Abstract
AbstractDespite improved knowledge and stricter regulations, numerous fish stocks remain overharvested. Previous research has shown that fisheries management may fail when the models and assessments used to inform management are based on unrealistic assumptions regarding fishers' decision‐making and responses to policies. Improving the understanding of fisher behaviour requires addressing its diversity and complexity through the integration of social science knowledge into modelling. In our paper, we review and synthesize state‐of‐the‐art research on both social science's understanding of fisher behaviour and the representation of fisher decision‐making in scientific models. We then develop and experiment with an agent‐based social–ecological fisheries model that formalizes three different fishing styles. Thereby we reflect on the implications of our incorporation of behavioural diversity and contrast it with the predominant assumption in fishery models: fishing practices being driven by rational profit maximizing. We envision a next generation of fisheries models and management that account for social scientific knowledge on individual and collective human behaviours. Through our agent‐based model, we demonstrate how such an integration is possible and propose a scientific approach for reducing uncertainty based on human behavioural diversity in fisheries. This study serves to lay the foundations for a next generation of social–ecological fishery models that account for human behavioural diversity and social and ecological complexity that are relevant for a realistic assessment and management of fishery sustainability problems.
Highlights
Decades of fisheries research and management have significantly advanced the understanding and management of fisheries by, for example, focusing on the temporal and spatial dynamics of fish stocks (Botsford et al, 2008; May, Beddington, Clark, Holt, & Laws, 1979; Pikitch et al, 2004), the complexity of food webs and ecological systems (McLeod & Leslie, 2009) and the role of regulations| wileyonlinelibrary.com/j ournal/fafFish and Fisheries. 2020;21:872–890.| and economic incentives in shaping fishing practices
One important reason for the lack of progress is that fisheries management typically relies on models of human behaviour and assessments that are unable to account for social dynamics, and in particular for the diversity and adaptability of fisher behaviour
We present a way for integrating social scientific knowledge about individual and collective human behaviours into the modelling and management of fisheries
Summary
Decades of fisheries research and management have significantly advanced the understanding and management of fisheries by, for example, focusing on the temporal and spatial dynamics of fish stocks (Botsford et al, 2008; May, Beddington, Clark, Holt, & Laws, 1979; Pikitch et al, 2004), the complexity of food webs and ecological systems (McLeod & Leslie, 2009) and the role of regulations| wileyonlinelibrary.com/j ournal/fafFish and Fisheries. 2020;21:872–890.| and economic incentives in shaping fishing practices (van Putten, Gorton, Fulton, & Thébaud, 2012). One important reason for the lack of progress is that fisheries management typically relies on models of human behaviour and assessments that are unable to account for social dynamics, and in particular for the diversity and adaptability of fisher behaviour (van Putten, Kulmala, et al, 2012; Wilen, Smith, Lockwood, & Botsford, 2002). Recent literature stresses how this omission is problematic: the limited understanding of the diversity of fisher behaviour may limit management interventions anticipation of fishers’ response to regulation (Fulton, Smith, Smith, & van Putten, 2011; van Putten, Kulmala, et al, 2012; Salas & Gaertner, 2004). Behavioural responses have been shown to play an important role in the success or failure of marine protected areas (MPAs). Compliance with MPAs may be affected by perceptions of inequality or lack of fairness in the distribution of MPA benefits, which has led to poaching fish despite their generally positive attitudes towards the MPA and even despite receiving benefits from it (Chaigneau & Brown, 2016)
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