Middlemen, a critical social-ecological link in coastal communities of Kenya and Zanzibar

Crona, Beatrice; Nyström, Magnus; Folke, Carl; Jiddawi, Narriman

doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2010.01.023

Cited by 169 publications

(122 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Cinner et al (2007) have reported that fishing communities located far from markets are able to develop customary management systems, e.g., customary fishery closures, whereas those closer to markets fail more often, and even show signs of overexploitation (Cinner and McClanahan 2006). Although our study finds that distance to markets is only one of a larger set of transaction costs of commercialization, under a patron-client structure, incentives for governing fish production and for understanding of ecosystem dynamics can be easily decoupled in fishers' decision-making processes (Crona et al 2010). Middlemen face strong incentives to supply the demand for fish and do not pay the costs of ecosystem degradation, because they can move unrestricted to other areas, acting as roving bandits (Berkes et al 2006).…”

Section: Which Form Of Self-governance Is Better Fitted To Promote Comentioning

confidence: 61%

Cooperative and Noncooperative Strategies for Small-scale Fisheries' Self-governance in the Globalization Era: Implications for Conservation

Basurto¹,

Bennett²,

Weaver³

et al. 2013

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Fishing cooperatives (co-ops) and patron-client relationships are the most common cooperative and noncooperative strategies for self-governance for small-scale fisheries around the world. We studied what drives fishers to choose between these two self-governance arrangements in 12 communities in the Gulf of California, Mexico. The communities depend on similar fishing resources, are located in contiguous portions of the coast, fish roughly the same species, have similar socioeconomic characteristics, and sell to similar markets, yet half of the fisheries are organized around co-ops and the other half work through patron-client arrangements. Using participant observation, in-depth interviews of key informants between 1995-2008, and a survey of 55% of the fisheries in the study area, we found that the presence of high transaction costs of commercialization, the desire to acquire fishing licenses, and the existence of traditions of successful collective action among fishing groups within each community strongly influence fishers' choices regarding membership in fishing co-ops. We also examined the implications of our findings for conservation of fishing resources. Given that the emergence of co-ops was associated with high transaction costs of commercialization, we hypothesize that cooperative strategies are more likely than patron-client strategies to emerge in communities in isolated locations. In an era of globalization, in which the rate of development and urbanization will increase in coastal areas, patron-client strategies are likely to become more prevalent among fisheries, but such self-governance strategies are thought to be less conducive to conservation behaviors.RESUMEN. Las cooperativas pesqueras y los arreglos informales directos entre el pescador y el comprador son las estrategias de cooperación y no cooperación más comunes de la autogobernanza de la pesca artesanal a escala global. Investigamos cuáles son los factores que influyen en la elección de los pescadores entre una y la otra, en doce comunidades del Golfo de California, México. Todas las comunidades del área de estudio son semejantes ya que dependen de los mismos recursos pesqueros, se ubican en una zona costera contigua, por lo general capturan las mismas especies, presentan características socioeconómicas similares y comercializan en mercados equivalentes. Sin embargo, casi la mitad de los pescadores se ha organizado en cooperativas y la otra mitad de manera individual en arreglos informales directos con los compradores. Para entender el contexto de la localidad, entre 1995 y 2008 utilizamos técnicas de observación participativa y entrevistas a fondo con informantes clave, así como una encuesta aplicada al 55% de los pescadores del área de estudio. Descubrimos que la existencia de altos costos de transacción para la comercialización del producto, el deseo de obtener permisos de pesca artesanal comercial y las tradiciones de acción colectiva de los diferentes grupos pesqueros en cada comunidad, influye sobremanera en la estrategia...

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Section: Which Form Of Self-governance Is Better Fitted To Promote Comentioning

confidence: 61%

Cooperative and Noncooperative Strategies for Small-scale Fisheries' Self-governance in the Globalization Era: Implications for Conservation

Basurto¹,

Bennett²,

Weaver³

et al. 2013

E&S

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…While pescadería owners depend on their fishermen for their supply of fish, fishermen are frequently highly indebted to their pescadería owners and often overleveraged. This might reduce the ability of fishermen to make decisions that are more personally, socially, or ecologically beneficial (Crona et al 2010).…”

Section: Changes In Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Studying common-pool resources over time: A longitudinal case study of the Buen Hombre fishery in the Dominican Republic

Wilson¹,

Pavlowich

Cox

2015

Ambio

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Like many small-scale fishing communities around the world, the community of Buen Hombre in the Dominican Republic is dealing with a set of challenges to reconcile its fishing activities with the ecology on which it depends. Also like many such communities, this case has been examined at a particular period in time by a group of social scientists, but not over substantial lengths of time in order to examine the longitudinal validity of the conclusions made during this period. In this paper we combine data from previous anthropological work with our own primary social and ecological data to conduct a longitudinal case study of the Buen Hombre fishery. Our over-time comparison focuses on a suite of mostly social and institutional variables to explain what we find to be a continued degradation of the fishery, and we conclude the analysis by presenting a causalloop diagram, summarizing our inferences regarding the complex interactions among these variables. We find that a mix of factors, notably changes in gear and fishing sites used, the number of fishermen and their livelihood diversity, as well as an increased connectivity between Buen Hombre and its external environment, have contributed to the decline of the condition of Buen Hombre coral reef fishery. We conclude with a discussion of what may lie ahead for this particular case and others like it.

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“…This widespread activity is hard to regulate as it usually takes places in small communities whose fishers rarely register in any database and where commercialized products enter markets through a complex intertwined chain of middlemen (Crona et al 2010). Moreover, although smallscale fisheries can focus on specific target species (Begossi et al 2012a), their landings are usually made of multiple species (Ali and Lee 1995), making it difficult to adopt standard management measures such as quota systems and minimum sizes for capture.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transboundary Socio-Ecological Effects of a Marine Protected Area in the Southwest Atlantic

Lopes¹,

Silvano

Nora

et al. 2013

AMBIO

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Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been regarded as an alternative to protect natural resources and to improve fisheries. However, MPAs may also have negative socio-economic consequences on fishing communities. We aimed to check the effectiveness of a socially conflicting MPA in Brazil by assessing target reef fish biomass in islands inside (n = 6) and outside (n = 6) the MPA, fisheries' productivity (biomass), catch per unit of effort (CPUE), and fishers' socioeconomic status (mainly fishers' income) in three fishing communities subjected to different degrees of influence (close, average, and long distance) of the MPA. The CPUE was higher in the fishing community that was further away from the MPA, fish biomass was higher in the islands located inside the MPA in the southern region and in the islands located outside the MPA in the northern region, while fishers were making the most money closest to the MPA, where conflicts are the highest, probably from practicing very intensive fisheries. This integrated approach showed that the studied MPA has not delivered ecological benefits, such as higher CPUE or more fish, while higher income closer to the MPA could not be clearly attributed to its effects.

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Middlemen, a critical social-ecological link in coastal communities of Kenya and Zanzibar

Cited by 169 publications

References 49 publications

Cooperative and Noncooperative Strategies for Small-scale Fisheries' Self-governance in the Globalization Era: Implications for Conservation

Cooperative and Noncooperative Strategies for Small-scale Fisheries' Self-governance in the Globalization Era: Implications for Conservation

Studying common-pool resources over time: A longitudinal case study of the Buen Hombre fishery in the Dominican Republic

Transboundary Socio-Ecological Effects of a Marine Protected Area in the Southwest Atlantic

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