A synthesis of (non‐)compliance theories with applications to small‐scale fisheries research and practice

Non‐compliance in fisheries is a persistent challenge for the conservation and sustainable management of the oceans and has particularly acute impacts in small‐scale fisheries contexts. Small‐scale fisheries often suffer from chronic overexploitation, poor management, lack of enforcement and non‐com...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Fish and fisheries (Oxford, England) England), 2020-10, Vol.21 (6), p.1120-1134
Main Authors: Oyanedel, Rodrigo, Gelcich, Stefan, Milner‐Gulland, E. J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Compliance
conservation
criminology
Economics
Ecosystem management
Enforcement
Fisheries
Fisheries research
Fishers
illegal fishing
IUU fishing
Natural resource management
Natural resources
Oceans
Overexploitation
Psychology
Resource management
Small-scale fisheries
socio‐ecological systems
Strategic management
sustainable management
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Summary:Non‐compliance in fisheries is a persistent challenge for the conservation and sustainable management of the oceans and has particularly acute impacts in small‐scale fisheries contexts. Small‐scale fisheries often suffer from chronic overexploitation, poor management, lack of enforcement and non‐compliance, but small‐scale fishers are highly dependent on the ocean as a source of employment and food. Improving our understanding of the determinants of non‐compliant behaviours in small‐scale fisheries can help develop strategies to prevent and reduce its consequences. Here, we review two main approaches for the study of non‐compliant behaviours and crimes more broadly, spanning criminology, economics and psychology. On the one hand, actor‐based approaches address the underlying motivations for people to comply or not with regulations. Opportunity‐based approaches, on the other hand, assume that non‐compliance is not distributed randomly across space and time and focuses on the role that the immediate environment plays in the performance of non‐compliant behaviours. We discuss potential applications of actor‐based and opportunity‐based approaches in guiding small‐scale fisheries non‐compliance research. Moreover, we provide guiding principles for integrating these approaches in a complementary way, highlighting opportunities and challenges for building a better non‐compliance research agenda for fisheries and beyond. Addressing non‐compliance is a common challenge for natural resource management in multiple ecosystems. Integrating these two perspectives has the potential to improve both research and practice.
ISSN:1467-2960
1467-2979
DOI:10.1111/faf.12490