Adaptive governance for marine environments: methods, challenges, and lessons for ocean fisheries

Abstract

This chapter explores the development of adaptive governance (AG) in vast, highly dynamic marine and coastal settings, focusing on applications in small-scale fisheries contexts. The first section presents a brief overview of the history and institutional diversity of global marine governance. Next, the specific challenges and strategies for implementing marine AG, including cross-scale institutional integration, stakeholder participation, and power sharing, are discussed. Lastly, a review of case studies examines the outcomes of marine AG in response to the crisis. This synthesis demonstrates the strengths of AG for addressing the spatial scale and unpredictability of marine settings; however, it also illustrates how limited conceptualisations of marine environments that overlook the social and historical context can impede trust, knowledge-sharing, and AG’s integration with existing institutions. Marine AG benefits from strong informal learning networks, recognizing situated practices and values, nested authority and procedural equity, and attention to implementation and practice over technical fixes.