Abstract
In the midst of a global fisheries crisis, there has been great interest in the fostering of adaptation and resilience in fisheries, as a means to reduce vulnerability and improve the capacity of fishing society to adapt to change. However, enhanced resilience does not automatically result in improved well-being of people, and adaptation strategies are riddled with difficult choices, or trade-offs, that people must negotiate. This paper uses the context of fisheries to explore some apparent tensions between adapting to change on the one hand, and the pursuit of well-being on the other, and illustrates that trade-offs can operate at different levels of scale. It argues that policies that seek to support fisheries resilience need to be built on a better understanding of the wide range of consequences that adaptation has on fisher well-being, the agency people exert in negotiating their adaptation strategies, and how this feeds back into the resilience of fisheries as a social-ecological system. The paper draws from theories on agency and adaptive preferences to illustrate how agency might be better incorporated into the resilience debate.
Highlights
Fisheries are in crisis (Jackson et al 2001, Pauly et al 2002, Worm et al 2009)
It argues that policies that seek to support fisheries resilience need to be built on a better understanding of the wide range of consequences that adaptation has on fisher well-being, the agency people exert in negotiating their adaptation strategies, and how this feeds back into the resilience of fisheries as a social-ecological system
Given the growing vulnerability that fishers around the world face, there has been much interest in the fostering of adaptation among fishing peoples (FAO 2007, Daw et al 2009), i.e., the capacity of people to adjust their behavior to cope with change and disturbance (Folke et al 2010), and the enhancement of resilience in fisheries (Allison et al 2007, WorldFish 2010)
Summary
Fisheries are in crisis (Jackson et al 2001, Pauly et al 2002, Worm et al 2009). A desirable outcome of resilience, which appeals to its application in fisheries, is the retention of essential functions of the system This could be interpreted as the long-term sustaining of jobs, valued identities, and cultures in fishing societies, alongside resilient marine resources and sustained ecological health. Greater resilience of social-ecological systems that can respond to shocks and retain essential functioning is clearly an appealing goal, which drives attempts to establish the determinants of resilience and how it might be supported at local and national levels (Berkes and Folke 1998, Adger et al 2005, Brooks et al 2005). The pursuit of well-being has the power to facilitate, and restrict, adaptation at the local level, and can shape the overall resilience of the social-ecological system
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.
