With increasing pressures on marine ecosystems and little recovery being observed in commercially important fish, it is essential to understand ecosystem effects on species. Unfortunately, in many cases the habitat requirements of commercially important species are not well understood. Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) and whiting (Merlangius merlangus) were of commercial importance within the Firth of Clyde, west coast of Scotland prior to the late 20th century. However, over fishing and other anthropogenic impacts led to declines in all three species. Despite the prohibition of targeted fishing for these gadoids in much of the Firth of Clyde, they have still not recovered and scientific bottom trawl surveys have shown that 90% of the biomass is made up of small M. merlangus. With increased concern regarding the state of the world's marine environment, efforts to implement ecosystem based fisheries management and restore ecosystems through spatially explicit management measures have developed. The array of ecosystem based research, management and monitoring initiatives has led to the use of a range of habitat-related terminology with different interpretations of the terms. Inconsistencies in terminology not only cause confusion between studies, but also make it difficult to understand the ecological requirements of fish. The second chapter of this PhD reviews the current terminology and sets the scene for the major habitat-related concepts used throughout the thesis. Photogrammetric techniques were used to collect data on gadoid distribution, abundance and size from June to September in 2013 and 2014. The study site was a recently designated Marine Protected Area (MPA) within the Firth of Clyde, west coast of Scotland. The two photogrammetric techniques used were stereo-video SCUBA transects and Stereo Baited Remote Underwater Video (SBRUV) deployments. 31 SCUBA transects were conducted in 2013 and a total of 258 SBRUV deployments were conducted over the two data collection periods. SBRUV deployments were chosen as the main technique to collect demersal fish and benthos related data due to the ability to collect an increased number of deployments at higher resolution, in addition to avoiding logistical constraints with SCUBA methods. From both SCUBA transects and SBRUV deployments, a higher abundance of G. morhua was observed in gravel-pebble substratum containing maerl and medium density algae, than boulder-cobble substratum with high algal cover or sandy areas with little or no macrophyte cover. A higher relative abundance of G. morhua was also observed in shallow and sheltered environments. Both M. aeglefinus and M. merlangus were observed in higher relative abundance in deeper sand and mud substratum types. All three species were observed in higher relative abundance in areas of increased benthic and demersal species diversity. On average G. morhua were smaller than M. aeglefinus and M. merlangus and exhibited the lowest growth rates. Seabed ground-truthed data from the stereo-video methods in combination with a range of observed environmental variables were used to predict substratum type, distribution and extent within the MPA. The predicted seabed map was used to understand landscape effects on gadoid distribution. G. morhua were observed in more heterogeneous landscapes than M. aeglefinus or M. merlangus. An increase in M. merlangus relative abundance was also observed with increasing substratum extent. The stereo-video photogrammetric methods in combination with the predicted substratum mapping have provided us with a better understanding of gadoid fish habitat requirements. This study has also provided fish and benthos baseline data within the MPA, trialled the use of non-damaging and extractive fisheries independent monitoring methods, and contributed evidence to support potential fisheries management options. The techniques used in this thesis could be rolled out on a larger scale across the UK to support sensitive seabed and fish monitoring and management measures.

The overarching aim of the work presented here is to contribute to the development of a new interdisciplinary approach to fisheries economics for fisheries governance. it is geographically limited to West Africa but results can be used in other areas where small scale fisheries are active and governance rules are not fully implemented. The disciplinary orientations and conceptual frameworks applied in the research are institutional analysis and governance, as well as the assessment of key drivers of change. The new institutional economic theory provided a sound conceptual frame to analyse fisheries as it brings together economics (theory of the firm and social cost theory), law (convention, contracts, etc.) and sociology (sanctions, taboos, customs, traditions, and codes of conduct). Used on its own it provides a good framework for the analysis of the fish chain and relationships between stakeholders (wealth distribution and equity) and the whole governance of fisheries, coastal zones and oceans. Combined with neo-classical tools such as modelling of fishing activities, it provides a good analytical method to predict effects of management measures on fisher strategies. Furthermore, coupled with an ecological model such as ECOPATH or ECOSIM, its gives a holistic modelling tool (integrating ecology, economic and social dimensions) for the assessment of the full costs and benefits (private and public) of fishing practices and policy policies. The research suggests that the key drivers of change are often hidden and therefore not taken into account while designing management measures. Among shaping drivers, research in West Africa shows that international trade and its rules is shaping the orientation and the functioning of small scale fisheries. Fisher migration, which is directly linked to the trade driving effects, is currently one of the major drivers of change of West African fisheries and the most destabilizing factor. The main results, such as the identification of drivers of change (e.g. international trade, migration), and the integration of social, economic and ecological models are currently used by international institutions such as FAO, UNEP, UNDP and the Group of the ACP countries, regional organisations such as ATLFALCO (Ministerial conference of the African Atlantic countries), the Sub-regional Fishery Commission of seven West African countries and at national level by fishery ministries. The future of fisheries governance in West Africa is strongly linked to a better understanding of small scale fisher strategies and the way they react to fishery management. New research activities on co-management have to be developed in order to switch from a strong centralised fishery management process to a local one where fisher communities play a significant role. Aside from this, work has to be continued to implement the integrated approach into the fishery governance system in West Africa and in other world coastal countries.

This research investigates the policy response to the 2007-2010 sanitary crisis in the Chilean salmon industry, the second largest producer and exporter of salmon in the world. This industry is an emblematic case of the possible consequences of employing an intensive natural resource model for development. The research draws upon the two literatures on policy learning and policy change, and crisis and disaster management, and upon the system failure to explain the causes and consequences of the sanitary crisis in the industry. The thesis employs the qualitative method of case study and utilises primary and secondary sources of data and information. The main argument of the research is that the process of policy learning during and following catastrophic events is very different from the process of the policy learning during normal times. The main findings are, firstly, in the case of the Chilean salmon industry, the sanitary crisis disrupted the industry governance processes, including the regulatory framework of the industry, opening a window for radical institutional change. Secondly, potentially radical measures were part of a set of policies that emerged as initial responses, after which a set of more incremental policy responses were developed and applied. Moreover, the sanitary crisis was not transient nor episodic but was enduring, persistent and dynamic. Thirdly, the policy responses to the sanitary crisis destabilised the consensus in the Chilean industry causing conflict and ambiguity over policy responses. The thesis contributes to the policy learning and policy change literature in the context of catastrophic events by extending the view this literature offers on dramatic events such as crises, by considering them as dynamic and persistent situations, analysing their potential as precipitators of radical policy change, and providing a means for considering the timing and processes by which this radical policy change may occur and be directed toward better social outcomes.

This thesis investigates the development of fish culture technology in Victorian Britain. Fish culture included artificial propagation (breeding, incubation and rearing) of fish, as well as the other material practices, forms of regulation, social organisation and discourses that constituted freshwater fisheries conservation in Britain, circa 1830 – 1870. The approach taken is based in both the sociology of science and technology and social history. Fish culture is viewed as an innovative reproductive technology, and positioned as part of the “preHhistory” of modern reproduction. Focusing on the generative interactions of the social and piscine worlds of fish culture, empirical analyses of the social relations or social order of a technology, and its coHconstitution with the society of which it was part are conducted. Focus is also placed specifically on social conflicts of different kinds. These conflicts emerged out of existing social and economic tensions connected to the fisheries and the scientific study of fish – which were themselves connected to wider economic, demographic and political developments in British society in which social hierarchies of different kinds were being challenged and thus also defended and remade. Empirical case studies focus on these conflicts as socio-technical processes involving rivalry over scarce goods – ideal and material – and, specifically, how they were resolved or ameliorated such that social orders were achieved, modified and reproduced. The thesis is positioned as a contribution to the social studies of reproduction, to science and technology studies, and to the substantive sociological and historical understanding of a socio-technical practice of historical interest and, in the form of modern aquaculture, of growing contemporary importance.

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This dissertation explores why Puerto Rico’s primary stakeholders’ participation in fisheries management is tokenistic at best. While participation discourses are present in Puerto Rico’s fisheries management, a parallel discourse about ‘overfishing’ and the ‘tragedy of the commons’ has created an irreconcilable gap between primary stakeholders and the management institutions. As part of this study I collected data in an arena where various key actors (commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen and agency experts) face each other in the consultation processes, i.e. scoping meetings and public hearings. These encounters proved to occur on an (un)common ground where participation in fisheries policy-making was nearly impossible due to: 1) knowledge conflicts between users and institutional experts/scientists, where each party claimed to possess a more reliable body of knowledge about the marine resource, and 2) a generalised distrust based on different conceptualisations about marine resources and different views of whom, how and why it should (or should not) be managed. I argue that the tensions between the actors involved have led to at least two mechanisms to give the fisheries management apparatus an appearance of stability: 1) the institutionalisation of ignorance and 2) the use of fisheries regulations as a ‘boundary object’ to align the actors, and to fix their identities and responsibilities. In short, participation praxis has been reduced to a minimum given the fissures between scientific knowledge and the primary stakeholders’ knowledge and between marine resource conservation and fishing activity. But above all, participation has been restricted because primary stakeholders distrust institutions that restrict small-scale/artisanal fishing while at the same endorsing construction development in vital coastal habitats. Such development, as understood by the fishermen, is against sound environmental management, given that it impacts negatively on essential ecosystems that are crucial to the fisheries well-being.The majority of the ethnographic research was done in a fishing community in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, over an eleven-month period. I collected qualitative data about commercial fishermen’s views on the marine resource and its management. I also documented how these fishermen negotiated ‘space to manoeuvre’ in the non-participatory environmental management scenario outlined above. The ‘greening’ of commercial fishermen’s discourses is a formidable example.Three months of ethnographic research were also conducted on nearby Culebra Island in an attempt to understand the Marine Protected Area (MPA) of El Canal Luis Peña (CLP) that is ‘marketed’ as a community-based natural reserve and a no-take zone. Although the MPA does not necessarily fulfil all the requirements to be considered a community-based environmental management programme, its creation was definitely a breakthrough in marine resource management participation processes when compared to the main island. Culebra’s MPA is an interesting and challenging case-study that not only contributes to the understanding of how environmental management and policy-making is done and transformed, but also contributes to the question of how, if at all, to put together the pieces when informants disagree.

This thesis, submitted for the Doctor of Philosophy in Geography and Environment, presents a case study of the development of the UK's market-based management system for oceanic fisheries. Implemented gradually in the years since 1984, the informal nature of the UK's fisheries management system, which has developed through a number of incremental changes and government-industry "gentlemen’s agreements" rather than clear legislative moves, means that few official policy documents (and perhaps consequently, little academic literature) on the subject currently exist. This thesis traces the material and political processes of market formation, looking at the origin of market-based policies in the theories of bioeconomics and wider economic history. It asks what the implicit assumptions of the economic discipline can – and can't – tell us about the impacts and outcomes of market creation, and using a Foucauldian inspired approach to economic performativity, discusses the role of ostensibly descriptive theories in shaping the world around them. Finally, it calls for a greater geographical engagement with marine issues, and proposes an action-research role for geographers in the politics of the sea.

This thesis contains five chapters dealing with different aspects of the social relations of aquaculture development in South and Southeast Asia. This analysis is presented with reference to a series of qualitative empirical studies conducted in Vietnam, Bangladesh and Thailand, and challenges conventional narratives relating to the causes, effects and significance of different forms of aquaculture development. Chapter 1 compares the impacts associated with projects intended to promote pro-poor forms of fish culture with the impacts of commercial forms of aquaculture originating in the private sector, and examines complementarities between the two forms of development. It finds that the latter form of aquaculture development, which it terms ‘immanent’, has generally resulted in far more significant economic impacts that the former, which it terms ‘interventionist’. Impacts occur particularly through the creation of employment in associated value chains, although some caution must be exercised in equating these effects with reductions in poverty. The conditions under which immanent aquaculture development is able to take place are elaborated. Chapter 2 provides a critical evaluation of the private sector development (PSD) discourse adopted under the post-Washington consensus. This is achieved with reference to a detailed comparative study of the establishment of hatcheries for mono-sex tilapia in Thailand and Pangasius catfish in Vietnam. This exercise shows the transfer of technical knowledge from public institutions to actors in the private sector to have been largely informal in both cases. The subsequent establishment of hatchery enterprises has also been shaped by culturally specific patterns of economic behaviour that go unrecognised by champions of PSD. The chapter cautions against taking the existence of causal links between increased economic activity and reductions in poverty for granted. Chapter 3 examines patterns of development associated with the extraordinary expansion of the Pangasius catfish industry in Vietnam. It concludes that the ability of catfish producers to access a range of key production factors including land and credit has been mediated by relationships between individuals and the state and its associated institutions, as has access to some markets and services. As a result, the integration of producers into global markets has tended to reinforce existing class relations rather than radically transforming the rural class structure. Chapter 4 evaluates the likely outcomes of governance by third party certification for Pangasius producers in Vietnam and Bangladesh. Widespread insistence on compliance with emerging standards by Northern retailers will have little impact on Bangladeshi producers at present given their domestic orientation, but will probably involve severe consequences for smaller Vietnamese producers who will struggle to comply due to their unfavourable organisation of production and lack of integration. Although Pangasius production in Bangladesh appears more ecologically sustainable than its Vietnamese counterpart, the manner in which standards are formulated means that these advantages are unlikely to be recognised or rewarded. It is also concluded that standards will have limited impact on the industry’s environmental performance in Vietnam. With reference to the literature on agricultural growth and two case studies of aquaculture in Mymensingh, Bangladesh, Chapter 5 argues that commercially oriented quasi-capitalist forms of aquaculture have far greater capacity to alleviate poverty and enhance food security at the national level than the quasi-peasant forms traditionally promoted by development projects. The majority of poverty impact associated with aquaculture is demonstrated to derive from employment in associated value chains and service provision, with likely horizontal benefits also created in the rural non-farm economy via consumption linkages. By contrast, forms of aquaculture traditionally considered ‘small-scale’ and ‘pro-poor’ are shown to be beyond the reach of the majority of the rural poor, and to yield limited positive social externalities, although their role in countering the seasonal financial pressures associated with irrigated rice cultivation is shown to be significant. The conclusion of the thesis summarises key findings presented in preceding chapters, elaborates appropriate methodologies to guide future research on aquaculture development, and sets out a research and policy agenda which identifies work in a number of key areas as priorities for further attention.

The potential for commercial tilapia aquaculture to be developed taking an economic-focused approach was investigated in Mexico. The research examined various issues related to production, marketing and the business environment of the industry. Findings revealed that farmed tilapia products in Mexico can be produced competitively and profitably in large quantities, not only due to its suitability for culture in most of the country; but also due to the availability of more profitable markets (i.e. supermarkets), increasing demand for high quality tilapia products (e.g. fresh, large sizes and more value-added products) and implementation of more efficient business strategies (e.g. economies of scale and partnerships) and newer technologies (i.e. husbandry and equipment). Public/private sector partnerships proved to be the most feasible way to promote and develop tilapia farming in Mexico, particularly in the case of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Through either economical, technological or consumables support from development bodies; and integration with other agri-business (e.g. agriculture and livestock) or within the industry (i.e. horizontally and/or vertically). In which economies of scale were promoted, efficiency was improved, dealing power was increased, and costs and risks were reduced. In which larger businesses reported production costs 50% lower (around MX 11 kg⁻¹) than SMEs, allowing them to compete against larger sources (i.e. fisheries and imports).Additionally, a strong and fast moving domestic market influenced by the decline outputs (22% between 1990 and 2003) from the main source (i.e. catching sector) and the availability of more value-added products (e.g. fillets in various presentations) have promoted its expansion into more profitable markets (i.e. supermarkets and exports) and in sustained and/or increased prices within the past decade (compared to other seafood commodities, e.g. shrimp and salmon).However, concerns arise about the long-term sustainability of tilapia farming due to the high production costs (overall median value MX$ 19 kg⁻¹), small and inconsistent outputs (85% of the farms interviewed produced less than 100 t year⁻¹), lack of knowledge of proper farming techniques and marketing strategies, unlawful competition from imported products (labelling and taxes), poor law enforcement and monitoring from regulatory institutions, and poor institutional support and inadequate extension services, all of which have affected the sustainable development of tilapia farmers and associated groups. Further research is required for the development and promotion of more efficient and economically viable strategies for tilapia farming businesses to target key internal markets. Similarly, improved and more rigorous monitoring of development and support programs performance is required.