Local fishery, global commodity: the role of institutions in mediating intersectoral conflict, cooperation, and competition in a globalized fishery

Abstract

Commons scholarship has improved our understanding of how to govern resources for sustainability. However, it has also been critiqued for its focus on traits (e.g. well-defined system boundaries) that are increasingly threatened by social and environmental trends. Fisheries are a key example of this challenge. While small-scale fisheries are critically important to the diets and livelihoods of millions, industrial fisheries from developed countries now dominate fishing around the world. While these two systems are governed separately, there is substantial overlap between them, conceptualized as the growing influence of globalization on local common pool resource (CPR) systems. One of the most impactful, but least understood consequences of this convergence are the emerging conflicts and competition between small-scale and industrial fisheries. In these systems, the interaction between small-scale CPRs and globalized commodity chains has meant the creation of a new, hybrid resource system, addressed by neither conventional industrial nor traditional small-scale governance approaches. We use empirical data from 396 cases of interactions at sea between globalized industrial and local small-scale fishers in Ghana from 1984 to 2013 to examine the conditions under which resource users conflict or cooperate, linking them to broader political and economic dynamics across scales. We consider the institutional factors that mediate these interactions, identifying policies to promote cooperative, and avert conflictual incidents. We further consider the long-term effects of these patterns of conflict and cooperation for the resilience or vulnerability of the resource base, the fishers, and the institutions governing the system. We suggest that specific governance arrangements that reduce disparities between groups, promote bridging social capital, and enhance hybrid and cross-scale institutions offer the best potential to govern resource systems where traditional CPRs and market-oriented industries converge.