Transformation towards good governance in small-scale fisheries territory under ocean grabbing

Abstract Small-scale fisheries face multiple conflicts that increasingly define a scenario of blue injustice. Our study occurred in a fishing territory under ocean grabbing driven by the Latin America’s largest port, located in São Paulo State, Brazil. To address this context, we adopted a transdisciplinary approach, organizing workshops with fishers to discuss the consequences of overlapping fishing and port territories and conducting interviews with institutional actors to understand their perceptions of the conflict and their roles in local governance. Building on these results, we convened stakeholders in a participatory scenario exercise to design strategies for transforming this reality. The process identified four priority spheres: Negotiation Body, Environmental Licensing, Social Participation, and Regulation of Port Activities, considered essential for change, and for which specific strategies were co-developed to form an action plan. However, this effort was weakened by limited engagement from institutional actors and by the persistent difficulty of establishing a formal governance body. The co-construction process involving multiple stakeholders converged on a shared understanding of the advancement of ocean grabbing. From the perspective of Interactive Governance, the meta-order still struggles to recognize small-scale fisheries and their knowledge. Even so, the research fostered interactions among governance orders and supported the co-construction of a document with fishers as a contribution to second-order environmental licensing processes. We also observed gains, including greater recognition of fishing communities and strengthened engagement among fishers. For meaningful transformation, a new narrative must be built to enhance the visibility and value of small-scale fishery, and scientific research can play a key role in this process.