Utilizing social sciences in fisheries management

Abstract

Historically, nation-state level fisheries management has relied primarily on the disciplines of biology, ecology, and to some extent economics – usually in some combination, and with varying degrees of emphasis and success. Recently, as an increasing number of fisheries have begun to experience severe declines there has been increased interest in how social scientists might help to address some of these problems. In managing fisheries, it is humans who must be understood and managed. Furthermore, some managers have begun to question the view of biological conservation as the primary goal of management, sceing economic and social goals as equally important. Social science studies of fisheries indicate that not all members of a given user group operate in the same way, or have the same impact on marine ecosystems. People's behavior is often influenced by family, community, and other sociocultural variables in addition to economic and cological considerations. Using the perspectives and methodologies derived froin disciplines such as anthropology and sociology, fisheries managers should be able to develop policies which integrate and balance economic, social and biological objectives. Management systems which are more compatible with broad user group values should result in higher coinpliance and reduced enforcement costs.An overview of recent social science research pertaining to fisheries management is discussed, andexamples presented on the relevance of social science information in crafting successful managementregimes.