The Role of Collaborative Governance Network for Building Adaptive Capacity in the Galapagos Small-Scale Fishing Sector

Published in SSRN Electronic Journal
Authors

Cáceres, Renato & Pittman, Jeremy & Castrejón, Mauricio & Deadman, Peter.
Publication year 2022
DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4063948
Affiliations
  • University of Waterloo, Faculty of the Environment, 200 University Ave. W., Waterloo, ON, Canada
  • Grupo de Investigación en Biodiversidad, Medio Ambiente y Salud, Universidad de Las Américas, UDLAPark 2, redondel del ciclista s/n, Quito, Ecuador
IAI Program
  •  University of Waterloo through a Graduate Research Studentship (GRS) and the National Secretary of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (SENESCYT). 

  • Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research.
IAI Project SGP-HW090
Keywords
Adaptive Capacity
Social Network Analysis
Small-scale fisheries
PDFThe Role of Collaborative Governance Network for Building Adaptive Capacity in the Galapagos Small-Scale Fishing Sector.pdf

Abstract

Collaborative forms of governance have a key role in building adaptive capacity in small-scale fishery systems. However, governance systems&rsquo structures and features are usually ignored, reducing opportunities to improve collaboration among multiple actors to cope with adverse drivers of change and enlarge trust in decision-making. This study used a social network analysis approach, based on descriptive statistics and exponential random graph models (ERGMs), to examine specific network patterns and configurations that may strengthen collaboration links in the Galapagos small-scale fishery governance system. We explored four main research questions: how do the collaborative ties in the Galapagos small-scale fishing governance system interact, which are the central and bridging organizations and agencies within the Galapagos small-scale fishery governance system, what are the organizational links of the Galapagos small-scale fishery governance system and their frequencies, and is there a tendency toward reciprocity, popularity, and sender-and-receiver network formations in the Galapagos small-scale fishery governance system? Our findings suggest a cross-level and cross-sectoral interaction between various organizations and agencies in the Galapagos small-scale fishery system. We identified central and well-positioned actors and network configurations whose interactions might be fundamental to strengthen the small-scale fishing sector's adaptive capacity to face future crises caused by novel pandemics, climate change or other anthropogenic and climate drivers of change.