Emerging Global Social Networks To Counter the Fisheries Crisis

Emerging global social networks to counter the fisheries crisis

The international community has committed to restoring depleted fish stocks by 2015, but current trends suggest there is still a long way to go. Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing as a major current barrier to reaching agreed goals, with negatively social, economic and environmental impacts. Strong indications also suggest that increased effects of climate variability and changes will present an additional major challenge for sustainable management of fisheries in the near future. Do existing formal institutions have the adequate capacity to address current and future challenges? Using two case studies illustrating 1) the challenges posed by global trade of IUU fish and 2) climate change as an emerging challenge, we illustrate the importance of social (i.e., organizational) networks including informal partnerships with non-state actors in effectively addressing such global challenges. Here, we show how the emergence of a cross-scale organizational network with a global dimension, contributed to large reductions of IUU fishing in the Southern Ocean and beyond. An emerging social network aimed at building an adaptive capacity between key agencies working with the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems, in turn, illustrate key challenges in building global partnerships. The type of social network described here has a unique capacity to effectively address the global fisheries crisis.