Skip to main content
Journal cover image

Weaving governance narratives: discourses of climate change, cooperatives, and small-scale fisheries in Mexico

Publication ,  Journal Article
García Lozano, A; Smith, H; Basurto, X
Published in: Maritime Studies
April 1, 2019

In the coming decades, accelerating processes of climate change are expected to impact the world’s fisheries. These changes will likely exacerbate ongoing challenges in the governance of small-scale fisheries, which play a significant role in supporting livelihoods and food security throughout the world. Among fishers in Mexico, the perceived impacts of climate change on coastal fisheries are increasingly salient. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the realities of climate change and other socio-environmental phenomena are discursively co-produced by fishers and government actors in a distinct type of political arena: the general assemblies of federated fishing cooperatives. Fishing cooperatives in Mexico organize into regional-level federations, which in turn form national-level confederations. Confederations are therefore multi-level, nested organizations for collective action and political representation. Here, we examine the interactions between fishers and federal government officials in the 2016 general assembly of one confederation, which represents 25 federations with 338 cooperatives. The general assembly of the confederation serves as a political space for open democratic participation among members and, in this case, discussions between fishers and government representatives. The discourses employed by fishers and government actors reveal tensions about the role of the state, the purpose of scientific knowledge in resource management, and the nature of the cooperative small-scale fishing sector. Insights from this case are used to advance discussions about the value of examining discursive practices to gain insights about fisheries policy, through a critical discussion of the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework. We theorize discursive practices as part of politicized performances that coalitions of actors use to express policy preferences and weave together governance narratives, which are useful for understanding positions and broader debates at the national level.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Maritime Studies

DOI

EISSN

2212-9790

ISSN

1872-7859

Publication Date

April 1, 2019

Volume

18

Issue

1

Start / End Page

77 / 89

Related Subject Headings

  • 4406 Human geography
  • 4401 Anthropology
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
García Lozano, A., Smith, H., & Basurto, X. (2019). Weaving governance narratives: discourses of climate change, cooperatives, and small-scale fisheries in Mexico. Maritime Studies, 18(1), 77–89. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-018-0125-5
García Lozano, A., H. Smith, and X. Basurto. “Weaving governance narratives: discourses of climate change, cooperatives, and small-scale fisheries in Mexico.” Maritime Studies 18, no. 1 (April 1, 2019): 77–89. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-018-0125-5.
García Lozano A, Smith H, Basurto X. Weaving governance narratives: discourses of climate change, cooperatives, and small-scale fisheries in Mexico. Maritime Studies. 2019 Apr 1;18(1):77–89.
García Lozano, A., et al. “Weaving governance narratives: discourses of climate change, cooperatives, and small-scale fisheries in Mexico.” Maritime Studies, vol. 18, no. 1, Apr. 2019, pp. 77–89. Scopus, doi:10.1007/s40152-018-0125-5.
García Lozano A, Smith H, Basurto X. Weaving governance narratives: discourses of climate change, cooperatives, and small-scale fisheries in Mexico. Maritime Studies. 2019 Apr 1;18(1):77–89.
Journal cover image

Published In

Maritime Studies

DOI

EISSN

2212-9790

ISSN

1872-7859

Publication Date

April 1, 2019

Volume

18

Issue

1

Start / End Page

77 / 89

Related Subject Headings

  • 4406 Human geography
  • 4401 Anthropology