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Synergy as strategy: learning from La Restinga, Canary Islands

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Abstract

In this paper, we draw attention to the role of synergies in marine conservation and community sustainability. Using marine protected areas (MPAs) as examples, we argue that MPAs that are carefully designed to fit the existing social systems can be instrumental in synergy building and fostering community development. Such synergy creation is an essential governance strategy that helps enhance governability as it reduces conflicts and provides opportunities for constructive cooperation among stakeholders, especially in times of crisis. We illustrate this using the case of La Restinga MPA in the Canary Islands. Based on data and experiences from long-term research programs on coastal communities in the Canary Islands in general, and La Restinga in particular, we discuss the functions of the MPA in the local contexts and describe how the MPA has transformed relationships and interactions among stakeholders, leading to different levels of synergies. While some of the interactions have not been conducive to the implementation of the MPA, strong synergies have been created, especially after the volcano eruption. The story of La Restinga offers valuable lessons about the way the community copes and responds to change, and the role that synergies play in the process.

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Notes

  1. This name is due to the good weather prevailing in the maritime area, as the mountains of the island protect the zone from the dominant winds during almost all the year.

  2. It refers to a period from the end of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), when the authoritarian dictator Francisco Franco took control of the Spanish Government until his death in 1975.

  3. Cofradías are local non-profit public corporations, which represent the interests of the whole fishing sector by acting “as consultative and cooperative bodies for the administration, undertaking economic, administrative, and commercial management tasks” and with the ability to “cooperate in matters of regulating access to the resources and informing about infringements occurring in their territory” (Pascual-Fernández 1999). They have played an important role in the implementation of MPAs in Spain.

  4. We lack space in this paper to provide details about the establishment and the implementation of this MPA. Some of our previous publications describe these processes (De la Cruz Modino and Pascual-Fernández 2013; Jentoft et al. 2012; De la Cruz Modino 2012; Pascual-Fernandez and De la Cruz Modino 2011)

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Acknowledgements.

We acknowledge the collaboration of the Network of Marine Reserves of the General Secretary of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment of Spain. This work draws on Clive Tyrell for the English editing, and Carmelo Dorta for research assistance. This article is based on research conducted under the project ‘‘Governance challenges for sustainable small-scale fisheries: creating synergies with marine conservation and tourism” (GOBAMP II, CSO2013-45773-R, financed by Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain). We also acknowledge support from the “Too Big To Ignore: Global Partnership for Small-Scale Fisheries Research”, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (grant number 895-2011-1011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Universitario de Investigación Social y Turismo (ISTUR), Universidad de La Laguna, Campus de Guajara, 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain

    José J. Pascual-Fernández

  2. Departamento de Sociología y Antropología, Universidad de La Laguna, 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain

    Raquel De la Cruz Modino

  3. Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, Canada

    Ratana Chuenpagdee

  4. Norwegian College of Fishery Science, UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway

    Svein Jentoft

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  1. José J. Pascual-Fernández
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  2. Raquel De la Cruz Modino
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  3. Ratana Chuenpagdee
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  4. Svein Jentoft
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to José J. Pascual-Fernández.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Table 2 Projects developed that included fieldwork in La Restinga (El Hierro). In all of these projects, one or both of the authors of ULL were involved
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Pascual-Fernández, J., De la Cruz Modino, R., Chuenpagdee, R. et al. Synergy as strategy: learning from La Restinga, Canary Islands. Maritime Studies 17, 85–99 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-018-0091-y

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