Anthony Charles

Adaptive co‐management for social–ecological complexity

Building trust through collaboration, institutional development, and social learning enhances efforts to foster ecosystem management and resolve multi-scale society–environment dilemmas. One emerging approach aimed at addressing these dilemmas is adaptive co-management. This method draws explicit attention to the learning (experiential and experimental) and collaboration (vertical and horizontal) functions necessary to improve our understanding of, and ability to respond to, complex social–ecological systems. Here, we identify and outline the core features of adaptive co-management, which include innovative institutional arrangements and incentives across spatiotemporal scales and levels, learning through complexity and change, monitoring and assessment of interventions, the role of power, and opportunities to link science with policy.

Sustainable fishery systems

Series Foreword. Preface and Acknowledgements. Introduction. Part I: The Fishery System: Structure and Dynamics. 1 Fishery Systems. 2 The Natural System. 3 The Human System. 4 The Management System: Policy and Planning. 5 Fishery Management. 6 Fishery Development. 7 Fishery Research. 8 Dynamics of the Fishery System. 9 Case Studies of Fishery Systems. Part II: Toward Sustainable Fishery Systems. 10 Sustainability in Fishery Systems. 11 Uncertainty and the Precautionary Approach. 12 Complexity, Diversity and the Ecosystem Approach. 13 Fishery Conflicts and the Co-management Approach. 14 Rights in Fishery Systems. 15 Resilient Fishery Systems and Robust Management. Appendix: Integrated Biosocioeconomic Analysis of Fishery Systems. References. Index.

Role of participatory governance and community - based management in integrated coastal and ocean management in Canada

There is compelling evidence that participatory governance is crucial for contending with complex problems of managing for multiple values and outcomes to achieve ecological sustainability and economic development. Canadas Oceans Act, and federal oceans policy provide a strong basis for the participatory governance and community-based management of coastal and large ocean resources. The implementation of the Oceans Act and oceans policy has resulted in some steps toward participatory governance but has not adequately provided the mechanisms for a strong role for communities in integrated coastal and ocean management (ICOM). In order to strengthen and develop community participation in ICOM, nine initiatives are recommended: (1) shifting paradigms, (2) overcoming ‘turf protection,’ (3) ensuring compatibility of goals, (4) ensuring sufficiency of information, (5) dealing with internal community stratification, (6) creating cross-scale linkages, (7) creating a participatory policy environment, (8) building community capacity, and (9) monitoring and assessment of local-level initiatives.

Towards sustainability: the fishery experience

Abstract The fishery, with its inherent complexity and its long history of debate over matters of sustainability, provides an important case study on sustainable development and the routes to its achievement. This paper (a) reviews the evolution of sustainability concepts and management paradigms in the fishery, (b) draws on this experience to develop an integrated “sustainability assessment” framework involving the evaluation of Ecological, Socioeconomic, Community and Institutional sustainability, and (c) analyses potential policy directions for sustainable development. The latter include: use of adaptive management measures to “live with uncertainty,” development of integrated strategies to cope with resource system complexity, enhancement of local control and decision making, establishment of appropriate property rights systems, and the combination of comprehensive planning with economic diversification.

Socioeconomics of Individual Transferable Quotas and Community-Based Fishery Management

In many fisheries around the world, the failures of centralized, top-down management have produced a shift toward co-management—collaboration and sharing of decision making between government and stakeholders. This trend has led to a major debate between two very different co-management approaches—community-based fishery management and market-based individual transferable quota management. This paper examines the debate over the relative merits of these models and undertakes a socioeconomic analysis of the two approaches. The paper includes (1) an analysis of differences in the structure, philosophical nature, and underlying value systems of each, including a discussion of their treatment of property rights; (2) a socioeconomic evaluation of the impacts of each system on boat owners, fishers, crew members, other fishery participants, and coastal communities, as well as the distribution of benefits and costs among fishery participants; and (3) examination of indirect economic effects that can occur through impacts on conservation and fishery sustainability. The latter relate to (a) the conservation ethic, (b) the flexibility of management, (c) the avoidance of waste, and (d) the efficiency of enforcement. The paper emphasizes the need for a broader approach to analyzing fishery management options, one that recognizes and properly assesses the diversity of choices, and that takes into account the interaction of the fishery with broader community and regional realities.

The Economics of Illegal Fishing: A Behavioral Model

This paper analyzes the microeconomic behavior of fishers responding to imperfectly enforced regulations through illegal fishing and efforts to avoid detection. An intraseasonal optimization model is analyzed to determine optimal (profit-maximizing) harvesting strategies at the individual fisher level in response to input controls (such as gear or labor usage) or output controls (individual harvest quotas). For each regulatory option, the analysis explores: (a) the manner by which enforcement affects individual decisions concerning fishing and avoidance activity, (b) the level of enforcement necessary to achieve specified conservation goals, and (c) the role of various behavioral parameters in determining fisher decisions. It is shown, in particular, that the nature of avoidance behavior plays a crucial role in determining fisher response to regulations. Broad implications of illegal behavior on the sustainability of fishery systems are also discussed.

Optimal Capacity Decisions in a Developing Fishery

The problem of estimating optimal fishing capacity for a developing fishery is discussed, using the methods of Bayesian decision analysis. The results obtained indicate that quite good decisions can often be made on the basis of limited prior information as to fish stock productivity, particularly if a conservative approach allowing for subsequent inceases in capacity is employed.

Irreversible Investment and Optimal Fisheries Management: A Stochastic Analysis

In recent years, attention has been devoted to fishery management problems that arise because capital embodied in fishing fleets is often nonmalleable, having few if any alternative uses. This problem of irreversible investment was analyzed by Clark et al. (1979), using a deterministic model. In reality, however, most investment decisions must be made within an uncertain environment. This paper describes recent efforts to account for uncertainty in analyzing the problem of optimal fishery investment, where the uncertainty is caused by stochastic variability in the resource stock from year to year.

Transformative learning for better resource management: the role of critical reflection

Since 1992, integrated management has been promoted as the solution to challenges facing governments and civil society around the world when managing natural resources. It was argued that integrated management could lead to sustainable development if new participatory approaches to social learning could be developed. Since that time, social learning theory has been an important component of resource management literature. This paper argues that until social learning theory leans more heavily on group processes of transformative learning, sustainable development will elude us. Further, a process of systematic, critical reflection is key to transformative learning, as we illustrate using a five-year research project into the role of communities in integrated management in the Canadian Maritimes. Our experience shows how critical reflection processes can strengthen participatory research to further inform the practice of integrated management. We conclude by observing that room must be made for critical reflection and for true social learning in all integrated management institutions, whether community-based or government-initiated.

Fisheries management in Atlantic Canada

Abstract This paper provides an overview of fisheries in Atlantic Canada and examines in detail the two most important and widespread sectors, groundfish and lobsters, highlighting initiatives undertaken in the wake of the collapse of the groundfish stocks in the early 1990s. Two key features contributed to this collapse: over-reliance on quota management and an adversarial relationship between fishers and government. Among the new initiatives detailed in the paper are co-management, community quotas ‘Conservation Harvesting Plans’ and the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council.