Usage and coordination of governance principles to address proximate and distal drivers of conflicts in fisheries commons.

Abstract

Commons' problems and solutions have the elements of local, proximate, and large-scale distal processes. Solutions, therefore, require accessing, implementing, and coordinating information and actions at multiple scales. Restoring commons, such as fisheries, will require a better understanding of how stakeholders access and use information at various scales to resolve governance and restrictions problems. In 179 household interviews, perceptions of fisheries conflicts and their causes were identified, and 16 management committee key informants described their methods for mediating hypothetical small-scale fisheries problems in Kenya. The 6 studied sites varied in human development and demographic contexts but had notable similarities that reflected a respondent's focus on localized, direct, and proximate fishing conflicts. The most cited problems included limited space, disagreement about gears, poor resource conditions, and locally inadequate benefits. The most cited sources of information were local households and the community, and there was considerably less acknowledgment of distal problems and solutions. Key informants selected a limited number of local community-focused solutions. For example, informants chose to mediate conflicts between neighbors with local community meetings rather than through formal national institutions. Therefore, distal solutions were likely to be perceived as ineffectual, possibly due to the challenges of polycentric governance coordination. However, widespread overfishing arises from overarching distal processes not fully amenable to local solutions. Therefore, a focus on local action is expected to limit the ability to address distal problems. These include conflicting values, demographic changes, supportive governance frameworks, emerging technologies, resolving conflicting local rules, fair between-group enforcement, responding to temporary shortages of fish, and intercommunity border and rule disputes. Improved coordination and integration of information and institutions to simultaneously address both proximate and distal common's problems are recommended.