Sixteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

Small-scale fisheries (SSF) have been seen as sustainable alternative in response to the fisheries crises that have afflicted different parts of the world. Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries (TURFs) has been widely identified as a key way to redress key SSF challenges in the cases we study. Drawing on Wright’s transformation theory, a transdisciplinary approach and employing participative methodologies in the field, the JUSTMAR project examined SSF/TURF communities across three continents focusing on problems confronting them and identifying possibilities and pathways to secure more sustainable livelihoods. At the conclusion of the project, fishers and researchers from South Africa, Chile, and Vietnam met with their Spanish equivalents to share their SSF/TURF experiences and to discuss the results of the JUSTMAR project. This paper presents the results of the JUSTMAR project by focusing on the sustainability pathways identified by the small scale fishers with researchers in each of the settings and the methodological and ethical complexity of conducting comparative transformational research.