Ever Changing Times: Sustainability Transformations of Galician Small-Scale Fisheries

Abstract

The Galician small-scale fisheries sector has been experiencing important changes. The presence of a wide range of ecological, economic, social and institutional drivers have forced the statu quo toward new transitions with the potential to generate desirable transformative changes. Sustainability transformations mean that changes fundamentally alter the entire system’s ecological and/or social properties and functions. However, there is a limited understanding of how a transformative change may look in small-scale fisheries, when and by whom it can be triggered, supported, and implemented. To cover this research gap, the objectives of this paper are twofold: to document the current state of the art of Galician small-scale fisheries, and to evaluate the innovations and changes that occurred between 1990 and 2020, to explore whether such changes have scaled-up as seeds of desirable transformative changes and, if not, what obstacles and/or barriers have been identified in the scientific literature. We selected two cases, the Galician shellfisheries and the Marine Protected Area of Fishing Interest Os Miñarzos, to understand when and how profound changes in small-scale fisheries took place. We hypothesize that obstacles for building resilience to consolidate transformative changes once triggered are the still moderate effectiveness of the fisheries management systems, the low progress of incorporation of scientific and traditional knowledge into decision-making processes and policy arenas, the lack of studies about socio-economic contribution to coastal communities and commercialization models, and the presence of persistent ecological and economic drivers hindering desirable transformative changes.

Resilience and Social Adaptation to Climate Change Impacts in Small-Scale Fisheries

“…Thus, the fishers' incomes depend on their individual work (number of captures with the maximum daily quota) valued at the market price each day (Macho et al, 2013). The effectiveness of the extractions depends on each fisher's strategy, but also on the biophysical conditions of the environment and the organizational strategies developed by members of shellfishery associations (Villasante et al, 2021). In some associations, collaboration is usually generated almost spontaneously, while in others opportunistic behaviour is more frequent, conditioning the final performance of shellfishers.…”

“…Investigating social and economic thresholds are key to better understanding the adaptability of shellfishers to deal with climate change (Adger et al, 2009). However, it is important to highlight that limits to adaptation are endogenous in societal groups and hence also contingent on values, knowledge, attitudes to risk, ethics, and local culture, which can change over time (Adger, 2010;Villasante et al, 2021).…”

“…Understanding the vulnerability and resilience (including social aspects) is important for the sustainability of SSFs (Folke, 2006). This could help both the scientific community and policy makers to minimize the underlying causes of social vulnerability, when dealing with social-ecological shocks and crises (Cinner et al, 2012;Villasante et al, 2021;Villasante et al, 2022).…”

“…Summer humidity levels have also increased, and are expected to increase further, reducing outdoor comfort conditions, especially for women, who may be more sensitive to such changes (Orosa et al, 2014). Therefore, the increases in heat and humidity are expected to have strong impacts on shellfishing, which is mainly carried out by women in Galicia (Frangoudes et al, 2008;Frangoudes et al, 2013;Villasante et al, 2021). Moreover, many intertidal fishing beds are at a high risk of flooding, which will have severe effects on different bivalve populations and on the people who depend on their capture through the entire value chain (Toubes et al, 2017).…”

“…the European pilchard Sardina pilchardus (Walbaum, 1792) (Peŕez Muñuzuri et al, 2009;Da Rocha et al, 2014), and even some SSFs like the goose barnacle Pollicipes pollicipes (Gmelin, 1789) (Ruiz-Dıáz et al, 2020), have also been evaluated, leading to the development of adaptation strategies. However, there is a widespread lack of attention in climate change research to many components of social-ecological systems (hereinafter SES) related to Galician SSFs, especially regarding synergies and trade-offs between socio-cultural and ecological domains (Salgueiro-Otero and Ojea, 2020;Villasante et al, 2021). The historical closeness between the Galician population and fishery resources has been able to promote strong integration of the shellfishery sector into the Galician social norms and cultural traditions-, as already observed in other regions that are highly dependent on fishing activities, such as Bretagne and the Basque Country (Villasante et al, 2021).…”