Who's who in the Kenai River Fishery SES: A streamlined method for stakeholder identification and investment analysis. (September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Krupa, Meagan B.
• Is Part Of: Marine policy. Volume 71(2016)
• Page Start: 194
• Page End: 200
• Publication Date: 2016-09
• Subjects: Fishery management -- Stakeholders -- Social-ecological systems -- Salmon -- Natural resource management -- Scenario planning -- Stakeholder Analysis; Marine resources -- Economic aspects -- Periodicals; Fisheries -- Periodicals; Ressources marines -- Aspect économique -- Périodiques; Pêches -- Périodiques; Fisheries; Marine resources -- Economic aspects; Periodicals; 333.916405
• DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2016.06.001
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0308-597X

Abstract

Abstract: The Kenai River Fishery is a unique social–ecological system (SES) with nearly 50 federal, state, local, and nonprofit groups influencing its political, ecological, and social structure. While ecological data exists for this fishery, the complexity of its stakeholder relationships has not been investigated. Stakeholder interactions can directly influence how science is integrated into management decisions and therefore affect the adaptive capacity of SES, such as the Kenai River Fishery. Drawing from the existing stakeholder literature, this methods identifies and ranks the key SES stakeholders and describes their roles. This study approached the question of which stakeholders should be included in a future SES adaptive capacity study by (1) identifying the key stakeholders within the Kenai River Fishery, (2) ranking each stakeholder's investment within the fishery using eleven categories of interaction, and (3) using these eleven categories to characterize each stakeholder's role within the SES. The largest number of stakeholders fall into the secondary investment category, showing that a relatively small number of resource managers are interacting with a large number of diverse nonprofit organizations. The top ranking stakeholders in this study will be invited to attend participatory scenarios workshops that will build the foundation for a deeper scenarios-based analysis of SES adaptive capacity. Highlights: The relatively efficient investment framework allows researchers to tailor the participant lists for specific stakeholder events. The investment framework allows researchers to rank stakeholders based on their specific goals and objectives as opposed to casting too wide or too narrow of a net.