Browsing by Author "Aburto, Jaime"

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Beyond Private and Public Property: Emerging Commons Within Artisanal Fisheries. The Chilean Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries (TURFS)
(2010) Fernández, Gloria L. Gallardo; Stotz, Wolfgang; Aburto, Jaime; Mondaca, Carolin; Vera, Karoll
"Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries (TURFs) have, since the late 1990s, been spreading along the Chilean coast. The institution of the commons has been implemented de novo to sustain local common pool resources. While studies suggest that TURFs’ coastal resources are doing well ecologically, the economic/organizational aspects seem to lag behind. TURFs are nested in diverse caletas (rural/urban) and social embedment (private/state lands), such settings influencing the TURFs’ long-term viability. The theory on the commons claims that certain collective action conditions have to be met to become a thriving common institution. How are these conditions influenced when the new commons do not emerge in tabula rasa contexts, but in shared and contested spaces? How do TURFs in rural areas differ to those embedded in urban centres? Rural Caleta Huentelauquén and urban Caleta Guayacán, Coquimbo Region, were portrayed, using Participatory Rural Approach (PRA) tools triangulated with other qualitative methods. Our study shows that fishers and their sites differ in structural conditions, history, traditions and in their approach to the TURF. Competition for space among key actors seems to affect the process of becoming a TURF. Huentelauquén’s fishers experience an unpredictable resource, a remote location and the private embedment of the caleta, causing access problems and obstructing infrastructural development. These conditions, while restrictive in nature, also seem to strengthen fishers’ cohesion and organization. In contrast, Guayacán has access to infrastructure and enjoys urban facilities, but its urban location constrains them physically; their TURF being tiny, giving scarce incomes. Guayacán fishers, however, seem to be less dependent on their TURF, also showing less collective action attributes. Thus generalisations about the TURFs’ benefits and challenges are not easily achieved; the history, tradition and embedment of particular TURFs might be worth consideration at policy level."
Emerging Commons within Artisanal Fisheries. The Chilean Territorial Use Rights in Fisheries (TURFs) within a Broader Coastal Landscape
(2011) Fernández, Gloria L. Gallardo; Stotz, Wolfgang; Aburto, Jaime; Mondaca, Carolin; Vera, Karoll
"Territorial User Rights in Fisheries (TURFs) have spread in Chile, since the late 1990s, in the form of commons institutions. TURFs are presented by some scholars as a social-ecological success; by others as showing economic and compliance problems. Studies looking at the material conditions in which fishers produce and reproduce their livelihoods, and in which TURFs emerge, are scarcer. Ostroms theory on the commons claims that certain collective action conditions have to be met to become thriving commons institutions. Our hypothesis is that while institutions are moulded by local material conditions, such as geographical location and social embeddedness, these impose challenges and constraints upon fishers influencing TURFs long-term viability. How are collective action conditions influenced when the new TURFs commons do not emerge in tabula rasa contexts but in occupied spaces? Do material conditions influence TURFs sustainability? This paper set out to explore these conditions. Huentelauquéns and Guayacáns TURFs (central-northern Chile) were chosen, as they represent two extremes (rural-urban; on private property-on State/municipal property; mainly diver mainly fisher) contexts in which TURFs have emerged. We mainly used Participatory Rural Approach (PRA) tools triangulated with other qualitative methods. This study shows that both social embeddedness (private/State lands), and geographical location (rural/urban) matter, resulting in different access to the coast for different TURFs, thus determining some important differences between our cases in at least three relevant areas: entrance, social relations between the fishers organization (entitled the TURFs) and the landowner (private or municipal/State) and the existence or absence of fishing and general infrastructure. Competition for space among key actors seems to affect the process of acquiring a TURF as well as the conditions conductive to collective action. TURFs assessments should therefore consider both, the local particularities of specific fishing communities and the larger structural context in which they emerge, that if not paid attention to, can weakens TURFs viability for sustainable fisheries."
An Empirical Analysis of the Social and Ecological Outcomes of State Subsidies for Small-Scale Fisheries: A Case Study from Chile
(2011) Mondaca, Carolin; Aburto, Jaime; Cundill, Georgina; Lancellotti, Domingo; Tapia, Carlos; Stotz, Wolfgang
"Small-scale fisheries, which are often associated with low levels of income and poor infrastructure, receive substantial funding from governmental institutions worldwide. Very few empirical studies have explored the outcomes of these investments for people and ecosystems. This paper presents the findings of a study aimed at assessing the social and ecological outcomes of government subsidies for small-scale fisheries through an analysis of 32 fishing villages, referred to as caletas, in Chile over a 12-year period. Findings suggest that the funding appears to be higher for those caletas with the highest value landings and is unrelated to socioeconomic need or poverty; that caletas in rural areas receive less investment than their urban counterparts; that funding did not lead to a positive improvement in either the landings or income for fishers; and, finally, that funding appears to be a consequence of, rather than a reason for, the ecological and productive history of fisheries. These findings challenge two assumptions informing the debate about subsidization in small-scale fisheries: first, that subsidization will lead to over-exploitation, and second, that subsidies are supplied to alleviate poverty."
Social-Ecological Collapse: TURF Governance in the Context of Highly Variable Resources in Chile
(2014) Aburto, Jaime; Stotz, Wolfgang B.; Cundill, Georgina
"In Chile, a Territorial User Rights for Fisheries system was developed to manage benthic fisheries. This system is referred to as Management Areas for the Exploitation of Benthic Resources. Management areas involved a shift from top-down control by governments to comanagement. We have analyzed the effects of a highly variable fishery, characterized by boom-and-bust cycles, on the governance of local institutions designed for resource management. We focused on a case study in north central Chile, in which the surf clam fishery experienced high levels of variability when the fishery was in an open access system. The management areas were established for the fishery in 1999. As a result, a set of rules for the fishery were created and enforced by fishers and local fishery authorities. Despite intense efforts on the part of all stakeholders, the fishery collapsed after three years of management area policy. This approach has been shown to be an effective management option for other species; however, for resources with boom-and-bust cycles, it is important to understand the response pattern of users confronting this spatial and temporal variability before the establishment of territorial user rights. Defining the appropriate spatial scale of the territorial rights could allow fishers to switch among different surf clam beds to maintain their livelihood and support the sustainability of local institutions for resource management."