Abstract
Addressing global fisheries overexploitation requires better understanding of how small-scale fishing communities in developing countries limit access to fishing grounds. We analyze the performance of a system based on individual licenses and a common property-rights regime in their ability to generate incentives for self-governance and conservation of fishery resources. Using a qualitative before-after-control-impact approach, we compare two neighbouring fishing communities in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Both were initially governed by the same permit system, are situated in the same ecosystem, use similar harvesting technology, and have overharvested similar species. One community changed to a common property-right regime, enabling the emergence of access controls and avoiding overexploitation of benthic resources, while the other community, still relies on the permit system. We discuss the roles played by power, institutions, socio-historic, and biophysical factors to develop access controls.
Highlights
The contribution of small-scale fisheries (SSFs) to global fisheries catch and their role in maintaining human welfare has been systematically underestimated in past global assessments (Jackson et al 2001:205; Worm et al 2009)
Our study shows that while both communities were governed under the same system based on individual licenses
Permit holders act as middle-men in control of the entire fishing process and behave as roving bandits (Berkes et al 2006)
Summary
The contribution of small-scale fisheries (SSFs) to global fisheries catch and their role in maintaining human welfare (i.e., human nutrition, food security, poverty alleviation and development) has been systematically underestimated in past global assessments (Jackson et al 2001:205; Worm et al 2009). Despite the formal change in property-rights regime in Seri fishing grounds, all commercialization continued to be controlled by non-Seri permit holders under the same de facto open access regime as before, and the sequential overexploitation of primary resources continued: The sea turtle fishery started to show signs of overuse and by 1974 the totoaba fishery was formally closed.
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