Complexity dynamics in social ecological systems

The case of northern Cod

Presentation on complexity in fisheries (David Schneider)
26 September 2007

Presentation on social dynamics of resource collapse (Barbara Neis)

Discussion will focus on the social dynamics associated with resource collapse and the importance of interdisciplinarity and combining fishers' ecological knowledge and science in our quest to understand collapses and move towards recovery.

Discussion questions.

Does the pattern we have described for the collapse of Newfoundland's cod stocks and subsequent developments provide an example of complex dynamics?

What do complex dynamics suggest about the science and governance requirements for fisheries recovery and for sustainability?

What do they suggest about the requirements for industrial and community sustainability?

Readings

Fogarty, M. 1995 Chaos, complexity, and community management of fisheries: an appraisal. Marine Policy 19:437-444.

Gell-Mann, M. 1994 The Quark and the Jaguar. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company.

Roughgarden, J. and F. Smith. 1996. Why fisheries collapse and what to do about it. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., (USA) 93:5078-5083

Hsieh CH, Glaser SM, Lucas AJ, Sugihara G (2005a) Distinguishing random environmental fluctuations from ecological catastrophes for the North Pacific Ocean. Nature 435: 336-340.

Hsieh, C., C. Reiss, W. Watson, M. J. Allen, J. R. Hunter, R. N. Lea, R. Rosenblatt, P. E. Smith, and G. Sugihara.

Hsieh CH, CS Reiss, JR Hunter, JR Beddington, RM May, and G. Sugihara. 2006. Fishing elevates variability in the abundance of exploited species. Nature 443: 859-862.

Southwood, TR, R.M. May, G. Sugihara 2006. Some observations on related ecological exponents. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., (USA) 103 (18): 6931-6933.

Wilson, J.A., J.M. Acheson, M. Metcalfe, and P. Kelban 1994 Chaos, complexity and community management of fisheries. Marine Policy 18:291-305.

Wilson, J.A. 2002. Scientific Uncertainty, Complex Systems and the Design of Common Pool Institutions. Chapter 10 in The Drama of the Commons. Eds. Paul Stern, Elinor Ostrom, Thomas Dietz, and Nives Dolsak. National Research Council, Committee on Human Dimensions of Global Climate Change. National Research Council, Washington, D.C.