Soft-shell clam, Mya arenaria. (Photo: Ecomare/Oscar Bos)

Co-management proves key for small-scale fisheries

The soft-shell clams (Mya arenaria) fisheries worldwide are facing multiple stresses related to climate change, invasive species and unsustainable land use, which requires shared management, according to a survey conducted at the University of Maine.

The researchers and colleagues conducting the study show how co-management approaches —based on shared responsibility for resource management among individuals and institutions— can build resilience to socio-environmental change by strengthening the use of science in decision making and promoting adaptive capacities such as learning and leadership.

"We see an urgent need to find ways to wade into the complicated and sometimes messy work of co-management as a space for bringing differences together in productive, creative and equitable ways," points out lead author Bridie McGreavy, assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism and faculty member in the Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions.

McGreavy stresses that their paper demonstrates how taking an engaged approach to research—creating in-depth partnerships to design research that can be used for decision making—can help strengthen co-management.

University of Maine’s scientists explain that in addition to environmental threats, these fisheries also face complex social issues, many of which are related to poverty and limited access to educational opportunities. However, small-scale fishing communities in Maine and around the world are also rising to meet these challenges.

As an example the paper authors say that on the coast of Maine communities are working together to develop innovative ways to use netting to protect baby clams from invasive predators so they can grow to adulthood. In other places, communities are also making progress on finding and fixing pollution so they have more harvesting and conservation areas to manage.

In their view, the shellfish co-management system is ripe for engaged research and adaptive responses to socio-environmental change for at least three reasons: the representativeness and diversity of issues within this fishery; the presence, scale and organization of the shellfish co-management system; and the history of applied marine science in the state.

From a communication standpoint, understanding perceptions about climate change, predation, water quality, and issues of human health and well-being creates a starting point for connecting across differences in how to address these complex issues. As the authors in this paper do, describing the multiple perceptions of problems and the multiple definitions of success provides a starting point for working across differences in perceptions and priorities.

The authors also assert that producing knowledge in partnership with people who will use that knowledge helps ensure that the research questions and resulting insights are relevant for the decision-making needs.

For example, the team of researchers are continuing to work with the Maine Department of Marine Resources, the Maine Shellfish Advisory Council, and with shellfish communities to implement their recommendations, such as setting up a communication system between towns and the state to help tailor partnership strategies on a yearly basis.

The study findings were published in Ocean and Coastal Management. 

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