Reconciliation of the Conflict Between Otters and Fish Farmers

Should We Care About the Needs of Non‐humans? Needs Assessment: A Tool for Environmental Conflict Resolution and Sustainable Organization of Living Beings

“…The participatory process consisted of a platform involving all actors in the area. We therefore used reports and presentations (Santos et al , ) related to the participatory conflict reconciliation process between the different stakeholders. The FRAP project is now complete and policies at various levels of governance have changed.…”

“…The participatory process consisted of a platform involving all actors 6 in the area. We therefore used reports and presentations (Santos et al, 2003(Santos et al, , 2006a(Santos et al, , 2006b related to the participatory conflict reconciliation process between the different 3 Spraint or scat is the dung of the otter. 4 IUCN, Otter Specialist Group: http://www.otterspecialistgroup.org/Species/Lutra_lutra.html 5 The six members of the Advisory Board of Stakeholders (ABoS) included representatives of conservation managers, local stakeholders, scientists, fisheries managers, governmental administration and non-governmental organizations from regional, national and European levels.…”

“…Also, no policy instruments were in place to mitigate the erupting conflict, with a strong potential for escalation where ‘supranational, national and regional governments were enmeshed in local policy networks’ (adapted from Marks, ). For Rui Santos (), the conflict went beyond otter protection or even predation in general. Issues such as licensing, operating practices or environmental management were also relevant.…”

“…On the one hand, fish‐farmers, mostly owners of small or medium‐sized production facilities aware of the existence of otter predation, used all possible means to keep otters away, including illegal killing. On the other hand, managers of the Sado estuary nature reserve were also aware of otter predation and of the weakness of the monitoring system to control illegal killing, but were not allowed the use of any mitigation measures to prevent it (Santos et al , ). Finally are the otters ( Lutra lutra ), which are collecting fish from fish‐farms and which are playing a key role in the ecosystem of the estuary and its functioning.…”

“…they are stakeholders) in the environmental conflict. For instance, otters play a key role in the Sado estuary ecosystem and in its stability (Green, , Wayre, , Beja , Trindade et al , , Carss, , Dallas, , Santos et al , ). Otters are considered by humans to feel and express emotions such as suffering, pain and joy (Singer, ), and to have capacities of culture (Lestel, ).…”