Rob van Ginkel spent two years living with a fishing community on the island of Texel in the Netherlands. He studied the evolution of the community over 300 years and analyzed its resilience in his book Braving Troubled Waters. We present here a translation last pages of his conclusion.
Fishermen recognize that without no regulation of any kind, tragedy is imminent. However, they are struggling to grapple with uncertainties that external authorities fishing have created for the future. They are always adapted to the vicissitudes the ecosystem and markets but now much oppose fantastic powers that go beyond their capabilities adaptation. Usually fishermen have short horizons term. Because of the high levels of uncertainty, they prefer to schedule short term. Incentives to adopt a new mode of production are inextricably linked to opportunities change and the costs and benefits collected. first sight, the fishermen seem to be very conservative.
Often, they stubbornly oppose any change in the management system stocks, and over time, it they happened to let their discontent through strikes, demonstrations, blockades, refusal to obey and clashes with foreign competitors and authorities. From the point of view of fishermen themselves, they generally good reasons to do so. This book highlights some contradictions management systems and policies fishing and the ambivalence of answers Fishermen try to do make, and the perverse results of process.
Between the aims by implementing policies, and the desired results, there seems to beyawning gap. New systems management often go against fishing strategies devoted through use of coping skills, flexibility and behaviors diversion. Claiming culturally independence and individualism inherent in their profession, fishermen are often suspicious and not accept the interference of officials responsible for fisheries and regulations, especially when consider that the measures are inadequate and unfair. "The motivations of fisheries stakeholders and legitimacy moral management measures are closely related to the goals and values "(T. Veswtergaard).
To better, they are divided against intervention outside. However, it would be wrong to say that fishermen that victims are fragile intervention of the state. They try to do the best in the world full of restrictions and structures and they sail on dangerous seas literally and Figuratively. Independently because we can not not mean that fishermen are autonomous actors - inserted as they are in social configurations wider - they are actors. They plan, combine, conspire and adapt their lives to the new realities management systems, on the lookout faults, breaking the rules if they believe that this is what should be to cooperate and if they find advantage. All fishermen are not satisfied not respond to the "rules of game ", there are also those who are innovators assets, trying to anticipate the constraints imposed by the State, to maintain control. In both cases, fishermen confront national governments and supranational to situations that authorities must respond later.
This dynamic two-way has profoundly affected the nature of process of setting up a policy fisheries. For example, of state policy on the development and modernization of the fleet. Ironically, it was first used grants to fund development capacity and then used public moneyto reduCe this capacity, taxing doubly citizens. We and includes such a dialectic fails to fishers who initially received encouragement to invest and then were severely limited in their operations.
Adding insult to injury, they were accused of practicing overfishing, whereas early, they begged the state to cap the engine power. The dialectic is also evident in a higher degree integration.
The management system creates contradictions and unexpected results In the European Union, "the actors governmental and nongovernmental no longer have the monopoly on the political agenda. They define public policy through interactions, negotiations and permanent compromise "(Lequesne). Although fishermen accept not the countless regulations Brussels that imposes it is ironic to note that for much they were originally requests for exemptions from was that to ensure the rights best, each company land had the largest share possible national time as short as possible, regardless individual limits. With an application more severe, and in particular following the introduction of groups co-management, this type of behavior has changed. However, it took effort to ensure that fishermen bend to the fisheries policy.
Legitimacy and transparency were the basis of the relatively successful important governance systems Recent. The government has also encouraged shipowners to invest in buying more landing rights. The Most owners of Texel were eager to do, with precisely as economists neoclassical predicted that the fishermen strongest and most effective respond well, as there was in their own interests, they showed individualism constructive increasing their landing rights.
The skippers of Texel now have at their disposal a significant portion of the national share TAC of sole and plaice. In Generally, they assimilate these rights to land a certain quantity of fish property of this quantity of always fish swimming in the sea Their fishing effort obviously tends to focus on the species they have "bought". They should refrain to do, spending to buy the quotas were and are therefore wasted costs highly unproductive - a real loss. "The rights to land" have therefore tend to become "Duty to capture," which can have ecological consequences harmful. In addition to preventing the possibility to adapt to another type fishing and so the flexibility and resilience the quota system means that the absolute quantities of fish that rights holders can land fluctuate from year to year, and sometimes brutally. This fact, buying landing rights additional investment is precarious also lends itself to speculation considerable "right based on the percentage offering less security ...and marketability owners (Rose).
In addition, the regulations of the day Sea conflict with the interest increased quotas, which interfere with the transfer market because that if there is under-utilization of quotas, their market supply exceeds demand and prices fall. The worst fear is that shipowners pencil stroke replaces Brussels landing rights by days at sea regime Fishermen can adapt to a constantly mutation Many problems arise from the inclination of the for consistency regulations applied all member states. These rules and regulations are not always meaning for some fisheries and they can cause "incentives perverse "and produce" effects harmful "(Acheson).
The problem is that simplifications generic and homogenizing bystates (J. C. Scott) for a technocratic management environments fail the social and natural mostly because they are in contradiction with the knowledge local practices and expertise context that can not be acquired in the field and experience. Situations discrete dynamic Composites are engineered to become standardized data aggregated into static and simplified to manage and control. However, such planning projects scale fail most time because they do not know what J. Scott calls "metis" whole range of skills and intelligence gained to adapt a natural human environment constantly changing. "
In this context, it could be a strategy reasonable goals management, more attention supported the fishers 'knowledge' into extreme fluctuations account ecosystem, releasing the same modernist assumption that time of predictability associated with the project ecological sustainability (Palsson). These modes of knowledge must be reinstated in management structures and policy and ideally, users resource are closely associated in this process, because they are particularly affected by the outcome.
To adapt optimally these strategies should provide flexibility, given that Forces distant, capricious, contingent contributing to uncertainties and risk, affect local resources and their users. We should remind us that all structures governance "imply balance between stability and flexibility authority and representation, individual and society "(Hanna), while their results are difficult to predict and control. Thus, actors and communities continue to dependSocial Resilience: ability to cope with disturbances to environmental changes, political and social (Adger).
At present, however, most economic concern fishermen Texel is how survive the current depression caused primarily by fuel prices n which are never reached such a level. If there are no signs the end of the crisis, owners will just what many their predecessors did in thepast to cope with difficult times for the love of their life.
Rob van Ginkel
