Governance Arrangements That Fit Social‐Ecological Context Are Associated With Fishery Sustainability

ABSTRACT In many parts of the world, natural resources are primarily managed by governance arrangements at the local level. Those arrangements range from collective, such as cooperatives and associations, to individualistic, such as patrons and owner‐operators. A key question is how such arrangements influence resource use and associated social and ecological outcomes. We hypothesize that sustainable resource use is not associated with a specific governance arrangement, but instead that every type of arrangement has a certain set of social and ecological conditions under which sustainable resource use is feasible. This hypothesis was empirically investigated using fisheries landings data from Mexico. We found that sustainable resource use can be achieved through multiple governance arrangements provided that they are matched to appropriate social‐ecological contexts. Our findings help identify which governance arrangements are best suited to particular contexts and provide the initial building blocks for developing a theory of governance contextual fit in social‐ecological fishing systems.

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Publication Details

Journal
Fish and Fisheries
Published
2026-01-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.70060
Primary Topic
Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Governance Arrangements That Fit Social‐Ecological Context Are Associated With Fishery Sustainability

Mateja Nenadović, Emilie Lindkvist, Octavio Aburto, Andrew F. Johnson et al.
Fish and Fisheries
Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies
article

Governance Arrangements That Fit Social‐Ecological Context Are Associated With Fishery Sustainability

Mateja Nenadović, Emilie Lindkvist, Octavio Aburto, Andrew F. Johnson, Timothy H. Frawley, Elizabeth J. Mansfield, Erica M. Ferrer, Amy Hudson Weaver, Björn Vollan, Kara E. Pellowe, Salvador Rodríguez Van Dyck, Alejandro F. Pares‐Sierra, Heather M. Leslie, Maja Schlueter, Anastasia Quintana, Alfredo Giron, D. Michael Gill, Ana Laura Flores‐Morales, Fiona Gladstone, Guido Fernández Marinone, Fiorenza Micheli, Jessica Reilly Moman, Xavier Basurto, Jorge Torre, Blanca González‐Mon, Adrian Munguia‐Vega
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT In many parts of the world, natural resources are primarily managed by governance arrangements at the local level. Those arrangements range from collective, such as cooperatives and associations, to individualistic, such as patrons and owner‐operators. A key question is how such arrangements influence resource use and associated social and ecological outcomes. We hypothesize that sustainable resource use is not associated with a specific governance arrangement, but instead that every type of arrangement has a certain set of social and ecological conditions under which sustainable resource use is feasible. This hypothesis was empirically investigated using fisheries landings data from Mexico. We found that sustainable resource use can be achieved through multiple governance arrangements provided that they are matched to appropriate social‐ecological contexts. Our findings help identify which governance arrangements are best suited to particular contexts and provide the initial building blocks for developing a theory of governance contextual fit in social‐ecological fishing systems.

Fish and FisheriesVol. 27(2)
University of Arizona (US), Stockholm Resilience Centre (SE), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (US), University of California, Santa Barbara (US), Philipps University of Marburg (DE), Stockholm University (SE), Duke University (US), Palo Alto University (US), University of Rhode Island (US), University of California, Santa Cruz (US), State University System of Florida (US), Ocean Institute (US), Marine Conservation Institute (US), Fairleigh Dickinson University (US), Sonora Institute of Technology (MX), Fundación Biodiversidad (ES), Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur (MX), Seafish (GB), NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Southwest Fisheries Science Center (US), Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada (MX), World Economic Forum (CH), University of Maine (US)
Responsible consumption and production
Openalex Percentile: Top 91%
Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies
DOISourceOpenAlex
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