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A continual engagement framework to tackle wicked problems: curtailing loggerhead sea turtle fishing bycatch in Gulf of Ulloa, Mexico

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Abstract

Incidental fishing bycatch of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) epitomizes the type of wicked problems increasingly faced by authorities, scientists, and stakeholders around the world. Successfully tackling wicked problems requires the implementation of approaches such as “continual engagement” to enable dialogue and collaboration amongst the stakeholders (as posited by Habermas’ communicative rationality). Yet, continual engagement may raise the likelihood of political collision (as posited by Mouffe’s agonistic pluralism). In the case of loggerheads’ incidental bycatch, the attitudes of the stakeholders swung back and forth between collaboration and confrontation. To address these challenging circumstances, we implemented mediated modeling following the concepts of reflective equilibrium and overlapping consensus (as posited by Rawls´ political liberalism) to (1) portray the interests of individual stakeholder—or narrow reflective equilibrium, (2) achieve effective communication among the stakeholders—or wide reflective equilibrium; and (3) find enough common ground on how to curb incidental bycatch—or overlapping consensus. While not being a panacea, our approach to continual engagement effectively addresses the fundamental issue of empowering otherwise marginalized positions.

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Acknowledgments

This research was conducted as part of the EO-NPMR with the financial support of SEMARNAT (DGRMIS-DAC-DGPAIRS No. 020/2011). Germán Ponce-Díaz thanks to EDI and COFAA-IPN. This article is a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Sustainability Science, UNAM, of Daniela Pedroza.

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Correspondence to Luis A. Bojórquez-Tapia.

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Handled by Nicky Grigg, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia.

Appendix

Appendix

Gower´s residuals

Because conflict minimization consists in segregating incompatible activities in space and time, and consensus maximization in allocating activities to the most suitable zone, it was necessary to compare the mean and relative suitability values for each homogeneous zone identified by the numerical classification. Accordingly, mean suitability for activity \(n\) at homogeneous zone \(m\), \(\delta_{\text{mn}}\), was obtained by overlying the homogenous zones map layer onto the suitability ones. Next, relative suitability was obtained by first arranging the \(\delta_{\text{mn}}\)values into matrix \(D\) (dimensions \(m \times n\)), and then adjusting them by rows and columns to generate matrix \(Z\)of Gower´s residuals; formally:

$$z_{\text{mn}} = \delta_{\text{mn}} - \delta_{{{\text{m}}.}} - \delta_{{ . {\text{n}}}} + \delta_{..}$$

where \(z_{\text{mn}}\) is the Gower’s residual value, \(\delta_{m.}\)is the mean suitability for all activities at homogeneous zone \(m\), \(\delta_{{ . {\text{n}}}}\) is the mean suitability for activity \(n\) in all the homogeneous zones, and \(\delta_{..}\)is the mean suitability of matrix \(D\)—a positive \(z_{\text{mn}}\) indicates a high suitability of homogeneous zone \(m\) for activity \(n\), whereas a negative \(z_{\text{mn}}\) indicates the opposite.

Asymmetry index

An asymmetry index, \(y\), was then implemented as a proxy for the potential loss or cost of excluding the activity of a community of practice in each EMU. This index measured the geographic overlap between pairs of suitability categories for conflicting activities in an EMU; formally:

$$y_{\text{hk}}^{\text{n}} = (S_{\text{hk}}^{\text{n}} \cap S_{\text{gl}}^{\text{n}} )/S_{\text{hk}}^{\text{n}}$$

where \(k\)and \(l\) are suitability categories, and \(h\)and \(g\) are activities in EMU \(n\).

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Bojórquez-Tapia, L.A., Pedroza, D., Ponce-Díaz, G. et al. A continual engagement framework to tackle wicked problems: curtailing loggerhead sea turtle fishing bycatch in Gulf of Ulloa, Mexico. Sustain Sci 12, 535–548 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-016-0405-1

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