Territorial User Rights Research Articles

Escape behavior of rocky‐reef fish reveals the impact of spearfishing across different management regimes

AbstractFlight initiation distance (FID), the distance at which an organism begins to flee from an approaching threat, is a major component of antipredator escape behavior and a potential indicator of threat perception in fishes. In this study, we analyzed the FID of three important rocky‐reef fish species targeted by spearfishers, which are of commercial and recreational importance. We tested predictions that FID to a diver threat increases with the following factors: (1) fish body size, (2) less restricted access regimes, and (3) increased historical fishing pressure. We studied three size ranges of three rocky‐reef fish species, in three different access regimes (i.e., open access, territorial user rights for fishery areas, no‐take marine protected areas), and in two regions (northern and central region with different levels of fishing pressure depending on the species). We conducted an ANOVA to analyze pairwise interactions. We used the mean square criterion to select the models that best explained the variation of our response variable. Our findings indicate that FID can be distinctly elucidated by factors such as individual size, species, access regimes, and regions. Additionally, our models show that interactions involving regions and either species or size further contribute to explain FID variability. FID was higher in larger fishes and those of higher commercial value, outside marine reserves and in the region with the highest historical fishing pressures (based on landings data). This study supports the predictions that increased FID is associated with the threat posed by spearfishing activities. Furthermore, our findings indicate that spearfishing may already be altering the behavior of rocky‐reef fishes on the north‐central coast of Chile.

Situational crime analysis of poaching within Territorial Use Rights Fisheries (TURFs)

IntroductionIllegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing poses a significant threat to marine resource management globally. Environmental criminology plays a vital role in understanding and mitigating IUU activities by focusing on the contextual elements surrounding these crimes. This study examines the dynamics of poaching within areas managed through Territorial User Rights for Fisheries (TURFs), with a specific emphasis on the loco (Concholepas concholepas) fishery in Chile.MethodsEmploying Crime Script Analysis (CSA) as the primary methodological lens, this research meticulously deconstructs the criminal process involved in TURFs poaching operations. CSA is used to identify key elements, providing a comprehensive understanding of poachers modus operandi. Additionally, by integrating CSA with Situational Precipitators of Crime (SPC), the study identifies critical factors such as environmental conditions, socio-economic disparities, and enforcement weaknesses that shape poaching opportunities within TURFs. ResultsThe analysis reveals a complex interplay between SPC factors, underscoring their role in shaping poaching dynamics. Key findings highlight the importance of specific environmental conditions, socio-economic disparities, and enforcement weaknesses in facilitating poaching activities. The study identifies various tactics and strategies employed by poachers and the roles of different actors involved in the poaching process. DiscussionBuilding upon these findings, the study proposes a comprehensive Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) framework aimed at effectively combating TURFs poaching. The framework emphasizes the importance of striking a careful balance between restrictive and inclusive measures to mitigate potential negative consequences. The study contributes valuable insights into understanding and addressing IUU fishing, particularly within TURFs in Chile.

Drawing on the project initiators’ perspectives to evaluate TURF implementation in the Kepulauan Seribu Marine National Park: an online Q methodology study

Territorial User Rights for Fisheries (TURF) are established to grant privileged rights exclusively to local fishing communities to manage their stock within a bounded fishing ground. Theoretically, they will improve their sense of ownership which will eventually lead to stewardship and responsibility. In Indonesia, contemporary TURF has been introduced to meet such social outcomes and address the overfishing problems caused by open-access systems. The primary objective of this study was to determine how different project initiators perceive the system’s performance of TURF in Kepulauan Seribu Marine National Park. This study used an online Q methodology to determine what key actors thought of similarities and differences in TURF implementation by developing a concourse based on the original TURF project success elements. The results show that there are two different perspectives on what the essential aspects of TURF succeed in Kepulauan Seribu. The first opinion group appreciated the technical design of TURF, particularly the exclusion mechanism and boundary, which are crucial. A second opinion group argues that the clarity of rights, roles, and responsibilities is fundamental. Both opinion groups agreed that consistent law enforcement is the key to a successful TURF implementation. This study evaluated key stakeholders’ perspectives on co-management programs to identify points of consensus and disagreement that could ultimately help ensure the long-term success of TURF and similar co-management programs.

Artisanal fishers’ perceptions of two co-existing kelp resource management regimes in northern Chile

As fisheries management evolves and includes new measures, it is imperative to evaluate co-existing regimes. In Chile, two kelp fishery management policies were implemented sequentially over the last 20 years and currently co-exist. We analysed fishers’ perceptions regarding the performance of a territorial user rights policy and a regional management plan policy operating in what were historically open access areas along the coastline of two important kelp production regions in northern Chile. Interviews with Directorates of fisher associations were used to report key dimensions of both regimes, their problems, benefits, and proposals for improvement. A survey was used to assess artisanal fishers’ perceptions of the outcomes of the two management regimes studied: satisfaction, perceived success, and compliance. Trust, environmental attitude, and participation in decision-making associated to both regimes were also assessed. The results of the interviews show that the majority of association Directorates mentioned illegal harvesting by unregistered fishers as the most important problem of the regional management plan regime and suggest that the state needs to invest in law enforcement as a key issue for improvement. The survey results showed that, in general, the territorial user rights regime is perceived to have higher levels of compliance, success, and generates more satisfaction. Lessons from the different management regimes can provide important insights for improving the implementation of management plans to generate synergies between co-existing management regimes.

Fisher perceptions of Belize’s Managed Access program reveal overall support but need for improved enforcement

A major challenge facing global fisheries is gaining support for sustainable management, which is vital for ensuring the longevity of coastal resources for livelihood and ecosystem benefits. Territorial User Rights for Fishing (TURFs) have emerged as a possible solution to overfishing by requiring fishers to report their catch, color-code their vessels, and fish in designated areas. Belize was the first country in the Caribbean to implement TURFs — in a program called “Managed Access” — with two pilot sites opening in 2011 and seven sites added in 2016. This study evaluates the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of fishers in the Managed Access program, comparing responses between 2014 and 2019. We collaborated with the Belize Fisheries Department and two local conservation organizations to administer surveys to 362 fishers in 2014 and 123 fishers in 2019, from ten communities in southern Belize. Overall, fishers in both years understood the requirements for acquiring and renewing their licenses, but in 2019, significantly more fishers understood the logbook reporting requirement and the benefits of having tenure rights than those in 2014. 69% of respondents from 2019 support the program in the long run, but 62% report observing illegal fishing behavior. These data suggest a need to educate fishers about the benefits of accurate catch reporting, improve enforcement, and develop fisher empowerment programs, while also guiding management decisions on a national scale. Although the Managed Access program in Belize is fairly new, the lessons learned can be applied to other small-scale fisheries contexts.

Can the territorial use rights in fisheries (TURF) stabilize the landings of a highly variable benthic resource? Reexamining the fishery of Concholepas concholepas in North-Central Chile

The fishery of the muricid gastropod Concholepas concholepas is iconic in the southeast Pacific Ocean, since several studies on the species served as basis for changing from an open access regime to territorial user rights in fisheries (TURFs), in the form of management and exploitation areas for benthic resources. This predatory gastropod can be abundant in exposed rocky shores, yet its landings are highly variable in space and time. A few years after new management was implemented, TURF areas exhibited stabilized landings at the national level. However, we have no clear understanding of the outcomes of this management over time at national level versus individual area level. We estimated landings trends using long-term data (18 years) on landings of C. concholepas in most TURF areas of north-central Chile. These temporal trends were estimated by quantifying the landings slopes for each area and their individual deviations from the population level estimates (overall slope minus individual slope). We found that nearly 20% of areas stopped harvesting in 2010, most areas exhibited declining landings over time, and nearly as many areas exhibited slopes above and below the mean overall slope. The change in the traditional way of fishing, the increase in illegal fishing, and the lack of adequate knowledge about the larval cycle of the species may have driven the failure of the TURF areas for C. concholepas. Since fishing is prohibited in the remaining open access areas but is poorly controlled, we suggest ending this prohibition in open access areas and maintaining existing TURF areas to assess actual landings of C. concholepas in Chile. This change may improve the protection of the species.

Exploring the role of access regimes over an economically important intertidal kelp species

Achieving sustainable use of kelps is key for small-scale fishers’ livelihoods and biodiversity. During the last three decades, Chile has implemented different policy approaches to manage kelps. Unfortunately, assessments of the biological impacts of these management regimes have not received the attention they deserve. In this study, we explore biomass, density, size structure and holdfast diameter/stipe length relation of the kelp Lessonia spp., associated to a territorial user rights policy, which grant exclusive access to fishers, and a regional management plan policy which defines control rules in what were historically de facto open access areas. We compare these with marine protected areas where harvesting is banned, thus serving as a benchmark. The study was performed along the coast of two of the main kelp harvesting regions of Chile. The analyses, performed in two time periods, shows that biomass is greater inside areas managed through territorial user rights and in marine protected areas compared to areas where regional management plans have been implemented, which perform in a similar way to open access sites. Enforcement is a key driver of kelp response. Densities of recruits and juveniles are higher in areas where harvesting and gathering are allowed, whilst adult plants have higher density in marine protected areas. In all cases, kelps have become denser after eleven years. The holdfast diameter/stipe length relation provides an indicator of protection efficiency: stricter regulatory measures are related to larger holdfast diameters and shorter stipes. We conclude that, in general, territorial user rights policies and marine protected areas have contributed to the conservation of wild intertidal Lessonia populations. Results highlight the potential of the regional management plans policy to improve kelp management, but it will probably need important adjustments to enhance enforcement and compliance. In addition management innovations such as rotational harvest strategies could provide an important complement which should be further assessed.

Boom not bust: Cooperative management as a mechanism for improving the commercial efficiency and environmental outcomes of regional scallop fisheries

The environmental impacts of food production are increasingly influencing consumer’s food choices. To maintain market access in this context, the fishing industry must adopt strategies and technologies that reduce their carbon emissions, environmental footprint, bycatch and seabed impact. In this study, closure of a depleted scallop fishing ground, to enable stock recovery, coupled with a transition to a cooperative management system, based on territorial user rights, promoted fishers to make management decisions that have improved the environmental outcomes and economic efficiency of this fishery. Innovative cooperative management systems like territorial user rights that decentralise decision making and provide users rights to a defined fishing area, could help mitigate against the negative impacts and issues traditionally associated with scallop dredge fisheries, and help maintain both stock biomass and consumer demand in a market increasingly dominated by sustainably certified food products.

Advances and challenges in marine conservation in Chile: A regional and global comparison

Abstract Despite significant progress made in Chile, and globally, in establishing marine protected areas (MPAs), the actual contribution to marine biodiversity conservation needs to be revised, to focus on representativeness and the diversity of tools alongside effective implementation, management, and enforcement. This study makes progress in this direction, describing the most recent advances in marine conservation in Chile and analysing the contribution of the different conservation instruments as well as the distribution of designated areas across ecoregions. Furthermore, it examines the potential contribution of alternative area‐based instruments to balance ocean protection. The advances observed in Chile were compared among four South American countries and five leading countries in ocean conservation, analysing protection levels in coastal areas, continental exclusive economic zones, and overseas territories. Data on MPA boundaries and attributes were sourced from the World Database on Protected Areas and complemented the official information on MPAs and territorial user rights for fisheries and for indigenous people in South America. The current level of protection in Chile is among the highest in the world in area coverage and in the proportion of the continental exclusive economic zone assigned to fully protected areas. However, it exhibits the strongest imbalances in the distribution of designated MPAs between coastal and oceanic waters, in comparison with the leading countries and also within South America (Perú, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay), and among ecoregions. The patterns observed suggest that Chile has advanced, but concentrated, conservation efforts in low‐threat, remote ecoregions. There is an urgent need to progress towards high‐threat ecoregions, which implies balancing the needs of nature and people. The distribution of ancillary conservation instruments can help double the level of protection in threatened coastal areas, filling gaps in marine conservation and creating an opportunity to progress and diversify conservation strategies.

The use of fishers’ knowledge to assess benthic resource abundance across management regimes in Chilean artisanal fisheries

Globally, marine fisheries remain largely unassessed, particularly small-scale fisheries in developing countries. Fishers’ knowledge has proven to be valuable to help fill gaps of information in otherwise unassessed fisheries. This study tested the reliability of fishers’ knowledge to estimate the abundance of two benthic resources, locos (Concholepas concholepas) and keyhole limpets (Fissurella spp.), across two management regimes, territorial user rights for fisheries (TURF) and open access areas (OAA), over ~500 km of coastline in central Chile. Fishers’ knowledge (FK) was quantified using systematic interviews and compared to direct assessments (DA). Additionally, resource abundance was compared between the fishing regimes, considering regions with different concentration of TURFs (and consequently different availability of OAAs). The results show that abundances estimated by the two methods were highly consistent for the most valuable resource (the loco) and quite reliable for the keyhole limpet (for 67% of the comparisons). Abundances of both resources were higher in TURFs than in OAAs, a pattern detected by both FK and DA. The results clearly show the potential of this approach to be applied for the Chilean benthic fisheries over large scales. Interestingly, the results also show significantly lower abundance of locos in OAAs than in TURFs at coves immersed in zones with low availability of open access fishing grounds, suggesting the influence of effort displacement after the implementation of TURFs. This ancillary result highlights the need for seascape management plans that consider the potential, unintended effects of TURFs on resources beyond their boundaries. These findings are of both local and global interest, supporting the use of FK to inform management in unassessed small-scale fisheries.

Exploring the influence of upwelling on the total allowed catch and harvests of a benthic gastropod managed under a territorial user rights for fisheries regime along the Chilean coast.

While there is a broad understanding of upwelling impacts on the functioning of marine ecosystems, empirical data that link this process to commercial species landings have not received the attention they deserve. The aim of this study was to explore the role of coastal upwelling in determining total allowable catch (TAC) and harvests of benthic fisheries, managed through a policy which assigns Territorial User Rights to Fishers (TURFs) along the Chilean coast. We used official historical TAC (217 TURFs) and harvest data (224 TURFs) for one of the most important benthic gastropod resources (“Loco”, Concholepas concholepas) of the TURF system. TAC and harvest data ranged from 2001 to 2018 and were used to explore relations with an index of seasonal coastal upwelling, derived from a spatiotemporal decomposition, of sea surface temperature along the same study areas and period. Using Bayesian generalized linear multilevel models (TURFs as group-level effect), we showed a positive and significant effect of the upwelling over TAC and harvest of Loco. Model results explained 47% of TAC and 34% of harvests. The effects of upwelling were comparatively stronger to the effects of the area (hectares) and the number of fisher members of the TURF. In addition, models estimates showed negative inter-annual trends during the study period, for TAC and harvests, and that these differed as function of upwelling variability. Understanding the role of upwelling gives objective criteria to begin addressing the differential role that social and environmental aspects play in overall TURF performance, allowing to begin hypothesizing over socially driven deviances from predicted patterns.

Moving Beyond Co-Management: Opportunities and Limitations for Enabling Transitions to Polycentric Governance in Chile’s Territorial User Rights in Fisheries Policy

This paper contributes insights to discussions of adaptive governance in marine socio-ecological systems by elucidating the conditions which limit or enable the transition from co-management to polycentric governance at the local scale. I offer a comparative study of two coastal communities, Carelmapu and Ancud, which are both bound by the same political structures governing marine resources and are home to multiple fishing unions governed by Chile’s co-management policy, Territorial User Rights in Fisheries (TURFs). However, each community has experienced different outcomes in their abilities to transform to polycentric governance at the local scale in the Lakes Region of southern Chile. I suggest that the legislative structures which govern new ocean uses have brought new stakeholders to the table of environmental governance and have shifted power dynamics, creating both opportunities and limitations for the transition of polycentric governance. In Carelmapu, fishing unions have been unable to organize to transform environmental governance because they refuse to work with the Indigenous Communities, who are seeking to form an Indigenous marine protected area. In Ancud on the island of Chiloe, fishing unions have initiated the beginnings of polycentric governance by uniting and collaborating with government officials to form a new institution to govern resources. I first explore how the legislative structures which govern new ocean uses have caused conflict in Carelmapu between fishers and the Indigenous Community, with attention to how conflict and exclusion constrain the formation of polycentric governance. I then examine the conditions under which fishing unions in Ancud facilitated the beginnings of polycentric governance through new management plans.

Policy effectiveness in spatial resource wars: A two-region model

We develop a spatial resource model in continuous time in which two agents strategically exploit a mobile resource in a two-region setup.To counteract the overexploitation of the resource (the tragedy of commons) that occurs when players are free to choose where to harvest, the regulator can establish a series of spatially structured policies. We compare the equilibria in the case of a common resource with those that emerge when the regulator either creates a natural reserve, or assigns Territorial User Rights to the players.We show that, when technological and preference parameters dictate a low harvesting effort, the policies are ineffective in promoting the conservation of the resource and, in addition, they lead to a lower payoff for at least one of the players. Conversely, in a context of higher harvesting effort, the intervention can help to safeguard the resource, preventing extinction while also improving the welfare of both players.

Drivers and trends in catch of benthic resources in Chilean TURFs and surrounding open access areas

Beginning in the 1990’s, Chile implemented an extensive Territorial User Rights for Fisheries (TURFs) network that now comprises nearly 1,000 TURFs. This network provides a rare opportunity to examine spatial and temporal trends in TURF use and impacts on surrounding open access areas (OAAs). In this analysis, landings of keyhole limpet (Fissurella spp.), kelp (Lessonia spp.) and red sea urchin (Loxechinus albus) were used to estimate catch-per-unit effort (CPUEs) and catch-per-unit area (CPUAs) indices inside and outside TURFs by fishing cove. For these species, CPUEs and CPUAs in 2015 were significantly higher inside TURFs. However, temporal trends analyzed with a linear mixed effects model indicate that CPUAs inside TURFs have been significantly decreasing since 2000 for keyhole limpet, red sea urchin and for loco (Concholepas concholepas), while in OAAs this measure only decreased for limpet. An elastic net regression was used to better explain catches in OAAs during 2015, including a variety of variables related to the characteristics and activity of proximal TURFs. Results indicate that exogenous factors unrelated to TURF management were the primary drivers of catches in OAAs during 2015 but that factors related to proximal TURFs appear to have a slight negative impact that grows over time. Collectively, these results indicate that while TURFs are associated with higher catch rates than surrounding OAAs, catch rates appear to be decreasing over time and, though limited, the impact of TURFs on surrounding OAAs may be negative. These findings suggest a need for a more nuanced and dynamic approach to spatial management on benthic resources in Chile.

Comanagement of small‐scale fisheries and ecosystem services

AbstractMarine ecosystem services are in global decline, which requires new transformational changes in governance to cope with multiple anthropogenic stressors. We perform a systematic literature review of the biodiversity and ecosystem services outcomes of a governance transformation toward comanagement through the allocation of territorial user rights to artisanal fisher associations (TURFs) in Chile. We synthesize the implications of more than 25 years of establishing a TURF policy over ecosystem services. Results show TURFs sustain biodiversity and all typologies of ecosystem services when they are well enforced. Research on provisioning services is most prevalent, however cultural services have been gaining traction with studies assessing the role of leadership, sanctions, and social capital in determining TURF outcomes. The results suggest that TURFs can play an important role in creating social and ecological enabling conditions for local stewardship. While this is encouraging, there is a bias toward positive results and few studies address negative consequences of TURFs aimed at identifying constraints for further development. The review shows that there has been a continuous transition toward interdisciplinary social–ecological research. Research on TURFs faced with drivers of global change and uncertainty are urgently needed, in order to anticipate unintended outcomes and adapt accordingly.

Design trade‐offs in rights‐based management of small‐scale fisheries

Small-scale fisheries collectively have a large ecological footprint and are key sources of food security, especially in developing countries. Many of the data-intensive approaches to fishery management are infeasible in these fisheries, but a strategy that has emerged to overcome these challenges is the establishment of territorial user rights for fisheries (TURFs). In this approach, exclusive fishing zones are established for groups of stakeholders, which eliminates the race to fish with other groups. A key challenge, however, is setting the size of TURFs-too large and the number of stakeholders sharing them impedes collective action, and too small and the movement of target fish species in and out of the TURFs effectively removes the community's exclusive access. We assessed the size of 137 TURFs from across the globe relative to this design challenge by applying theoretical models that predict their performance. We estimated that roughly two-thirds of these TURFs were sized ideally to overcome the challenges posed by resource movement and fisher group size. However, for most of the remaining TURFs, all possible sizes were either too small to overcome the resource-movement challenge or too large to overcome the collective action challenge. Our results suggest these fisheries, which target mobile species in densely populated regions, may need additional interventions to be successful.

The PERCEBES project: science for the spatial management of the stalked barnacle fishery in the Atlantic Arc

The PERCEBES project: science for the spatial management of the stalked barnacle fishery in the Atlantic Arc

Life History, Knowledge, Bottlenecks, and Challenges for the Aquaculture of Concholepas concholepas (Gastropoda: Muricidae) in Chile

The carnivorous keystone muricid species Concholepas concholepas (Bruguiere, 1789) is known in Chile as “loco,” in Peru as “pata de burro, tolina, or chanque,” and in internationalmarkets as “false abalone.” The loco is present along the coast of Chile, in theArchipelago of Juan Fernandez and in southern and central Peru, and its range of distribution spans over 5,000 km of intertidal and shallow subtidal reefs. In Chile, the loco is a traditional food resource and has been heavily exploited since the early Holocene by intertidal food-gathers and free divers, and since the 1950s/60s by a small-scale artisan fleet of hookah-divers. In Chile, since the mid-1970s, the species has been mainly exported (foot-meat) to Asian markets, and between 1976 and 1980 market demands acted as a major driving force behind overexploitation of the loco. Since the 1990s, its fishery moved from an open access regime to a comanagement regulated policy based on territorial user rights for fisheries (TURF) and reproductive fishery bans. The loco, as an iconic species, played a key role in the implementation of TURF. In Peru, the loco fishery operates under a reproductive ban fishery regime and its export started in the late 1990s. In Chile, the loco is by far the most intensely studied of all exploited shellfishes in terms of evolution, paleobiogeography, biogeography, life history, behavior, physiology, ecology, genetics, and fishery. Moreover, the loco has been used as a biological model to study responses to global stressors such as ocean warming and acidification. During the past 20 y, several laboratory experimental attempts have been made to advance experimental, pilot, and commercial aquaculture of the loco. Nevertheless, the available information shows that no reliable and repeatable pilot or massive aquaculture protocols have yet succeeded. In this study, the extensive field and laboratory information for the most relevant life history phases of the loco, such as reproduction, mating, brood-stock holding, egg capsule deposition, larval posthatching, growing to competence, larval feeding, settlement and metamorphosis to juvenile stages, and pilot growing experiences to adult sizes are reviewed. In light of the available information, the most critical aquaculture bottlenecks are identified. Among them, the existence, from hatching to competence, of a long larval planktonic phase of about 3–4 mo, and the existence of cannibalism during postsettlement confined laboratory conditions are highlighted. Moreover, key aspects of the larval rearing of the loco, such as densities, field and laboratory food items, and temperatures are reported. The field collection of (1) competent larvae of locos in inshore coastal plankton; (2) new settlers from rocky shores; and (3) new settlers from fishery-discarded conspecific shells are also discussed. The collection of competent larvae was followed by laboratory induction to settlement and by two consecutive postsettlement rearing/growing phases (laboratory and field conditions) to overcome difficulties associated with the long larval phase and to speed up the time required to reach trading sizes. Furthermore, collection of new settlers was followed by rearing experiments under both laboratory and field conditions. The need of high demands of live prey (mainly mussels) during the laboratory rearing of the early benthic stages of loco is discussed, emphasizing that to implement ecologically sustainable aquaculture practices, parallel aquaculture of the appropriated prey is needed. A review of what is already known regarding the biology of C. concholepas is provided along with progress and pit-falls for the aquaculture of this species. The practicality for its aquaculture and the main challenges ahead are also discussed.

Illegal fishing and territorial user rights in Chile.

Illegal fishing poses a major threat to conservation of marine resources worldwide. However, there is still limited empirical research that quantifies illegal catch levels. We used the randomized response technique to estimate the proportion of divers and the quantities of loco (Concholepas concholepas) they extracted illegally. Loco have been managed for the past 17 years through a territorial user rights for fisheries system (TURFs) in Chile. Illegal fishing of loco was widespread within the TURFs system. Official reported landings (i.e., legal landings) accounted for 14-30% of the total loco extraction. Our estimates suggest that ignoring the magnitude of illegal fishing and considering only official landing statistics may lead to false conclusions about the status and trends of a TURFs managed fishery. We found evidence of fisher associations authorizing their members to poach inside TURFs, highlighting the need to design TURFs systems so that government agencies and fishers' incentives and objectives align through continuous adaptation. Government support for enforcement is a key element for the TURFs system to secure the rights that are in place.

Community-based management of the Mediterranean coastal fisheries: Historical reminiscence or the root for new fisheries governance?

Historical management experiences of Mediterranean community-based fisheries were particularly effective in fostering both social cohesion and sustainable utilizationof coastal resources. This figure contrasts with the current status of Mediterranean fisheries, where about 90% of stocks are overexploited. The key question then is: can past experiences guide our current approach to reshaping governance in the Mediterranean fisheries? In our effort to answer this question, we analyzed the main attributes of selected fishing governance systems in the Early and Mid-Modern period and their evolution through time. We focussed on the Spanish Cofradías, the French Prud’homies and the Venetian Fraglie (Italy). They were characterized by the establishment of territorial user rights system of management and governed technical aspects of the fisheries, market access, and restrictions. Fishers and their communities, through their corporations/organizations, were directly involved in legislating and enforcing management policies and regulations/rules. This approach to fisheries management differs from the one introduced by the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), established in the late 1970s, which was mainly top-down. Despite the systematic efforts to reduce fishing capacity and pressure on marine resources and to impose severe technical and restrictive measures, Mediterranean fisheries are still in bad conditions. To cope with this situation the EU recently reformed the CFP establishing, among other things, a new paradigm that seeks to foster the harmonization of the decision-making process in the context of the so-called “regionalization” of fisheries management. However, this policy does not clearly establish a proper community-based approach and restricts participation to national fishers’ associations in the context of the Advisory Council of the Mediterranean Sea. Without effectively linking local and regional fisheries management structures by engaging fishers and re-establishing a sense of community through providing community-based rights for fishing, this new effort will likely not succeed in achieving Mediterranean fisheries sustainability.