Assessing Vulnerabilities: Integrating Information about Driving Forces that Affect Risks and Resilience in Fishing Communities

Abstract

Those engaging in fishing-related activities and the communities in which they live face many and varied pressures. Resource depletion and the associated regulatory responses impose constraints on fishing activities and can exacerbate economic and social pressures on fisheries stakeholders. Other factors, such as increasing coastal development and shifting demographics, have brought additional threats to the sustainability of fisheries and those dependent on them. Regional fisheries management councils and the National Marine Fisheries Service are required to consider the potential benefits and costs of proposed management measures, as well as vulnerabilities and risks to fishermen and fishing communities resulting from these measures. However, social and economic data related to fishery stakeholders are not always readily available. Additionally, information on specific sub-groups that may have special needs and vulnerabilities in terms of the potential for disproportionate impacts resulting from proposed measures is even more illusive. A large number of factors—or driving forces—may contribute to individual and group vulnerability. In this paper we explore the utility of considering vulnerability in the assessment of potential impacts from fisheries management measures. We begin by reviewing a conceptual framework of vulnerability and the driving forces of vulnerability. We then discuss how a consideration of vulnerability can inform managers by presenting results from recent empirical work related to marine fisheries. Finally, we discuss the potential benefits of a specific focus on vulnerability to fisheries management measures.