Understanding Collective Action from Mexican Fishers’ Discourses: How Fishers Articulate the Need for the State Support and Self-Governance Capabilities

Méndez-Medina, Crisol; García-Lozano, Alejandro; Weaver, Amy Hudson; Dyck, Salvador Rodríguez Van; Tercero, María; Nenadović, Mateja; Basurto, Xavier

doi:10.5334/ijc.1127

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In the context of aligning (or not) RBFM with artisanal fisheries, artisanal fishers often do not seek exclusive or transferable access per se, but rather enforcement of existing—formal or informal—access norms (Jentoft et al, 2017). In Mexico, for example, fishers in cooperatives express views of the desired role of government as effectively deterring poaching and supporting locally successful initiatives (Méndez‐Medina et al, 2021). Similarly, in Costa Rica, fishers prefer that co‐management focus on creating and enforcing rules to avoid bycatch and habitat damage and encourage equitable benefits, rather than excluding fishers altogether from what they perceive as a shared community space (García‐Lozano and Heinen, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Enabling refers to the importance of the state of an attribute for implementing others. Dependency refers to the importance of the state of other attributes for implementing an attribute.in cooperatives express views of the desired role of government as effectively deterring poaching and supporting locally successful initiatives(Méndez-Medina et al, 2021). Similarly, in Costa Rica, fishers prefer that co-management focus on creating and enforcing rules to avoid bycatch and habitat damage and encourage equitable benefits, rather than excluding fishers altogether from what they perceive as a shared community space (García-Lozano and Heinen, 2016).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

True insights or ticking boxes? Rapid assessment of rights‐based management in artisanal fisheries

Cisneros‐Montemayor

Aceves‐Bueno

Amezcua‐Castro³

et al. 2023

Fisheries Management Eco

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Rights‐based fisheries management (RBFM) seeks to create market incentives to reduce competition, avoid overexploitation, and increase economic efficiency. Particularly for artisanal fisheries, however, assumptions of RBFM may not be met and its use needs to be carefully considered. This study applies an existing tool (SEASALT) to evaluate the strength of RBFM based on attributes of security, exclusivity, fish mortality, scale, responsibility, limitations, and transferability. Results for 17 fisheries in Mexico show a positive (nonsignificant) relationship between the strength of RBFM and stock status, and no effect on prices or landed value. Real‐world fisheries governance systems are much more complex than the simple linkages between attributes implied in SEASALT, but results highlight pre‐existing monitoring and enforcement capacity as essential for successful RBFM. Transitions to RBFM may strengthen this capacity, but likely cannot create it where it does not already exist. Based on our findings, RBFM strategies may benefit from group quotas with limited transferability to avoid negative social outcomes from consolidation or rent capture by intermediaries; this could potentially build on the latent capacity of traditional community associations common in many artisanal fisheries.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

True insights or ticking boxes? Rapid assessment of rights‐based management in artisanal fisheries

Cisneros‐Montemayor

Aceves‐Bueno

Amezcua‐Castro³

et al. 2023

Fisheries Management Eco

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Conflict with environmental conservation interests: The threat of enclosure Small-scale fishers in Mexico have a complicated relationship with biodiversity conservation and environmental groups. On one hand, findings from the DNOP suggest that fishers from all regions place high value on measures to protect ecosystems and improve fisheries management (Nenadovic et al, 2018, Méndez-Medina et al, 2021. In many cases, fishers work with NGOs to establish conservation areas and implement fishery improvement programs (Espinosa-Romero et al, 2014, Quintana andBasurto, 2021).…”

Section: Major Problem áTicas and Their Implications For The Politics...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Problemáticas: Multi-scalar, affective and performative politics of collective action among fishing cooperatives in Mexico

García Lozano,

Méndez-Medina,

Basurto

et al. 2023

Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The world’s fisheries face complex and high-stakes governance problems that increasingly require mobilizing diverse collectives of governance actors. How fishers and fishing organizations understand and articulate governance problems has implications for how they engage with governance institutions and the kinds of collective action they enact. In Mexico, cooperatives are a major form of organization for small-scale fishers. Fishing cooperatives form regional organizations (federations), which in turn form national organizations (confederations). These are nested or multi-scalar organizations that represent fishers’ interests and negotiate with other governance actors. Drawing on longitudinal data from assemblies of a national organization (2016–2019) – which represents more than 30,000 fishers in Mexico organized in about 300 cooperatives – as well as regional meetings involving federations and cooperatives, this study examines how cooperativist fishers in Mexico articulate problems in the governance of fisheries and to what effect. More specifically, the paper builds on scholarship about the performativity of collective action to examine the strategic discursive and affective practices through which fishers engage with major governance problems and the implications for collective action. Through the politics of multi-level cooperative institutions, specific issues are prioritized as leaders of fishers’ organizations translate diverse local-regional concerns to advance the interests of the sector at the national level. Using examples of (1) conflicts surrounding environmental conservation in the Gulf of California and (2) legacies of privatization and the decline of cooperatives in shrimp fisheries, the analysis demonstrates how discourses and affects are incorporated into specific storylines and mobilized in political spaces. Cooperativist fishers become contingently aligned along these storylines, which shapes the translation of local-regional concerns into national priorities, giving rise to a multi-scalar performative politics of collective action.

show abstract

“…Fishing cooperatives are diverse and include strong associations and pro forma groups legitimized by government policies (Jentoft 1986, Bennett 2017, Frawley et al 2019. Characteristics of fishing cooperatives associated with strong collective action include respect for collective-choice agreements, active monitoring, presence of conflict resolution mechanisms, and engagement in nested hierarchies of organizations (García Lozano and Heinen 2016, Lindkvist et al 2017, Nenadovic et al 2018, Méndez-Medina et al 2021. While these governance characteristics seem to be associated with positive social outcomes (McCay, 2014, Kalikoski et al 2019, positive ecological outcomes are also needed for the long-term welfare of fishing communities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strong collective action enables valuable and sustainable fisheries for cooperatives

Elsler

Quintana

Girón‐Nava

et al. 2022

Environ. Res. Lett.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Seafood is one of the most internationally-traded food commodities. International markets can provide higher revenues that benefit small-scale fishing communities but can also drive a decline in fished populations. Collective action in collective organizations such as fishing cooperatives is thought to enhance the sustainability of fished populations. However, our knowledge of how collective action enables fishing cooperatives to achieve positive social-ecological outcomes is dispersed across case studies. Here, we present a quantitative, national-level analysis exploring the relationship between different levels of collective action and social-ecological outcomes. We found that strong collective action in Mexican lobster cooperatives was related to both sustaining their fisheries and benefiting from international trade. In the 15-year study period, lobster cooperatives that demonstrate characteristics associated with strong collective action captured benefits from trade through high catch volumes and revenue. Despite lower (but stable) average prices, the biomass of their lobster populations was not compromised to reap these benefits. Individual case studies previously found that fishing cooperatives can support both positive social and ecological outcomes in small-scale fisheries. Our results confirm these findings at a national level and highlight the importance of strong collective action. Thus, our work contributes to a better understanding of the governance arrangements to promote fishing communities' welfare and benefits from international trade and, therefore, will be invaluable to advancing small-scale fisheries governance.

show abstract

Understanding Collective Action from Mexican Fishers’ Discourses: How Fishers Articulate the Need for the State Support and Self-Governance Capabilities

Cited by 3 publications

References 35 publications

True insights or ticking boxes? Rapid assessment of rights‐based management in artisanal fisheries

True insights or ticking boxes? Rapid assessment of rights‐based management in artisanal fisheries

Problemáticas: Multi-scalar, affective and performative politics of collective action among fishing cooperatives in Mexico

Strong collective action enables valuable and sustainable fisheries for cooperatives

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About