Climate adaptation pathways and the role of social-ecological networks in small-scale fisheries

Abstract

Climate change is expected to have increasing impacts on marine ecosystems which will threaten the livelihoods and wellbeing of millions of people. Drawing on social-ecological network and sociodemographic data collected via face-to-face interviews with 404 small-scale commercial fishers from 9 Galician communities (Spain), we empirically examine the adaptation pathways that fishers follow when they face hypothetical impacts on their fishery resources and test the role of five social-ecological network structures on fisher’s stated intended responses to such scenarios. Our results show that fishers generally intend to follow a ‘remain—adapt—transform—exit (the fishery)’ pathway when faced with increasing climate impacts. Next, we demonstrate that trust-based bonding ties and ties to informal leaders are associated with a ‘business-as-usual’ strategy. In contrast, communicative bonding ties are associated with adaptive responses, while communicative bridging ties are associated with transformative and exit strategies. Our findings provide key empirical insight that broaden our understanding of the intricate relationship between social networks and adaptive behaviour relevant to social-ecological systems worldwide.

A network perspective of human–nature interactions in dynamic and fast-changing landscapes

“…The importance of bonding and communicative social relationships among fellow fishers (Fig. 4A ) for adaptation has been demonstrated in a study of Galician fishery communities in Spain, although it was also shown that social relationships based primarily on mutual trust can actually prevent fishers from adapting [ 96 ]. The mechanism behind the latter is not clear, but it is suggested that, for example, trust-based relationships can stimulate ‘too much’ social cohesion that might lock the actors into a status quo.…”