Abstract
This paper describes how relational place-making, with its focus on power dynamics, networked politics, and non-market, locally-valued characteristics, provides a useful framework for managers to better design fishing community policies. Social data, while becoming more common in fisheries management analyses, are typically restricted to quantitative measures that often cannot adequately summarize dynamics within fishing communities. In contrast, detailed ethnographic research and the theoretical framework of relational place-making can provide a useful methodology through which to gather social data to understand resource-dependent communities and the effects of fisheries management policies in these places. Relational place-making describes the process through which physical spaces are transformed into socially meaningful places, and how these understandings are contested and negotiated among different groups of actors. These contested narratives of place, called place-frames, can interact with economic development efforts to help create (or fail to create) sustainable communities. To better understand the efficacy of a specific fisheries policy, the community development quota (CDQ) program, we conducted 6 months of ethnographic research in the rural, Native communities of St. George and St. Paul, Alaska. In both communities we found that local place-frames centered on local empowerment and control. In St. George, local place-frames conflicted with place-frames advanced by CDQ employees, and locals were unable to align place-making goals with local economic realities. In St. Paul, local residents and CDQ employees shared a place-frame, allowing them to accomplish numerous local development goals. However, differences in place-frames advanced by other political entities on the island often complicated development initiatives. This study supports previous research indicating that policies and development projects that increase local power and self-determination are most successful in furthering community sustainability and well-being. This study indicates that relational place-making can illuminate local goals and desires and is therefore of great utility to the fisheries management decision-making process.
Highlights
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations emphasizes in their Voluntary Guidelines for Small-Scale Fisheries (FAO 2015) that gender equality
Women and men are equal in the eyes of the law Guarantees equal opportunities in policies, programs, projects, and instruments Orders that any planning for the national development and public federal administration has to be based on equality of rights between women and men Establishes that in the programming, budgeting, approval, exercise, control, and evaluation of federal income and public expenditures the administration of resources is carried out with accountability and gender equality, among other criteria Guarantees a life with equal opportunities and without violence for women
We will examine the impact of Comunidad y Biodiversidad (COBI)’s actions aimed at increasing the roles and participation of women in conservation and sustainable fisheries through the lens of empowerment developed by Kabeer (1999), and how this supported collective action and gender equality
Summary
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations emphasizes in their Voluntary Guidelines for Small-Scale Fisheries (FAO 2015) that gender equality. The low number of recognized female roles and contributions is one factor driving the exclusion of women in fisheries management decision-making processes It is the focus on women and gender equality that is missing, and a stronger focus on knowledge, vision, fairness, governance gender balance, and creative solutions to addressing marine environmental issues through collective action initiatives. There are general policies in Mexico to promote women’s empowerment and to achieve gender equality in the daily life of the country (Table 1) These policies were a cross-cutting strategy of the National Development Plan 2013–2018 (Gobierno de la Republica 2013), which reflected the implementation of gender mainstreaming strategies proposed by the United Nations (UN) at the 1995 Beijing Women’s Conference. This is an issue that needs to be systematically assessed in the context of Mexican fisheries
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
