Beyond Silver Bullets: Towards Management for Stewardship in Small Scale Fisheries

Marine ecosystems are in global decline. New transformational changes in governance have been advocated to cope with overfishing, pollution, climate change, and other drivers of degradation. Here I explore the outcomes of a governance transformation, which resulted in a revolutionary national system that allocates exclusive territorial user rights to artisanal fisher associations (TURFs) in Chile. The presentation specifically assesses the extent to which the capacity for stewardship of coastal social-ecological systems is enhanced through the implementation of TURFs. It assesses the implications of the transformation over the social-ecological systems adaptive capacity and identifies opportunities for enhancing continuous innovation cycles aimed at achieving sustainability. Results highlight that fisheries management “silver bullets” do not exist and provide insights on how to assess stewardship capacity as a response variable from governance transformations. The talk concludes by showing how stewardship capacity is triggering innovative sustainability pathways.

Acknowledgements: Fondecyt 1120103; Nucleo Milenio Centro de Conservacion Marina