On super fishers and black capture: Images of illegal fishing in artisanal fisheries of southern Chile. (September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nahuelhual, L.; Saavedra, G.; Blanco, G.; Wesselink, E.; Campos, G.; Vergara, X.
• Is Part Of: Marine policy. Volume 95(2018)
• Page Start: 36
• Page End: 45
• Publication Date: 2018-09
• Subjects: 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.2018.06.020
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0308-597X

Abstract

Abstract: Illegal fishing (IF) is an unrelenting problem for small-scale fisheries governance worldwide, one with complex causes and solutions. This study explores stakeholders' images on IF as a way to understand its underpinnings and persistence. As an apt illustration, the king crab ( Lithodes santolla ) fishery of the Magellan region, Chile, was chosen, which operates under a semi-open-access regime. The results from two-year ethnographic research reveal four powerful images, as they literally emerge from stakeholders' narratives, comprising a series of practices that are branded in these particular terms: i) super fishers, which refers to owners of authorized vessels, who land the capture of unauthorized ones; ii) whitewashing, which involves the "whitening" of catch coming from unauthorized vessels or extracted in anticipation of the fishing season; this unreported capture can enter the export chain; iii) cooked on board, which involves the processing and packing, while at sea, of banned undersized or female crabs, which are later sold locally; and iv) black capture, that involves the landing of alive banned crabs in unauthorized ports, that are later processed in households and sold locally. These images suggest that IF is a relational phenomenon; this is to say that it is distributed on a series of relationships, practices, and actors embedded in a particular geographic and cultural context. As such, IF is difficult to dismantle, since changes do not depend on the ideal behavior of one actor -"the ethical fisher"- but on transformations of intertwined practices of all actors across the value chain. Highlights: Images of illegal fishing (IF) in king crab fishery are explored. IF comprises complex trading and social relations operating within the value chains. High prices and international demand are the main factors driving IF. Solving IF does not depend on the ideal behavior of the "ethical fisher" alone. IF as a relational phenomenon requires changes of several practices by several actors.