Unwritten Law: Resilient Management in Latin American Artisanal Fisheries

Latin American small-scale fishery production is crucial to local communities that count on fish as a key source of protein in daily consumption and for supplying the increasing demand for exported high-value species in the first world. Many small-scale fishing communities have exhibited various forms of informal institutions that serve to manage rights to the fishery, a common-pool resource (CPR). An emerging theme in the CPR management literature is that there are certain types of institutions that exist in successful informal management contexts. Seven case studies from small-scale fishing communities in Latin America are analyzed in order to determine if these model management institutions are supported. These case studies are then analyzed to determine what accounts for resilient informal management institutions in the face of commercial and outsider encroachment. The thesis is that robust shoreline activities promote reciprocity that allows for rapid collective action in the face of external threats

Using a Community-Based Strategy to Address the Impacts of Globalization on Underwater Cultural Heritage Management in the Dominican Republic

This Note addresses the management of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH) in the Dominican Republic as a case study of the effects of two aspects of globalization on cultural and environmental resource management in the developing world: the international convergence of values and the horizontal delegation of state power to private actors due to economic constraints. This Note posits that even as the global community of states moves toward a consensus on the ethical management of the UCH, this convergence combined with the global trend of horizontal delegation may incentivize some lesser-developed countries to deal with the economic pressures of resource management by permitting treasure hunting. To examine this phenomenon, this Note addresses national and international laws protecting the UCH, including Dominican laws and their actual consistency with the 2001 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. It then discusses how management in the Dominican Republic is not always in accord with either the country\u27s own laws or the 2001 Convention to illustrate both the impacts of globalization- on management of the UCH when government resources are scarce, and the resulting need for an extralegal, community-based solution. This Note concludes with a suggestion that the Dominican government, Dominican communities, and international actors consider a variant of Common- Pool Resource Management known as Living Museums in the Sea incorporated into a Multilevel Environmental Governance framework as a potential solution to counteract the economic pressures on governments to allow treasure hunting while providing for long-term preservation of the UCH in this and other developing countries

Annual General Assembly of the International Association of Maritime Universities

978-84-947311-7-

The Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries: Issues, Terminology, Principles, Institutional Foundations, Implementation and Outlook

Ecosystems are complex and dynamic natural units that produce goods and services beyond those of benefit to fisheries. Because fisheries have a direct impact on the ecosystem, which is also impacted by other human activities, they need to be managed in an ecosystem context. The meaning of the terms 'ecosystem management', 'ecosystem based management', 'ecosystem approach to fisheries'(EAF), etc., are still not universally defined and progressively evolving. The justification of EAF is evident in the characteristics of an exploited ecosystem and the impacts resulting from fisheries and other activities. The rich set of international agreements of relevance to EAF contains a large number of principles and conceptual objectives. Both provide a fundamental guidance and a significant challenge for the implementation of EAF. The available international instruments also provide the institutional foundations for EAF. The FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries is particularly important in this respect and contains provisions for practically all aspects of the approach. One major difficulty in defining EAF lies precisely in turning the available concepts and principles into operational objectives from which an EAF management plan would more easily be developed. The paper discusses these together with the types of action needed to achieve them. Experience in EAF implementation is still limited but some issues are already apparent, e.g. in added complexity, insufficient capacity, slow implementation, need for a pragmatic approach, etc. It is argued, in conclusion, that the future of EAF and fisheries depends on the way in which the two fundamental concepts of fisheries management and ecosystem management, and their respective stakeholders, will join efforts or collide

Stigmergic epistemology, stigmergic cognition

To know is to cognize, to cognize is to be a culturally bounded, rationality-bounded and environmentally located agent. Knowledge and cognition are thus dual aspects of human sociality. If social epistemology has the formation, acquisition, mediation, transmission and dissemination of knowledge in complex communities of knowers as its subject matter, then its third party character is essentially stigmergic. In its most generic formulation, stigmergy is the phenomenon of indirect communication mediated by modifications of the environment. Extending this notion one might conceive of social stigmergy as the extra-cranial analog of an artificial neural network providing epistemic structure. This paper recommends a stigmergic framework for social epistemology to account for the supposed tension between individual action, wants and beliefs and the social corpora. We also propose that the so-called "extended mind" thesis offers the requisite stigmergic cognitive analog to stigmergic knowledge. Stigmergy as a theory of interaction within complex systems theory is illustrated through an example that runs on a particle swarm optimization algorithm

Managing External Pressures in the Maritime Industry : Strategic responses to climate-induced management pressures

The climate crisis is a tumultuous topic that has gained global traction and interest among political and business leaders. From an international business perspective, the issue is perpetuated by the infinite need for economic growth and the resources with which said growth is produced. Resource-intensive growth results in ever-increasing carbon emissions, which in turn exacerbate the climate crisis. The issue is wicked and complex to the extent that individual organizations are otiose in attempting to fix it. Thus, mitigating the effects of the climate crisis with collective action is imperative. The maritime industry fuels world trade and is thus a major contributor to increased carbon emissions. Maritime operators strive for efficiency as industry profit margins are low, which predisposes most businesses to desist from sustainable reform. Hence, there is a dire need for sustainable value promulgation research in the industry. By combining resource dependence theory and institutional theory, Oliver (1991) theorized a framework for strategic responses to institutional processes. This thesis studies resource dependence theory, the maritime institutional environment, and Oliver’s (1991) framework to identify how managers confront external sustainability pressures to ensure their company’s survival in the maritime industry. This amalgamation of theory is juxtaposed against interviews with maritime researchers and experts to produce insights on how external factors shape organizational management decisions. The research design thus addresses a previously identified research gap introduced by scholars of maritime sustainability. Antecedents, namely cause, constituents, content, control and context, affect an organization’s choice of strategic management responses in face of external pressures. Strategic responses include acquiescence, compromise, avoidance, defiance and manipulation. A key finding in this thesis is that the scope of strategic responses to external pressures is not necessarily limited to resistance, as hypothesized by Oliver (1991). Proactive conformance is suggested to be a sixth viable strategic option that may increase profit margins and augment the size of the overall market for sustainable business. Findings also suggest that the financial limitations that are known to hinder the industry’s green transition can be circumvented through differentiation and specialization. Moreover, shaping high sustainability performance markets and organizations within them could be an efficient first step for those entities looking to promulgate sustainable change. Further research is required to confirm and explore how proactive conformance augments the toolbox of discretionary action available to organizations in the face of external pressures.Ilmastokriisi on mittava maailmanlaajuinen ongelma, jota on pitkään puitu kansainvälisessä keskustelussa. Kansainvälisen liiketoiminnan näkökulmasta ongelma kiteytyy kasvukeskeiseen talousajatteluun ja erityisesti resurssipohjaiseen kasvuun. Resurssien kulutus kasvattaa hiilidioksidipäästöjä, mikä syventää ekologista kriisiä entisestään. Koska maailmantalous perustuu monimutkaiseen yritysverkostoon, ei ilmastokriisiä voi ratkoa ilman monitahoista yhteistyötä. Meriteollisuus on keskeinen osa maailmantaloutta ja samalla suuri ilmastopäästöjen aiheuttaja. Koska ala on kilpailtu ja katteet jäävät useilla yrityksillä pieniksi, monet meriteollisuuden yritykset keskittyvät taloudelliseen tehokkuuteen, jolloin kestävä kehitys jää tausta-ajatukseksi. Siksi on mielekästä tutkia kestävän liiketoiminnan edistämistä meriteollisuudessa ja kestävän kehityksen hyötyjen laajamittaista tunnustamista yritysverkostoissa. Oliver (1991) yhdisti resurssipohjaisen ja institutionaalisen talousajattelun piirteet viitekehykseksi, jonka avulla voidaan tulkita liiketoimintaympäristöjä ja ennakoida organisaatioiden strategisia valintoja niiden kohdatessa ulkoisia paineita. Tällä tutkimuksella pyritään selvittämään millä tavoin johtajat käsittelevät ulkoisia kestävyyspaineita pärjätäkseen meriteollisuuden kilpaillussa toimintaympäristössä. Tutkimus yhdistää resurssipohjaisen teorian meriteollisuuden liiketoimintaympäristöön Oliverin (1991) viitekehyksen avulla. Teoriaa peilataan alan asiantuntijoiden haastatteluvastauksiin ja näkemykset avaavat ulkoisten tekijöiden todennäköisiä vaikutuksia organisaatioiden päätöksentekoon. Tämä tutkimusmalli täyttää aiempien tutkimusten jättämiä aukkoja meriteollisuuden kestävän kehityksen tutkimuksessa. Tulosten valossa Oliverin (1991) nimeämät ennakointitekijät näyttävät vaikuttavan johtajien tekemiin päätöksiin. Ennakointitekijöitä ovat paineiden alkuperä (eng. cause), sidosryhmät (contituents), sisältö (content), hallinta (control) ja asiayhteys (context). Strategisia vaihtoehtoja ovat Oliverin mukaan myöntyminen (acquiescence), kompromissit (compromise), välttely (avoidance), uhmaaminen (defiance) ja manipulaatio (manipulation). Tässä tutkimuksessa kuitenkin havaitaan, että organisaatioiden ei aina tarvitse vastustaa ulkoisia paineita, toisin kuin Oliver (1991) väittää. Tulosten perusteella paineisiin voi myös mukautua proaktiivisesti. Proaktiivisuuden havaitaan kehittävän katetuottavuutta ja kasvattavan kestävän liiketoiminnan markkinaa. Tulosten perusteella ehdotetaan, että meriteollisuuden taloudellisia haasteita voidaan lieventää erottautumalla ja erikoistumalla – tämä luo myös edellytyksiä kestävän liiketoiminnan harppaukselle (green transition). Kestävän liiketoiminnan edistäminen tulisi aloittaa maista, joissa kestävä kehitys on jo valmiiksi pitkällä. Näissä maissa on lähtökohtaisesti suurempi institutionaalinen paine mukautua kestävyysvaatimuksiin. Tulevien tutkimusten tulisi keskittyä proaktiivisen mukautumisen tutkimiseen ja tässä tutkimuksessa esitetyn uudistetun teorian vahvistamiseen ja soveltamiseen eri tutkimusasetelmissa