title: Studying common-pool resources over time: A longitudinal case study of the Buen Hombre fishery in the Dominican Republic.
abstract: Like many small-scale fishing communities around the world, the community of Buen Hombre in the Dominican Republic is dealing with a set of challenges to reconcile its fishing activities with the ecology on which it depends. Also like many such communities, this case has been examined at a particular period in time by a group of social scientists, but not over substantial lengths of time in order to examine the longitudinal validity of the conclusions made during this period. In this paper we combine data from previous anthropological work with our own primary social and ecological data to conduct a longitudinal case study of the Buen Hombre fishery. Our over-time comparison focuses on a suite of mostly social and institutional variables to explain what we find to be a continued degradation of the fishery, and we conclude the analysis by presenting a causal-loop diagram, summarizing our inferences regarding the complex interactions among these variables. We find that a mix of factors, notably changes in gear and fishing sites used, the number of fishermen and their livelihood diversity, as well as an increased connectivity between Buen Hombre and its external environment, have contributed to the decline of the condition of Buen Hombre coral reef fishery. We conclude with a discussion of what may lie ahead for this particular case and others like it.
authors.affiliation: Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of Santa Barbara, Bren Hall, Isla Vista, CA, 931171, USA. mwattswilson@gmail.com.|, 44 Greenhaven Road, Rye, NY, 10580, USA. mwattswilson@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, 78 College Street, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA. tyler.t.pavlowich.gr@dartmouth.edu.
authors.forename: Tyler
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pavlowich
authors.affiliation: Environmental Studies Program, Dartmouth College, 6182 Steele Hall, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA. michael.e.cox@dartmouth.edu.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3462-7798
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cox
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D057894:Coral Reefs; D004293:Dominican Republic; D005398:Fisheries; D008137:Longitudinal Studies
keywords: Community-based natural resource management; Dominican Republic; Institutional analysis; Small-scale fisheries