The Moral and Ethical Baseline of Marine Socio-Ecological Values: the Case of Recreational and Artisanal Fishing in NW Mediterranean Coastal Waters (Catalonia, Spain)

Abstract

Scant attention has been paid to values not expressed in monetary terms, due in part to the difficulty of assessing them. Moreover, the notion and understanding of “value” differs depending on the discipline and academic approaches. This ethnographic study focused on three marine spaces from the Catalonia region in Spain (Natural Park of Cap de Creus, Medes Islands protected area, and Natura 2000 Network area) addresses the competing values of maritime activities, small-scale fishing and recreational fishing, that make value judgements based on moral and ethical standards with which to legitimize activities and use of marine resources. The results highlight the co-existing market and non-market values involved in carrying out these activities, and the need to identify values as drivers of socioecological systems in order to evaluate sustainability. Through the lens of social theory mainly stemming from social anthropology, the study discusses on the moral and ethical issues at play.