From manager to student: using my experiences as a fisheries manager to drive social science research on Belize's fisheries management reform

Evidence of declines in fish stock and degraded ecosystems in Belize, coupled with illegal fishing activity and an outdated Fisheries policy, calls for new management approaches. Indeed, Belize recently moved to reform its... [ view full abstract ]

Evidence of declines in fish stock and degraded ecosystems in Belize, coupled with illegal fishing activity and an outdated Fisheries policy, calls for new management approaches. Indeed, Belize recently moved to reform its fisheries industry from an open access system to managed access, a rights-based territorial system aimed at recovering its fisheries through empowering fishers and promoting stewardship. As a former fisheries manager, a key component in fostering the sustainability of managed access meant understanding stakeholder’s perceptions, attitudes and knowledge around the program. As researchers, we sought to determine how managed access could address the sustainability of Belize’s fisheries sector. Managed access presented an opportunity in which social science approaches could work together with management needs to answer key questions to provide new insights in understanding the introduction and implications of this new policy. In this respect, Managed Access is a unique “policy window” for integrating research and practice into a policy-relevant research project that can contribute to the sustainability of Belize’s fisheries industry. Tapping into existing relationships from a network of governmental, non-governmental and community leaders, I discuss how my experiences as a fisheries manager in Belize allowed me to integrate a human-dimension centered project using an environmental psychology and policy approach. Transitioning from fisheries manager to researcher brought many advantages and drawbacks that are important to consider in social science research such as established relationships and trust but also potentials for bias. I discuss navigating these hurdles and provide examples of how my management perspective drove my research.