Understanding Resilient Fisheries:
By Elena Finkbeiner     Awards: Myers

Marine resource extraction is of primary economic and cultural importance along the peninsula of Baja California and Baja California Sur, Mexico. This is particularly true for small-scale fisheries, or pesca ribereña, that rely on the extraction of a diversity of species using a wide variety of fishing gears. However, it is increasingly evident that Mexican small-scale fisheries and associated ecosystems are in decline. And furthermore, these fisheries are subject to extreme spatial and temporal fluctuations in productivity due to inter-annual changes in oceanographic conditions. In recent years, variability and uncertainty in coastal communities have increased due to a confluence of factors including, the recent economic crisis, increased conflict in Mexico associated with the narcotic trade, a subsequent halt in tourism, and changing oceanographic conditions such as seasonal reductions in dissolved oxygen.

The main goal of my doctoral research is to understand if and how diverse authorized access to marine resources increases fishers' capacity to respond and adapt to changes and disturbances in the environment, and maintain their livelihoods and well-being over time. My research further seeks to understand how diverse authorized access to marine resources impacts the local marine environment. I will achieve my research goals by doing a comparative case study analysis across 20 fishing cooperatives in Baja California Sur, Mexico, using a mix of qualitative and quantitative research methods, including surveys, interviews, examination of official fisheries catch data, and analysis of spatial fishing data and fishers' logbooks using Geographic Information Systems.

The broader impacts of the proposed research have implications at the global, regional and local scale. As of yet, we have limited information on these small-scale and artisanal fisheries that employ 50 million of the world's 51 million fishers, both in an ecological and social context. Furthermore, many of these fisheries operate in the complete absence of management or with limited management resources. As such, it is imperative that more research be done to elucidate how we can increase social and ecological adaptive capacity considering the increasing uncertainties and threats that global small-scale fisheries face. Furthermore, understanding the relationship between flexible resource management institutions and social-ecological resilience has implications beyond fisheries; this knowledge is applicable to resource-extraction economies in general, particularly for regions disproportionately affected by climate change.