Governance and governability of coastal shellfisheries in Latin America and the Caribbean: multi-scale emerging models and effects of globalization and climate change

We discuss coastal shellfisheries management and governance models in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) at different scales. Self-imposed governance with spatial property rights, internal rules and co-management resulted in successful local shellfisheries. At the national level, the long-term Chilean governability system, which included sea-zoning for artisanal and industrial fleets and exclusive allocation of rights to artisanal shellfish communities, successfully tamed wicked management problems. However, the combination of weak governance, globalization of markets, fishing pressure and climate change exacerbated depletion patterns in most LAC shellfisheries. Increasing market prices exceed the low costs of harvesting low abundance coastal shellfish, and together with illegal trade, have driven some species to levels close to extinction (anthropogenic Allee effect). Mass shellfish mortalities driven by climate variability are threatening stocks and may swamp management and governance schemes. Coastal shellfisheries urgently require the implementation of resilient management and effective long-term governance schemes under pressing conditions of change and uncertainty.