Exploring Adaptive Co-management as a Pathway to Enhance the Governability of Sea Urchin Fisheries in Barbados and Saint Lucia

Abstract

Small-scale coastal fisheries, especially for small stocks of relatively sedentary species, are increasingly seen as candidates for still-novel governance arrangements such as adaptive co-management. Yet, co-management initiatives often expose deficiencies in capacity, communication, trust and other factors said to favor success. How then to govern fisheries with highly variable social-ecological systems? How is governability affected by low capacity and arbitrary governing interactions? How can interactive governance address these challenges? Fisheries governance in the Eastern Caribbean is hampered by limited capacity in community and state fisheries organizations, low levels of leadership, inadequate information exchange and low political priority compared to other economic sectors. Little guidance is available to assess pre-conditions and chances of successful adaptive co-management. Using sea urchin fisheries at five sites in Barbados and Saint Lucia as cases, this chapter investigates formal and informal processes and conditions for establishing, implementing and sustaining adaptive co-management. It assesses the potential for approaching co-governance grounded in understanding social-ecological fisheries systems. This informs fisheries governance by exploring opportunities and constraints through a governability lens.