An Updated Diagnostic Social-Ecological System Framework for Lobster Fisheries: Case Implementation and a Sustainability Assessment in Southern California

Abstract

"Fisheries exemplify the immense complexity of interactions in social-ecological systems (SESs). This complexity has created management challenges and raises concerns for the sustainability of our marine natural resource systems. The purpose of this article is two-fold: first, to contribute to the understanding of lobster fisheries as complex social-ecological systems, in particular the Southern California Spiny Lobster Fishery (SCSLF) case study. Secondly, to demonstrate a methodological approach for assessing component interactions in SESs that can be used to assess the sustainability of management approaches. We have systematically reviewed the literature on research trends in lobster fisheries and their SES characteristics. With this data, along with interviews and an author’s first-hand experience as an alternate SCSLF Lobster Advisory Committee (LAC) recreational non-consumptive member, we updated and extensively defined the diagnostic social-ecological system framework for use in lobster fisheries. Subsequently, we use the SCSLF as a case example for how to implement the updated framework. With this classification we analyze the LAC, the stakeholder-comprised management group of the SCSLF, as a social-ecological action situation with the SES imbedded Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework. Our results provide coherency and common metrics for more effective empirical utilization of the SES framework in lobster fisheries, which currently has mostly theoretical application. More generally, we find that research in lobster fisheries is focused on a few areas, limiting holistic SES knowledge. Lobster fisheries have many different characteristics and management approaches, none of which can be effectively generalized or transferred, including co-management, without contextual SES considerations. Furthermore, this analysis provides a sustainability assessment of how the LAC manages the SCSLF. The LAC and the SCSLF contain multiple SES components that have been associated with sustainable outcomes elsewhere, however the fishery still faces many obstacles such as how to adapt to future challenges. Our results contribute to developing a holistic methodological approach for operationalizing SES framework research into practical fisheries management."