [email protected]

A. KitchingmanUBC Fisheries Centre2202 Main MallVancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4

Jason LoweMet Office, Hadley CentreFitzRoy RoadExeter, EX1 3PB, UK

Mitsutaku MakinoFisheries Research Agency, JapanEmail: [email protected]

Bora MasumbukoBP 1618 Ouagadougou Burkina FasoEmail: [email protected]

Hiroyuki MatsudaYokohama National University, JapanBonnie J. McCayDepartment of Human Ecology, Rutgers University55 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USAEmail: [email protected]

Patrick McConneyCentre for Resource Management and Environmental StudiesUniversity of the West IndiesCave Hill Campus, BarbadosEmail: [email protected]

James R. McGoodwinDepartment of Anthropology233 UCB, University of ColoradoBoulder, CO 80309 USAE-mail: [email protected]

Robert McKelveyProfessor Emeritus of Mathematical Sciences,University of Montana,USA

Gorka MerinoSchool of Earth, Ocean and Environmental SciencesUniversity of PlymouthDrake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK

Kathleen MillerClimate Science and Applications Program,National Center for Atmospheric ResearchPO Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307, USA Email: [email protected]

P. MorandDépartement Ressources Vivantes Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) 93143 Bondy Cedex, France

Christian MullonUnité de recherche Ecosystèmes d’UpwellingCentre de Recherches Halieutiques Avenue Jean Monnet, 34200, Sète, France

Grant MurrayInstitute for Coastal ResearchVancouver Island UniversityNanaimo, BC V9R 5S5, CanadaEmail: [email protected]

Barbara NeisDepartment of SociologyMemorial University of NewfoundlandSt. John’s NL A1C 5S7, CanadaEmail: [email protected]

Peter NwiloDepartment of Surveying and Geoinformatics University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria

Rosemary E. OmmerDepartment of HistoryUniversity of VictoriaPO Box 1700 STN CSCVictoria BC V8W 2Y2, Canada Email: [email protected]

Alejandra ÓrdenesPontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso Box 1020, Valparaíso, Chile

Sylvester OsagieDepartment of Labor RelationsThe Pennsylvania State University Altoona, PA

Kemraj ParsramCentre for Resource Management and Environmental StudiesUniversity of the West IndiesCave Hill Campus, BarbadosEmail: [email protected]

Milton PedrazaUniversidad de ConcepciónBox 160-C, Concepción Chile

R. Ian PerryFisheries and Oceans CanadaPacific Biological Station3190 Hammond Bay RoadNanaimo, BC, V9T 6N7, CanadaEmail: [email protected]

Graham PillingCentre for the Environment, Fisheries and Aquatic ScienceLowestoft Laboratory, Pakefield RoadLowestoft, NR33 0HT, UK

Tony J. PitcherUniversity of Brirish Columbia Fisheries Centre2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4Email: [email protected]

Lynda RodwellSchool of Earth, Ocean and Environmental SciencesUniversity of PlymouthDrake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK

Ekechukwu SabaMap and Image SystemOgunu road, WarriDelta State, Nigeria

Emilie SpringerDepartment of AnthropologyUniversity of Alaska Fairbanks310 Eielson Building, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA.Email: [email protected]

Anthony M. Starfield6080 Thursby AvenueDallas, TX 75252, USA

S. SullivanEdgeResearch1901 N Ft. Myer Road, Suite 702Arlington, VA, USA

Ussif Rashid SumailaFisheries Centre University of British Columbia2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4 CanadaEmail: [email protected]

Olivier ThébaudCSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research233 Middle StreetCleveland, 4163, QLD, Australia

Emma TompkinsSchool of Earth and EnvironmentUniversity of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

Héctor TrujilloPontificia Universidad Católica de ValparaísoBox 1020, Valparaíso, Chile

Wendy WeismanRutgers UniversityNew Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA

Francisco WernerInstitute of Marine and Coastal SciencesRutgers University71 Dudley RoadNew Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA

Eleuterio YáñezPontificia Universidad Católica de ValparaísoBox 1020, Valparaíso, Chile

Series Foreword

Hari Seldon and the order of consilience

It is the custom of scholars when addressing behavior and culture to speak variously of anthropological explanations, psychological explanations, biological explanations, and other explanations appropriate to the perspective of individual disciplines. I have argued that there is intrinsically only one class of explanation. It traverses the scales of space, time and complexity to unite the disparate facts of the disciplines by consilience, the perception of a seamless web of cause and effect.E.O. Wilson

It has long been known that, to manage fisheries, we have to manage people, a notoriously messy process, as well as deal with the natural world of ecology and all its uncertainties, another set of messy processes. Yet, reflecting Wilson’s strictures, the understanding of fisheries systems has proceeded largely in the separate solitudes of social and natural sciences and this has meant a lack of integrative solutions to chronic fisheries problems. And until recently, practical ways of moving towards Wilson’s consilience have been inept at best, and disastrous in the worst cases (Pitcher and Lam, 2010).

Many seeking consilience of the social and ecological aspects of humans look enviously at the Foundation series of books, classics of 1950s science fiction, in which Isaac Asimov’s protagonist, Hari Seldon, spends his life developing psychohistory, a concept of mathematical sociology analogous to mathematical physics.1 Using the law of mass action, Seldon’s algorithm can predict the future, but only on a large scale. It works on the principle that the behaviour of a mass of people is predictable if the quantity of this mass is very large (quadrillions in Asimov’s envisioned galaxy of humans, inhabiting millions of star systems throughout the Milky Way). The larger the number, the more predictable is the future. Using his algorithm, Seldon foresees the imminent fall of the Galactic Empire, and a dark age lasting 30,000 years before a second great empire arises. To shorten the period of barbarism, he creates two Foundations, small, secluded havens of all human knowledge, at “opposite ends of the galaxy” and the stories follow the fortunes of this venture.

If only we understood Seldon’s math, all would be well in the world of fisheries ecosystems and their embedded fish and fishers. Barbasi (2005) suggests that something along the lines of the Seldon formula may emerge from interdisciplinary team research on a vibrant consumer society that has developed webs of myriad electronic tags. But while Asimov’s fictional Seldon solved E.O.Wilson’s unity of knowledge, unfortunately, in real life things are not so easy and we are still waiting for the critical theory to be invented. In the meantime, the social-ecological approach fostered by this book points a hopeful way forward.

In Asimov’s stories, Seldon’s theory could not handle innovation. To make sure that the predictions worked, the Foundation tried to freeze technological development and was ultimately unsuccessful. In fisheries, technological innovation has changed the ground rules for traditional coastal fishing societies where a sustainability ethic may emerge (Trosper 2009). The process has led to massive serial depletion of most of the world’s major fisheries resources (Pitcher 2001, and for example, deep water and seamount fisheries, Pitcher et al., 2010), This process has prejudiced ecological sustainability and the very existence of many linked human livelihoods. The principal sufferers have been small-scale coastal communities, largely the subjects of this book.

This pioneering book, bringing together social and natural science into a fresh social-ecological perspective, presents case studies and concepts that point the way forward. The 24 chapters derive originally from a conference held at the Rome headquarters of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations in 2008 that attracted over 200 of the world’s leading researchers in this field.

While there are significant other challenges, for example in establishing safe operating limits for the major biogeochemical global systems (Rockstrom et al., 2009), social-ecological systems may be key to human survival of the coming eco-crisis. Although they are vulnerable to disruptions of the biogeochemical norms, social-ecological systems nevertheless have significant adaptive capacity and may be able to sustain human well-being through difficult changes (Chapin et al., 2009). On a 50-year time-scale, many forecast a dark age of mayhem and destruction, while the human population grapples with serious food shortages of all kinds caused by ignoring the mismatch between ecology and unfettered human behaviour. This includes the catastrophic loss of the productive capacity of the world’s oceans and fisheries. We can hope that the insight provided by the social-ecological approach will be analogous to Asimov’s Foundation in averting or at least mitigating this impending catastrophe.

Endnote

1. Asimov’s publisher, John W. Campbell of Astounding magazine (where Foundation first appeared), reported that Asimov’s inspiration came from the logical analysis of historical trends in Gibbon’s 1776 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Asimov said he used, “a little bit of cribbin’ from the works of Edward Gibbon.”

References

Barbasi, A. -L. (2005) Network Theory – the emergence of the creative enterprise. Science308, 639–641.

Chapin, T., Carpenter, S. R., Kofinas, G. P., Folke, C., Abel, N., Clark, W. C., Olsson, P., Smith, D. M., Walker, B., Young, O. R., Berkes, F., Biggs, R., Grove, J. M., Naylor, R. L., Pinkerton, E., Steffen, W. and Swanson, F. J. (2009) Ecosystem stewardship: sustainability strategies for a rapidly changing planet. Trends in Ecology and Evolution25(4), 241–249

Pitcher, T. J. (2001) Fisheries managed to rebuild ecosystems: reconstructing the past to salvage the future. Ecological Applications11(2), 601–617.

Pitcher, T. J. and Lam, M. (2010) Fishful thinking: rhetoric, reality and the sea before us. Ecology and Society15(2), 12, 27pp.

Pitcher, T. J., Clark, M. R., Morato, T. and Watson. R. (2010) Seamount Fisheries: do they have a future? Oceanography23(1), 134–144.

Rockstrom, J., Steffen, W., Noone, K., Persson, A., Chapin, F. S., Lambin, E. F., Lenton, T. M., Scheffer, M., Folke, C., Schellnhuber, H. J., Nykvist, B., de Wit, C. A., Hughes, T., van der Leeuw, S., Rodhe, H., Sorlin, S., Snyder, P. K., Costanza, R., Svedin, U., Falkenmark, M., Karlberg, L., Corell R. W., Fabry, V. J., Hansen. J., Walker, B., Liverman, D., Richardson, K., Crutzen, P. and Foley, J. A. (2009) A safe operating space for humanity. Nature461, 472–475.

Trosper, R. L. (2009) Resilience, reciprocity and ecological economics: Northwest coast sustainability. Routledge, London, UK and New York, New York, USA.

Wilson, E. O. (1998) Consilience. Knopf, NY, 332 pp.

Professor Tony J. PitcherSeries Editor, Wiley-Blackwell Fish and Aquatic Resources SeriesFisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC, Canada

Acknowledgements

An international symposium on “Coping with global change in marine social-ecological systems” was held at the Rome headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), 8–11 July 2008. It was sponsored by the Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics Program (GLOBEC: a core project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program, the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research, and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), the European Network of Excellence for Ocean Ecosystems Analysis, and FAO. The central goals of the symposium were to:

1. explore conceptual issues relating to social-ecological re- sponses in marine systems to global changes;

2. analyse case studies of specific examples of social-ecological responses in marine systems to significant environmental changes manifested locally;

3. synthesise the work of natural and social scientists and build comparisons of social-ecological responses in marine ecosystems subjected to major environmental variability;

4. develop innovative approaches to the use of science and knowledge in management, policy and advice; and to

5. identify policy initiatives that would enhance marine govern- ance structures such that they would encourage the building of resilient social-ecological systems.

The symposium was supported by the French Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Institut francais de recherché pour l’exploitation de la mer (IFREMER), the Institute for Coastal and Oceans Research (University of Victoria, Canada), the Scientific Committee for Oceanic Research(SCOR), the North Pacific Marine Science Organisation (PICES), the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas(ICES), the Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research program(IMBER), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and the International Human Dimensions Program (IHDP). The editors of this book, along with convenors of the symposium wish to thank each of these organisations for their generosity. The editors also wish to thank Joy Austin, Kari Marks and Graeme Bock of ICOR, and Andrew P. Delaney of St. John’s, Newfoundland, for secretarial and technical assistance with text and index preparation. They also wish to thank Raschad Al Khafaji, Cassandra de Young, Michel Lamboeuf, Susana Siar, Jogeir Toppe and Rine Sola of the local FAO symposium organising committee. Finally, the convenors also thank GLOBEC, Eur-OCEANS and FAO for their support and funding.

Part I

Social-Ecological Systems in Fisheries

Chapter 1

Introduction

Rosemary E. Ommer and R. Ian Perry

The ocean is fundamental to life on this planet, covering 70% of its surface and playing a major role in regulating the Earth’s climate and the biogeochemical cycling of key elements. Yet it remains comparatively little understood, while being hugely exploited in response to human food requirements, and the need for other resources such as oil and gas. Human beings are having a huge impact on our oceans, without understanding the long-term consequences of our actions; the oceans also impact on human beings. The relationship between human beings and the oceans is two-way: humanity and the sea are inter-dependent, and we will not manage marine matters wisely until we make that an everyday part of our thinking. It is important to look at the linkages between oceans and ourselves, and to start to understand these linkages as part of how we think about, and act as stewards of, our oceans.

Failure to recognize the full implications of this humans-in-nature concept (Berkes and Folke, 1998) has left oceans, and many fish-dependent communities in both the developed and the less-developed world, in trouble, since both industrial and artisanal or small-scale fisheries are stressed as more and more fish stocks shrink or even become endangered. Fishing nations are now becoming more concerned about “species at risk”, but there has been insufficient analysis that ties people and fish together in ways that will alter management thinking about the ways in which non-industrial and “industrial” coastal communities are also at risk. In short, the management of the world’s fish and fishers remains deeply problematic, not least because, by separating fish from fishers and by not recognizing the interdependence of these two, what are really interdependent problems have been thought of in separate spheres.

There are two distinct modes of management that exist in today’s fisheries. The first concerns the technologically-sophisticated deepwater ocean fleets that may be nationally based, but operate internationally. They are managed, for the most part, through quotas and regulations aimed at servicing the needs of the multinational and commercially important business enterprises. They fish their own territorial waters but are also invited into the waters of some nations that are resource-rich but fiscally less well endowed, with access granted them for a sum of money that boosts national wealth over the short term, while depleting national resources over the longer term. The second concerns the management of small-scale and artisanal fisheries, usually thought of as commercially less important or important only in the less-developed world, although small-scale fisheries also exist in the developed world (e.g., Newfoundland and Norway). As a result, an analytical divide exists in the academic (natural and social scientific) and management policy literatures. All too often, analysis of “small coastal”, “small boat”, “inshore”, or “artisanal” fisheries, and that of industrial high technology, large-scale fleets are not found in the same journals. The debate about management at the national level in the developed world, and to some degree globally, is found mostly in policy and management journals, national and international. They focus on regulatory concerns to do with the equitable access of large-scale fleets to the world’s fish. By contrast, the literature on small-scale fisheries is to be found more often in the development, resilience, and ecological literatures. This reflects a perception that the big fleets are the important fisheries sector contributors to national wealth, and hence of primary concern to national and international regulators. By contrast, small-scale fisheries seem to be perceived to be primarily subsistent in purpose, and thus not of equal status, since the “wealth” they may generate is of a different scale and nature, frequently not going into national employment statistics and tax coffers or contributing to industrial profits, expenditures, and wages.

This “separate silos” approach to different scales of fishing activity ignores the fact that subsistent economies relieve the state of the need to provide other kinds of costly support, be that in welfare payments or the costs of crime that are so often the downstream result of unremitting poverty. In this book, therefore, we take a different view, dismissing neither the importance of industrial fleets nor that of local fisheries. Instead, while acknowledging the significant distinctions between them, we also recognize that both are part of the world’s interdependent social-ecological systems (see Berkes, Chapter 2). This means that they must bear responsibilities as well as rights when prosecuting global marine resources on which they ultimately depend and on which they have significant impacts. By extension, then, not only are they subject to quota regulations and international agreements, but they also bear responsibility for impacts that are all too often seen as “externalities” – costs to the ecological part of the global social-ecological system that are frequently ignored or seen as impossible to regulate.

This book grew out of an international symposium on these topics, lead by the Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (GLOBEC) program, by Eur-OCEANS Work Package 6 on the Ecosystem Approach to Marine Resources, and by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), and held at FAO Headquarters in Rome in July 2008. It is not just a collection of papers from that symposium, however. Rather, the central goal of the publication is to bring together work on social-ecological marine research that cuts across disciplines, identifies key common elements and approaches that promote resilience of marine social-ecological systems in the face of global changes, and points to next steps. The book comprises contributions on conceptual issues relating to social-ecological responses in marine systems to global changes; offers illustrative case studies of specific examples of social-ecological responses in marine systems to significant environmental changes manifested locally; develops a synthesis between natural and social scientists on the topic; and points the way forward with innovative approaches to the use of science and knowledge in management, policy, and advice.

The book has six parts. Part I introduces the concept of marine social-ecological systems with a chapter by Berkes. Part II presents examples of conceptual and numerical modeling approaches to marine social-ecological systems, including integrated models from climate to people, bio-economic models, and conceptual models for developing true inter-disciplinary studies of marine ecosystems and global change. Part III is about knowledge, and how knowledge relates to understanding, management, and the power which provides the basis for wise use of ocean systems in a world of social and environmental change. Part IV discusses values, the economic values of marine habitats and ecosystems but goes further to consider social and spiritual values. Part V addresses issues of governance, and includes case studies of how marine social-ecological systems have addressed (or not) global changes. Part VI provides a synthesis of the lessons learned and the next steps towards developing integrated and adaptive marine social-ecological systems for a changing world.

In Part I, Berkes describes how fisheries are not purely ecological systems isolated from human influence, nor are they purely social systems that function independently of the ecosystems that support them. Rather, fisheries are linked social-ecological systems in which human activities modify the ecological subsystem; the nature of resources and their availability in turn modifies the social subsystem. The necessity of considering natural and social systems together is a conceptual development that has implications for adapting to global change. Some of the key elements of these conceptual shifts include:

1. changing perspectives on the notions of resources and their management;

2. formulation of fishery objectives that consider ecological, economic, and social concerns, including livelihood needs, responding to the broader notion of sustainability;

3. expansion of the scope of management information to include fishers’ knowledge and learning, and the use of deliberative methods and multiple epistemologies to deal with complexity; and

4. development of participatory governance with community-based institutions and attention to multi-scale linkages from local to global as a way of dealing with complexity and change.

Conceptual and numerical modeling approaches to marine social-ecological systems are presented in Part II. In the first chapter, Barange et al. describe a large-scale modeling approach in which results from global climate models are down-scaled to regional marine ecosystem models, which then simulate the implications of climate change for the productivity of these ecosystems. Barange et al. then extend these regional ecosystem models to include their impacts upon humans, by assessing the vulnerability of fisheries in national economies and fish-based global commodity markets to climate change. Their results provide a new framework and new insights into the complex interactions between nature and humans under climate change. Miller et al. provide a specific example of bio-economic modeling as applied to the management of tuna fisheries in the Pacific Ocean. This situation involves fish which migrate between the exclusive economic zones of coastal and small island nations and the high seas, and the allocation of fishing privileges and benefits between these coastal and island nations and distant-water fishing nations. The study illustrates well the interplay between climate variability, fish distributions, alternative management strategies, and the division of benefits among distant-water fishing nations and small island and coastal nations. Thébaud and Blanchard provide an integrated biophysical and economic analysis of changes in fish production and fisheries, and the drivers of these changes, at multiple scales from the northeast Atlantic to the Bay of Biscay. They demonstrate how ecosystem modifications caused by both the direct and ecosystem effects of fishing can be reinforced by biophysical impacts of climate change (i.e., warming sea temperatures) and large-scale economic changes relating to declining prices for fish. The last two chapters of this part address the issues of how to do interdisciplinary modeling of these complex marine social-ecological systems. Starfield and Jarre describe the inherent difficulties, but also the opportunities, in developing such models, which cut across and involve many (often very different) scientific disciplines. They discuss six crucial considerations for interdisciplinary modeling, and propose frame-based modeling as one suitable approach. Gasalla and Diegues describe an approach to interdisciplinary modeling that goes further than Starfield and Jarre, to include interactions with fishers and to incorporate their environmental knowledge. Gasalla and Diegues call their approach “Ethno-oceanography”. It represents an interdisciplinary feedback framework combining fishers (“bottom-up”) and science (“top-down”) systems of knowledge. It leads to Part III of this book, on knowledge.

Part III considers knowledge about marine social-ecological systems: who has it, and how it can be used to promote a better future. It begins with the chapter by Kildow, in which she draws a comparison between environmental “tipping points” or thresholds and those in human social systems. Perceptions of economic risk help to create societal “tipping points”, and economic indicators can provide evidence of the pace and direction of these changes. What these economic indicators cannot get at, however, are issues of culture, education, and social cohesion, which underlie the shifts that these indicators measure. This is followed by Masumbuko et al., who describe the role that scientific knowledge plays in fisheries management in West Africa, in particular when faced with the uncertainties of climate change. They highlight important needs for improved scientific information, in particular as fisheries are impacted by global changes, needs for human resources in order to obtain scientific information, and for mechanisms to move scientific information from professionals to knowledge users such as decision-makers. Yanez et al. present a case study of the knowledge needs in Chile to ensure the sustainable use of fisheries resources. They find that research in Chile has focused on fish biology studies, with little work on oceanographic, economic, social, or governance factors. They conclude that work which integrates the social and governance aspects with oceanographic, biological, technical, and economic factors of Chilean fisheries is essential to ensure their sustainability. The final chapter in this part, by Neis, is an important reminder that all knowledge is context-dependent, patchy and partial, and derives in part from the social-ecology of those who produce it. She argues in particular for stronger institutional recognition and support for the value of collaborative knowledge production from a variety of different sources, that can cut across disciplinary and expert/local divides to allow knowledge to inform wise action and valued outcomes.

Part IV considers the values of marine social-ecological systems, in which “value” is defined to include much more than the purely economic. This part begins with a chapter by Buchary et al., who examine illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in Indonesia in the context of fisheries management practices and poverty. They conclude that financial insecurity is the principal reason fishers under-report their catches: they value the necessary income more than the regulations. Buchary et al. therefore suggest social management approaches, which may reduce this problem. Haggan begins with a discussion of ecosystem economic valuation, but expands this to include spiritual values. He concludes that including non-economic consideration in the valuation of marine social-ecological systems has significant potential to express the intrinsic value of species and seascapes. Murray expands on these ideas, but emphasizes the social values concerned, using comparative case studies in Canada and the United States to illustrate how social values and ecosystem services are altered and shaped by their interactions with global changes. He shows how these marine social-ecological systems have been restructured by global environmental and social changes, and how these changes in turn have altered human community structures and processes and their associated social values. The final two chapters of this part on values, by James et al. and Sumaila et al., provide case-study examples of techniques and methods for assessing the economic values of marine social-ecological systems, including direct and indirect uses.

Part V examines the governance issues of marine social-ecological systems, largely using a case study, contrast and compare, approach. The first three chapters (Springer, Giannini, and Makino and Matsuda) provide case studies of the drivers of change in marine social-ecological systems in Alaska, Guatemala, and the Asia-Pacific-Japan region, respectively, and the governance responses to these changes. They conclude that the involvement of local stakeholders (fishers) is essential to providing the flexibility for governance systems to be able to adjust to changes. Parsram and McConney build on this conclusion, by illustrating the necessity of coastal and fisheries networks to facilitate the governance and adaptive capacities of small-scale fisheries in the Eastern Caribbean. They find that small-scale fisheries are often marginalized and excluded from governance and public sector policy development in the region. They illustrate how application of a network perspective to coastal and marine resource governance can help to analyse and design effective governance systems. The chapter by Kaiser provides an example of one type of tool for managing ocean fisheries that currently is very popular as a hedge against uncertainty, that being marine protected areas. He notes that the ability of marine protected areas to deliver their stated objectives and targets is likely to be challenged under a rapidly changing climate. Such changes will be greatest in shallow coastal areas where multiple physical and human stressors impinge on marine habitats and species. Links between fish abundance and prey biomass mediated by physical stress highlight the sensitivity of coastal carrying capacity to changes in the physical environment. Adaptive management approaches are required to accommodate changes in the capacity of coastal systems to deliver desired objectives. The final two chapters of this part (McGoodwin, McCay et al.) compare how marine social-ecological systems in Alaska and Iceland, and Atlantic Canada and the United States and Pacific Mexico, respond to significant global changes, and the governance challenges that build (“deviation-mitigating”) or reduce (“deviation-amplifying”) the adaptability of these systems. They conclude by affirming the importance of increased preparedness (planning and coordination) for future changes (uncertainty), including enhanced observations, monitoring, and integration of large- and local-scale management approaches, and exclusive and secure property rights and community-oriented decision-making.

Part VI provides the conclusions to this social-ecological analysis of world fisheries. It illustrates that we need to study all the aspects of human-ocean interactions, since this is what will provide compelling insights into a better future, in which the oceans are recognized as an integral part of our planetary home. Our understanding should not be limited to the purely economic and scientific, forgetting about culture, spirituality, psychology, and the lessons of the past. It has become urgent that we try to understand how our oceans function, and what might be the wisest ways to acknowledge and manage the interdependence of human interactions with marine resources so as to sustain both fish and fisheries in a more sustainable future.

The symposium in Rome in July 2008 was sponsored by the Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics program (GLOBEC: a core project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program, the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research, and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), the European Network of Excellence for Ocean Ecosystems Analysis, and FAO. It was supported by the French Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Institut français de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer (IFREMER), Scientific Committee for Oceanic Research (SCOR), the North Pacific Marine Science Organisation (PICES), the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES), the Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research program (IMBER), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and the International Human Dimensions Program (IHDP). We thank each of these organizations for their generosity. We also thank our five anonymous reviewers (one per part of the book, excluding Part VI), who vastly improved it, and Joy Austin, Kari Marks, and Graeme Bock (of the Institute of Coastal and Oceans Research at the University of Victoria) for the index, typing, and technical assistance.

Reference

Berkes, F. and Folke, C. (eds) (1998) Linking Social and Ecological Systems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK.

Chapter 2

Restoring Unity

The Concept of Marine Social-Ecological Systems

Fikret Berkes

Abstract

The term “social-ecological system” is used to emphasize the integrated concept of humans-in-nature, and to stress that the delineation between social and ecological systems is artificial and arbitrary. Social-ecological systems may be defined as integrated complex systems that include social (human) and ecological (biophysical) subsystems in a two-way feedback relationship. The term emphasizes that the two parts (social system and ecological system) are equally important, and they function as a coupled, interdependent, and co-evolutionary system. To restore unity in managing marine social-ecological systems, there is a need to reconnect natural science, social science, and humanities perspectives, and reconcile the various disciplines with largely different scientific traditions. In place of conventional fishery approaches, the ongoing search for alternatives involves:

1. recognizing the significance and implications of the interconnected nature of the social and ecological subsystems;

2. developing complex adaptive systems approaches to deal with these social-ecological systems for a contextualized understanding of the drivers of change, from local to global levels; and

3. integrating participatory methodologies at all levels for knowledge production, adaptive management, and social learning for the governance of marine ecosystems.

Keywords: Social-ecological systems, governance, complexity, globalization, drivers, fisher knowledge, adaptive management, co-management, social learning

Introduction

Humans are integral components of marine ecosystems, especially in an age in which human activities have started to play a decisive role in influencing natural systems at all levels from local to global. Marine ecosystems have biophysical subsystems and human subsystems, including economic, political, social and cultural components, management, and governance. As fisheries science became more specialized in the last century, the study of biophysical subsystems became largely disconnected from the study of human subsystems. Yet these two major components are highly interconnected and interactive, not only in the bio-economic realm (Hilborn and Walters, 1992), but also across the full range of biophysical and human subsystems (Berkes et al., 2001; Kooiman et al., 2005; Cochrane and Garcia, 2009).

Thus, one point of departure in this chapter, and the book, is to reconnect natural science, social science, and humanities perspectives. Rather than seeing the biophysical and the social as separate and distinct systems, the two should be considered inseparable and intertwined. This requires reconciling the various disciplines with largely different scientific traditions (natural scientists vs. social scientists vs. humanists). Obviously, much of the research on marine ecosystems will still pursue disciplinary traditions, but understanding global issues will require collaborating with other disciplines to interpret causes, to deal with consequences, and to design policies for mitigation and adaptation. As driving forces of change are increasingly internationalized, the impacts of these drivers emerge independent of the place where they are produced (MA, 2005). This necessitates the pursuit of a science of sustainability in which understanding the impacts of drivers uses contextualized, place-based cases studied by interdisciplinary teams (Kates et al., 2001; Turner et al., 2003).

A second point of departure is that the two major subsystems are interconnected with two-way relationships. The dominant biophysical discourse on global environmental change tends to investigate how human activities are affecting ecosystem conditions and processes, with social science input often limited to information on population change, economic growth, technology, and development. However, to deal fully with the interconnections of the two subsystems, it is not sufficient to regard humans as merely stressors and/or managers of the ecosystem. Rather, the analysis needs to seek a detailed understanding of the mechanisms of this two-way relationship. The discourse needs to expand into a discussion of vulnerability, resilience, and adaptive capacity, along with an exploration of the various ways in which the dynamics of the social subsystem can match the dynamics of the biophysical subsystem. The conceptual tools to do so include adaptive management, co-management, social and institutional learning, collaborative research and monitoring, partnerships for capacity building, and multi-level governance (Folke et al., 2005; Kooiman et al., 2005; Armitage et al., 2007).

Related to the first two, a third point of departure is that the approach to re-integrate social and ecological subsystems in world fisheries also needs to reconcile global environmental change (largely in the purview of natural scientists) with globalization (largely in the purview of social scientists and humanists). Both are important. Marine ecosystems are increasingly coming under the impacts of global environmental change. For example, climate-related changes are already occurring in marine ecosystems. Biodiversity loss, habitat destruction, and pollution – which used to be predominantly local and regional – are becoming global in nature. In addition to these, global changes are taking place in human systems – globalization, sometimes defined as the compression of space and time-scales with regards to flows of information, people, goods, and services (Young et al., 2006). Such changes, including the globalization of trade in marine products, are also impacting marine ecosystems. Furthermore, these two categories of major impacts (global environmental change and globalization) are actually themselves crucially interconnected and interactive (Leichenko and O’Brien, 2008).

There is no common agreement on the way ahead, but there is an ongoing search for alternative approaches. These approaches entail:

recognizing the significance and implications of the interconnected nature of the social and ecological subsystems;developing complex adaptive systems approaches to deal with these social-ecological systems for a contextualized understanding of the drivers of change, from local to global levels; andintegrating participatory methodologies at all levels for knowledge production, adaptive management, and social learning for the governance of marine ecosystems.

This chapter expands on each of these points.

Social-ecological systems concept and background

Fishing is a human activity. As with many natural resource systems, fisheries are not purely biophysical systems isolated from human influence, nor are they purely social systems that function independently of the ecosystems that provide services and resources that humans need. Although many studies of fisheries have examined some aspect or another of human-nature interactions in fisheries, the complexity of coupled social-ecological systems has not been well understood or appreciated (Mahon et al., 2008). This lack of progress is partly due to the disciplinary separation of ecological and social sciences in the study of fisheries.

A number of fields have traditions of human-environment integration. In geography, the human ecology school of the 1930s developed the notion that nature is the base on which society rests (Park, 1936). Also starting in the 1930s, the cultural ecology approach of the anthropologist Steward (1955) dealt with adaptive processes by which societies lived in and used their environment. Ingold’s “dwelling perspective” elaborates this integrative concept of humans-in-nature. Seen as the basis for putting humans back into the ecosystem, it involves the “skills, sensitivities, and orientations that have developed through long experience of conducting one’s life in a particular environment” (Ingold, 2000: 25). Over the last few decades, a bewildering array of human-nature models has been developed in a number of disciplines (Glaser, 2006). Natural and social scientists have been rediscovering the unity of people and nature well known to traditional and indigenous societies through such concepts as vanua in Fiji (a named area of land and sea, considered an integrated whole with its human occupants) and aschii/aski of the Cree people in northeast Canada (integrated concept of “land”, consisting of living landscape, humans, and spiritual beings) (Berkes, 2008).

Fig. 2.1 Social-ecological system consisting of nested social (human) and ecological (biophysical) subsystems, and integrated by two-way feedbacks through institutions or governance. Various versions of this concept have been offered by Berkes et al. (2003), Glaser (2006), Kotchen and Young (2007).

Berkes and Folke (1998) used the term social-ecological systems to emphasize the integrated concept of humans-in-nature, and to stress that the delineation between social and ecological systems is artificial and arbitrary. Social-ecological systems may be defined as integrated complex systems that include social (human) and ecological (biophysical) subsystems in a two-way feedback relationship (Fig. 2.1). The term emphasizes that the two parts (social system and ecological system) are equally important, and they function as a coupled, interdependent, and co-evolutionary system. Human actions affect biophysical systems, biophysical factors affect human well-being, and humans in turn respond to these factors.

Several authors have argued that the most appropriate analytical unit for the study of sustainability is the social-ecological system, also called the socio-ecological system (Gallopin, 1991; Gallopin et al., 2001) or coupled human-environment system (Turner et al., 2003). For example, the Millennium Ecological Assessment is not about ecosystem services or about human well-being alone but about the relationships of the two (MA, 2005). The sustainability science approach is neither about the global biophysical system alone nor about social-economic-political systems alone, but uses place-based models that enable the study of the interaction of people and their environment (Kates et al., 2001). The resilience perspective, which has proved to be valuable in understanding the dynamics of social-ecological systems, often focuses on biophysical and social subsystems together because it is the interaction of the two that is particularly informative about non-equilibrium processes and surprises that account for the behavior of the system as a whole (Folke, 2006; Liu et al., 2007).

Further exploring the concept, Fig. 2.1 depicts both social subsystems and biophysical subsystems as nested (or hierarchical). Nested ecosystems (e.g., Adriatic Sea – Mediterranean – North Atlantic …) is the obvious choice of scale for the biophysical subsystem. Nested social systems can be institutions, jurisdictions, or a hierarchy of resource management systems. Following Gibson et al. (2000) and Cash et al. (2006), scale is defined as the spatial, temporal, quantitative, or analytical dimensions used to measure a phenomenon, and levels are defined as the units of analysis located at different positions on a scale.

Figure 2.1 shows the two-way interaction between the two subsystems of a coupled social-ecological system as going through a governance filter, incorporating institutions, policies, and management measures, all based on ecological knowledge and understanding. Kotchen and Young (2007) suggest that this “governance filter” is what mediates the interaction between human actions and biophysical processes. Instead of the governance filter, we may insert a number of alternative terms to highlight the different aspects of the relationship that link the social and ecological systems: institutions, ecological knowledge, or environmental values, culture, and worldview. The important point remains that the system shown in Fig. 2.1 is a coupled system with two-way feedback.

The full implications of this two-way relationship are still being explored. Conventional resource management has in the past concentrated:

on regulating the impacts of the volatility of biophysical systems on human welfare. What is new is the need to regulate the impact of human actions on large-scale biophysical systems. In other words, the vector connecting human systems to biophysical systems in Fig. 2.1 is growing increasingly important (Kotchen and Young, 2007: 150).

We might add that the vector connecting biophysical systems to human systems is also increasingly important – but in different ways. Given the increasing recognition of the essential and irreducible nature of ecological uncertainty and variability (Charles, 2001), the vector is less and less about reducing the variability in the flow of resources for human welfare, and more about maintaining the structure/function or the biodiversity and resilience of the biophysical subsystem that provides those resources (Holling and Meffe, 1996; MA, 2005). This new emphasis, in turn, has led to a rethinking of resource management objectives, away from the conventional output-oriented fishery objectives such as MSY and MEY, and toward objectives that seek to maintain the health and integrity of the social-ecological system as a whole (Francis et al., 2007; Cochrane and Garcia, 2009).

Figure 2.1