A participatory decision making framework for artisanal fisheries collaborative governance: Insights from management committees in Chile |
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Authors: | Rodrigo A Estévez Carlos Veloso Gabriel Jerez Stefan Gelcich |
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Institution: | 1. Centro de Investigación e Innovación para el Cambio Climático, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Santo Tomás, Santiago, Chile;2. Subsecretaría de Pesca y Acuicultura, Valparaíso, Chile;3. Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES) and Centro para el Impacto Socioeconómico de las Políticas Ambientales (CESIEP) and Departamento de Ecología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile |
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Abstract: | Fisheries management is increasingly transitioning towards collaborative governance. Collaborative systems depend on stakeholders’ capacity to design and implement legitimate and scientifically robust management plans within collective action arenas. Here we propose that collaborative governance outcomes, in fisheries management, will benefit from using structured participatory decision making frameworks that enhance deliberative thinking among stakeholders. We tested our approach in the artisanal fishery of Chile, an important producer of marine resources. Recently in 2013, Chile made important changes to fisheries policies by creating multi-sectorial management committees to manage de facto open access fishing areas. We applied a structured decision making framework to inform the restructuring of a management plan within a committee. As a result, we identified goals,objectives and indicators, including social, economic, biological and ecological dimensions; we explored tradeoffs, assessing the relative importance of the objectives; finally, we created scenarios and prioritized alternatives, reflecting on the interplay between self-regulation and government control. Members of the management committee were able to rationalize the different steps of the framework and identify ways forward which highlighted the importance of self-regulation in comparison to central authorities’ control. We concluded that structured decision making promotes spaces for rational analysis of alternatives costs and benefits. Promoting deliberative thinking in fisheries management can improve equity, legitimacy and sustainability of collaborative governance. |
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Keywords: | benthic fisheries Chile fishing collaborative governance deliberation Ensis macha polycentrism scenario analysis self-regulation structured decision making Tagelus dombeii |
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