Title: Shaping Choice: Intersections of Humans, Society and Management
This symposium seeks to better understand the successes and failures of fisheries managers in interacting with communities. Navigating the social and political interactions among governments, stakeholders, conservation groups, and the public can be challenging for managers. The management of contested resources is further complicated by the myriad of values and opinions held by different user groups. Influencing communities that are financially dependent upon those resources, is also complicated and often difficult. Papers submitted to this symposium should shed light on the best ways to engage with user groups of different economic levels and cultures as well as explore questions such as: when dealing with a contentious fisheries issues, what barriers exist and how may they best be overcome; how can trade-offs between economics and conservation be evaluated; what lessons from the successful resolution of resource conflicts can be applies to the challenges of today; how can managers tailor regulations to enhance compliance by stakeholders; how can an understanding of how economics intersects with society be used to engage user groups to work collaboratively; among other topics.