Achievements and setbacks in the commercial diving fishery of San Jose Gulf, Argentine Patagonia

Abstract

The management of natural resources is highly demanding of scientific support and, therefore, applied scientists often become involved in the management process, whether as providers of technical advice for decision-making or as scientists-turned-managers. But scientists, including ourselves, are used to the directed progress of knowledge: we know the process of research and discovery can be meandering, but a sense of progress is always there. It is not surprising therefore if scientists become frustrated with management as it moves forward and backwards, and breakthroughs are too often followed by setbacks. Furthermore, management decisions are not based solely on scientific support, with its emphasis on ecological sustainability, but have to compromise with other societal values and agendas, and are inevitably exposed to pressure from politicians, power brokers, and lobbies. Scientists involved with fisheries management tend to be pessimistic, as they perceive compromising as irrational, setbacks as lack of success, and progress as insufficient. In this brief essay we discuss a series of "rounds" in the 40 years of history of a small-scale scallop fishery from: two were won, two lost, and round five is on. In the terms of Oscar Avilez, fisher and friend, this is not the history of a definitive success, but one of hardly-fought, significant achievements, and some setbacks. On balance, we argue, the former set the compass in the direction of success.