Do responsible fishing areas work? Comparing collective action challenges in three small-scale fisheries in Costa Rica

Abstract

is supporting Marine Areas of Responsible Fishing (AMPRs) to enable small-scale fishing communities to apply for exclusive harvesting and management rights within spatially delimited areas under a comanagement policy framework. Communities need to self-organize their own fishing association and develop a fishing management plan (POP) to apply. Seven AMPRs have been established in the Gulf of Nicoya, highlighting Costa Rica's efforts to follow the FAO Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines, but all face collective action challenges to develop and achieve common goals and implementation. In this article, we conduct a qualitative comparative analysis by applying the Social-Ecological System Framework (SESF) as a tool to identify the social 706 Isis Ivania Chavez Carrillo et al. and ecological conditions influencing collective action and co-management in three AMPRs in the Gulf of Nicoya, and we compare the similarities and differences between them. Our findings show that all three AMPRs face collective action challenges for different reasons. Nonetheless, some commonalities exist. Common drivers have motivated collective action in the creation of the AMPRs, including the desire to restrict certain types of fishing gears due to perceptions of resource scarcity and high dependence on local resources. Variables such as monitoring and sanctioning mechanisms, strong leadership and the economic heterogeneity of actors positively influence collective action in management. However, there are also variables hindering collective action, such as mistrust among actors, internal conflicts, lack of governmental support and resource unit mobility. Our findings suggest that AMPRs are a promising and potentially effective governance strategy because they can empower marginalized small-scale fishing communities and bring them into national development processes. However, there is an evident need for more state and local community investment into capacity building for self-organization and deliberation processes that can better enable AMPRs to move beyond "paper parks", and towards being a practically useful governance strategy to showcase Costa Rica's commitment to FAO Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines. Adapting the AMPR model to fit the social-ecological context of each community is critical for success, despite the perceived similarity between the AMPRs.

Environmental governance theories: a review and application to coastal systems

“…Initial working group discussions took place in June 2018 during the Third International Symposium on Ocean Governance for Sustainability in Aveiro, Portugal. The (Whetten and Rogers 1982, Kaufmann et al 1986, Rhodes 1988) (Jones et al 1997, Thatcher 1998, Duit and Galaz 2008, Robins et al 2011, Klijn and Koppenjan 2012) (Green et al 2011, Duval-Diop et al 2014, Pittman and Armitage 2017, 2019 Actors and rules Actor connectivity Interdependencies Problem frames Interactions and relationships Collective action theory (Olson 1965, Ostrom 1990) (Ostrom 1998, Cox et al 2010, Poteete et al 2010, Gyau et al 2014, Holahan and Lubell 2016 (Basurto et al 2013, Afroz et al 2016, Partelow et al 2018a, Chavez Carrillo et al 2019 Institutions and institutional change Bounded rationality Commons theory (shared resource) Social-ecological systems Governmentality/ environmentality (Foucault 1980, Burchell et al 1991, Agrawal 2005a (Burchell et al 1991, Scott 1998, Darier 1998, Luke 1998, Rose et al 2006, Malette 2009, Bevir 2010, Fletcher 2010 (Hanson 2007…”

“…Research questions that seek to understand the views, perceptions, goals, and/or motivations at different policy levels may find MLG useful, as well as examining the difficulties with top-down government strategies or why local governance is mismatched with regional, national, or international policies and goals. The implementation of the FAO Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines is a useful example of how international frameworks for governance are viewed, interpreted, and implemented (or not) in countries and local fisheries around the world (Jentoft et al 2017, Sabau 2017, Chavez Carrillo et al 2019, Song et al 2019a Wilson (2009).…”

Applying a Social–Ecological Systems Approach to Understanding Local Marine Management Trajectories in Northern Mozambique

“…Selection of SES variables intended to bring transformation will depend on the relationships between the community's social and ecological variables, community acceptability, time and resources [35]. It is also important to acknowledge that social factors like local leadership and community cohesion can make or break an intervention, regardless of the scores of other indicators (e.g., dependence on fishing) [37,66]. This study relies on data collected primarily for project monitoring and evaluation purposes which did not include these variables.…”

“…In Malinde, the Our Sea Our Life project started working only from 2015 and this may explain the low social scores. Thus, the level of technical support, as well as a well-governed and functional community organisation, are also important factors potentially influencing acceptance and success of ecological intervention [37,66].…”

“…Future application of the SESF could involve collecting a broader suite of indicators to enable more adaptive management going forward, and generating community input into the weighting of the indicators. This includes data on leadership, which would involve expanding the governance assessment to other community leadership structures (e.g., the formal village authorities and traditional leadership structures), recognising the importance of these other Actors in the success of collective action [37,66]. In this study, indicator selection was guided by the SESF but depended on the data that was available to us.…”