Establishing a governance threshold in small-scale fisheries to achieve sustainability.

The lack of effective governance is a major concern in small-scale fisheries. The implementation of governance that encompasses the three pillars of sustainability (social, economic, and ecological) is still a worldwide challenge. We examined nine stalked barnacle fisheries (Pollicipes pollicipes) across Southwest Europe to better understand the relationship between governance elements and sustainability. Our results show that nested spatial scales of management, the access structure, co-management, and fisher's participation in monitoring and surveillance promote sustainability. However, it is not the mere presence of these elements but their level of implementation that drives sustainability. Efforts should be placed in the accomplishment of a minimum combination of local scales of management, access rights through individual quotas, instructive-consultative co-management and functional participation. Surpassing this threshold in future governance structures will start to adequately promote social, economic and ecologically sustainability in small-scale fisheries.

Social attributes can drive or deter the sustainability of bottom-up management systems.

Despite the growing popularity of bottom-up fishery management schemes not all socio-ecological systems respond well to this approach. Unfortunately, due to the heterogeneous nature of socio-ecological systems and lack of long-term, place-based studies we have yet to disentangle the impact of social attributes on their sustainability. The gooseneck barnacle fishery in Asturias, a fishery with a long-standing tradition of bottom-up management schemes and a plethora of spatially explicit data, provides a unique opportunity to test the effect of social attributes on 7, heterogeneous, co-managed, Territorial Use Rights for Fishing (TURFs) areas. We developed an integrated index that reflects the sustainability of each individual Asturian TURF on 2 key spheres of the total environment: biosphere and anthroposphere. Additionally, we carried out detailed surveys to assess both user and governance social attributes in each TURF. The effect of these attributes on the sustainability index was assessed using Linear Regression Analysis, One Way Analysis of Variance and Analysis of Covariance. According to our results, social factors are key drivers for the sustainability of a bottom-up management system. Additionally, bottom-up management schemes promote strong governance social attributes but can be systematically weakened if user-defined social attributes are lacking. Fortunately, user-defined attributes tend to be linked and can have a compensating effect, as was the case in Asturias were conflict resolution mechanisms and strong leadership were able to compensate for low cooperation within the TURFs. Thus, social attributes must be considered when assessing the suitability or sustainability of bottom-up management schemes.

Exploring determinants for the implementation of mixed TURF-aquaculture systems.

Territorial use rights in fisheries (TURFs) have been highlighted as a means to deter the race for fish. Nevertheless, in many situations TURFs are not able to meet all their goals, jeopardizing their continuity. Here we explore one of several innovations on TURFs, mixed TURF-aquaculture systems, which can help overcome the challenges of maintaining sustainable socio-ecological systems. We analyzed the history of mixed TURF and small-scale aquaculture systems in Chile, particularly 8 recent learning platforms in the Coquimbo region. Additionally, we assessed the impact of 6 variables, from multiple spheres, on the implementation of mixed TURF-aquaculture systems. Despite low values in several variables, 75% of the learning platforms managed to implement aquaculture systems and 38% have been successful in developing monitoring efforts. Social capital was key in the implementation of the mixed systems. By investing in social capital policy makers can contribute to the successful implementation of mixed TURF-aquaculture systems, thus promoting a livelihood diversification strategy for fishing communities that encompasses the economic benefits of aquaculture with the socio-ecological benefits of TURFs. However, their development and enabling conditions must be monitored to embrace their synergies.

Assessing the sustainability and adaptive capacity of the gooseneck barnacle co-management system in Asturias, N. Spain.

The gooseneck barnacle fishery in Asturias (N. Spain) has undergone three important changes: (1) the early implementation of a co-management system based on Territorial User Rights for Fishing, (2) a change in management measures (due to a decrease in landings), and (3) an economic crisis. This has allowed us to analyze the systems' sustainability in time through examining five critical variables: landings, effort, catch per unit effort (CPUE), mean market prices, and annual revenue. Additionally, we used focus groups and questionnaires to determine the response of the system to these three changes. Co-management has succeeded in maintaining or increasing CPUE throughout all management areas and produced stable mean market prices. This was achieved through flexible management policies and adaptive strategies adopted by the fishers, such as increased selectivity and diversification. The analysis of this fishery provides important lessons regarding the need to understand the evolutionary dynamics of co-management and the importance of embracing adaptive capacity.

Role of upwelling on larval dispersal and productivity of gooseneck barnacle populations in the Cantabrian Sea: management implications.

The effect of coastal upwelling on the recruitment and connectivity of coastal marine populations has rarely been characterized to a level of detail to be included into sound fishery management strategies. The gooseneck barnacle (Pollicipes pollicipes) fishery at the Cantabrian Coast (Northern Spain) is located at the fringes of the NW Spanish Upwelling system. This fishery is being co-managed through a fine-scale, interspersed set of protected rocks where each rock receives a distinct level of protection. Such interspersion is potentially beneficial, but the extent to which such spacing is consistent with mean larval dispersal distances is as yet unknown. We have simulated the spread of gooseneck barnacle larvae in the Central Cantabrian Coast using a high-resolution time-series of current profiles measured at a nearshore location. During a year of high upwelling activity (2009), theoretical recruitment success was 94% with peak recruitment predicted 56 km west of the emission point. However, for a year of low upwelling activity (2011) theoretical recruitment success dropped to 15.4% and peak recruitment was expected 13 km east of the emission point. This is consistent with a positive correlation between catch rates and the Integrated Upwelling Index, using a 4-year lag to allow recruits to reach commercial size. Furthermore, a net long-term westward larval transport was estimated by means of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences for five populations in the Cantabrian Sea. Our results call into question the role of long distance dispersal, driven by the mesoscale processes in the area, in gooseneck barnacle populations and point to the prevalent role of small-scale, asymmetric connectivity more consistent with the typical scale of the co-management process in this fishery.