Governing access and agency: cooperative and non-cooperative forms influence small-scale fisher livelihood vulnerability and adaptation

Diverse markers of social and economic difference have been found to influence resource users’ livelihood vulnerability and capacity to adapt to environmental and economic change. However, the role of self-governance forms—cooperative and noncooperative business models that structure resource-dependent livelihoods—has received limited attention. Here, we address this gap with a 5-yr investigation (2018–2023) into how different cooperative and non-cooperative self-governance forms mediated individual fisher vulnerability and adaptation to external drivers of livelihood change in Baja California Sur. Using longitudinal data from five fishing communities, we find that self-governance form influences livelihood vulnerability in two key ways. First, it critically structures fisher access to marine resources of highly differentiated value and abundance and to government subsidies, and relatedly, levels of diversification across fisheries and alternative professions. Second, it sets the terms by which, and the degree to which, fishers hold agency over their fishing livelihoods, with implications for collective and individual responses to adverse forces. We conclude by suggesting how these findings of differentiated vulnerability can be used to inform policy.

Duke Scholars

Author Xavier Basurto Marine Science and Conservation