Small but strong: Socioeconomic and ecological resilience of a small European fishing community affected by a submarine volcanic eruption

[Abstract] Small-scale coastal fishing communities are facing many new challenges, such as rapid ecological changes created by anthropogenic and natural events like earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. This paper explores how a coastal population has responded to such an event and highlights the diverse coping strategies used to tackle it. This research was conducted on the island of El Hierro (Spain), where a submarine volcanic eruption occurred in 2011, affecting a multiple-use Marine Protected Area (MPA) and the nearby fishing community of La Restinga. Our study illustrates how the local population coped with this situation by combining multiple monetary and non-monetary activities (e.g., informal exchanges) as well as the role of institutions in increasing local resilience by supporting fishers' demands and allowing their participation in the decision-making process in the immediate wake of a catastrophic event. Local families also exploited various natural resources in and near the MPA, thus ensuring access to crucial marine resources and continued recreational/cultural services. The results suggest that collective action played a key role in the recovery process after the eruption, creating some advantages for different local groups despite the hazardous nature of the event.This was supported by the Cajacanarias Foundation and Fundación Bancaria “La Caixa'' [grant number 2017REC23], and the Ramón Areces Foundation through the XVII Call for Social Research Grant [grant number CISP17A5887]. Some specific research activities were also supported by the INTURMAR project supported by the ‘Smart Specialization Strategy of the Canary Islands RIS-3 co-financed by the Operational Program FEDER Canarias 2014–2020’ [grant number ProID2017010128]. RCM, JPF, JAG and AST would also like to acknowledge the Macarofood project (Interreg-MAC/2.3d/015), with the support of the European Regional Development Fund. CPC and RBL received funding from Xunta de Galicia (Axudas para a consolidación e estruturación de unidades de investigación competitivas do SUG, grants ED431D 2017/20, ED431B 2018/49). CPC received financial support from Xunta de Galicia “Axudas de apoio á etapa de formación posdoutoral” (grant ED481B-2021/095). We acknowledge the collaboration of the Network of Marine Reserves of the General Secretary of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment of Spain, as well as the participation of several families and small-scale fishers from La Restinga in this study. We also thank Inés Chinea-Mederos, Jeramin Herra and Alejandro Rodríguez-Pais for their collaboration during the fieldwork and data voids, also Eilyn Pérez-Amores and Nemesio Pérez in preparing some figuresFundación CajaCanarias; 2017REC23Fundación Bancaria "la Caixa"; 2017REC23Fundación Ramón Areces; CISP17A5887Xunta de Galicia; ED431D 2017/20Xunta de Galicia; ED431B 2018/49Xunta de Galicia; ED481B-2021/09