PhD Graduate
Year Admitted
2017
Year Graduated
2024
Faculty Advisor
Steve Gaines
Committee Members
Kelsey Jack, Robert Heilmayr, Stefan Gelcich
Dissertation Title & Abstract
Understanding Cooperation and Coping Behaviors of Small-scale Fishers to Enhance Management
Small-scale fisheries (SSFs) are critical to global food security, livelihoods, and cultural heritage. Representing one of the oldest forms of wild harvesting, SSFs have the potential to support sustainable practices through the self-organization of fishers. However, global market integration and environmental change are reshaping fishers' incentives, affecting behaviors that are essential for sustainable use including cooperation and coping. My dissertation employs social science methods to quantitatively investigate these behaviors in SSFs. My first chapter applies experimental economics to investigate how different game experiment designs can more accurately measure cooperation among fisher groups in real-world settings. In my second chapter, I evaluate a pioneering co-management policy in Chile that engages fishing communities in coastal resource management, using the durability of these co-management projects across varied social and ecological conditions as a success metric. In the third chapter, I examine fishers' coping responses to fisheries closures caused by a massive harmful algal bloom in Southern Chile, analyzing how mobility across space and resources is shaped by market dynamics and management regulations. This research aims to contribute to more informed and effective fisheries management by understanding the interplay of incentives, behaviors, and policy outcomes in SSFs.
Education
MESM, Bren School, UC Santa Barbara