Sustainable governance of marine fisheries: a socio-ecological embeddedness perspective

Abstract

The first objective in this paper is to propose socio-ecological embeddedness (SEE) as a normative analytical construct to interrogate sustainable governance of marine fisheries. The concept of embeddedness is underpinned by the notion of socio-economic and bio-physical systematic interdependencies. The second objective is to undertake a preliminary assessment of embeddedness of New Zealand's commercial, Maori and recreational fisheries. Our analysis demonstrates that a significant outcome of recent (post-1984) fishery reforms is unequally re-defined property rights. Consequently, the socio-ecological embeddedness of New Zealand fisheries is uneven and asymmetrical between and within different fisheries and across multiple spatial scales (globally to locally). The unequally defined property rights have generated continued social conflict including concerns about the ecological health of fisheries.