Gone fishing? Intergenerational cultural shifts can undermine common property co-managed fisheries

Abstract

Conventional common property thinking assumes that a central goal of management is to maintain social-ecological systems in a healthy and resilient state, including maintaining the ability of communities to harvest across time and generations. Little research has been done, however, on how common property systems are affected by demographic shifts, the social status of emerging livelihoods, and the employment aspirations of users for their offspring. An empirical case study from Chile (well known for its common property fisheries) suggests that major socio-cultural shifts are now occurring, with a lack of entry by new fishers and an aging population of existing ones. These types of social and cultural changes are increasingly common through globalization and worldwide economic development, and pose significant policy challenges across broad classes of common property systems. The Chilean case reveals that community adaptive capacity can come at the expense of social-ecological common property systems, and highlights the need to consider the broader context of 'slow' social variables.

Analysis of the technical efficiency of Nile perch (Lates niloticus) fishers in the Tanzanian portion of Lake Victoria: A stochastic frontier analysis

“…A possible reason for this could be that fishers who are members of a fishery organization tend to depend more on the information and training they receive from the organization, which can sometimes hinder their individual innovations in the context of fishing activities. Tam, Chan, Satterfield, Singh, and Gelcich (2018) pointed that, in the absence of fishing organization emphasis on individual and group innovations, fishers may not be motivated, thereby affecting their individual productivity.…”

Temporal dynamic and economic valuation of recreational fisheries of the lower Cuiabá River, Brazilian Pantanal

“…The ageing of active recreational and commercial fishers is a widespread phenomenon (e.g. Freire et al, 2016;Tam et al, 2018;Kim et al, 2020) and is causing concern in many countries, as it weakens the negotiating power of recreational fishers in disputes with others stakeholders regarding freshwater use (Cooke et al, 2016).…”

Measuring behavioral social learning in a conservation context: Chilean fishing communities

“…Two surveys were administered in each of the seven fishing associations between January and March 2013. The first surveyed 100 individuals as part of a larger study (Tam, Chan, Satterfield, Singh, & Gelcich, 2018) and included extensive demographic information. The second survey, the focus of this study, included 122 participants and was built to test the behavioral measure of social learning.…”