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Abstract Ocean sustainability initiatives – in research, policy, management and development – will be more effective in delivering comprehensive benefits when they proactively engage with, invest in and use social knowledge. We synthesize five intervention areas for social engagement and collaboration with marine social scientists, and in doing so we appeal to all ocean science disciplines and non-academics working in ocean initiatives in industry, government, funding agencies and civil society. The five social intervention areas are: (1) Using ethics to guide decision-making, (2) Improving governance, (3) Aligning human behavior with goals and values, (4) Addressing impacts on people, and (5) Building transdisciplinary partnerships and co-producing sustainability transformation pathways. These focal areas can guide the four phases of most ocean sustainability initiatives (Intention, Design, Implementation, Evaluation) to improve social benefits and avoid harm. Early integration of social knowledge from the five areas during intention setting and design phases offers the deepest potential for delivering benefits. Later stage collaborations can leverage opportunities in existing projects to reflect and learn while improving impact assessments, transparency and reporting for future activities.

The Indonesian multi-level governmental program (PITAP) is a participatory pond irrigation management policy established by the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. It aims to catalyze the rehabilitation of irrigation canals to improve water access for small-scale aquaculture farmers. In PITAP, traditional aquaculture farmers are incentivized with government funding to create community-based co-management groups (POKLINA), to maintain the self-governance of their irrigation canals. The logic of PITAP is to encourage POKLINA farmers to rehabilitate their irrigation canals through subsidized labor payments that are coupled with strengthening the strong cultural norm of mutual assistance (i.e., collective action) within Indonesian society called Gotong-Royong. PITAP aims to revitalize Gotong-Royong through subsidized labor compensation with the hope that when the subsidy program is over, Gotong-Royong will be revitalized without external support. In this study, we compare and analyze four villages on Lombok, Indonesia, that participated in PITAP program in 2020 and 2021. The study is supported with empirical data using various qualitative data collection methods, including interviews, participant observations, and the collection of policy documents. We further use the Social-Ecological System Framework (SESF) as a diagnostic tool to structure the data collection process and analysis. Findings indicate that different variables hinder and enable collective action in the four villages, leading to different PITAP program outcomes. The likely reason for this, suggested by our findings, is that each village has different social and ecological conditions that influence intrinsic motivation for collective action. PITAP program either crowds out intrinsic motivation under some conditions or crowds it in under others. This suggests the need to consider contextual adaptations in policy design and implementation to improve outcomes better.

Abstract Due to the strong interconnectedness between the ocean and our societies worldwide, improved ocean governance is essential for sustainable development in the context of the UN Ocean Decade. However, a multitude of different perspectives—ecological, societal, political, economic—and relations between these have to be understood and taken into consideration to foster transformative pathways towards marine sustainability. A core challenge that we are facing is that the ‘right’ response to complex societal issues cannot be known beforehand as abilities to predict complex systems are limited. Consequently, societal transformation is necessarily a journey towards the unknown and therefore requires experimental approaches that must enable the involvement of everyone with stakes in the future of our marine environment and its resources. A promising transdisciplinary research method that fulfils both criteria—being participatory and experimental—are real‐world laboratories. Here, we discuss how real‐world labs can serve as an operational framework in the context of the Ocean Decade by facilitating and guiding successful knowledge exchange at the interface of science and society. The core element of real‐world labs is transdisciplinary experimentation to jointly develop potential strategies leading to targeted real‐world interventions, essential for achieving the proposed ‘Decade Outcomes’. The authors specifically illustrate how deploying the concept of real‐world labs can be advantageous when having to deal with multiple, overlapping challenges in the context of ocean governance and the blue economy. Altogether, we offer a first major contribution to synthesizing knowledge on the potentials of marine real‐world labs, considering how they act as a way of exploring options for sustainable ocean futures. Indeed, in the marine context, real‐world labs are still under‐explored but are a tangible way for addressing the societal challenges of working towards sustainability transformations over the coming UN Ocean Decade and beyond. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Territorial User Rights for Fisheries (TURF) are established to grant privileged rights exclusively to local fishing communities to manage their stock within a bounded fishing ground. Theoretically, they will improve their sense of ownership which will eventually lead to stewardship and responsibility. In Indonesia, contemporary TURF has been introduced to meet such social outcomes and address the overfishing problems caused by open-access systems. The primary objective of this study was to determine how different project initiators perceive the system’s performance of TURF in Kepulauan Seribu Marine National Park. This study used an online Q methodology to determine what key actors thought of similarities and differences in TURF implementation by developing a concourse based on the original TURF project success elements. The results show that there are two different perspectives on what the essential aspects of TURF succeed in Kepulauan Seribu. The first opinion group appreciated the technical design of TURF, particularly the exclusion mechanism and boundary, which are crucial. A second opinion group argues that the clarity of rights, roles, and responsibilities is fundamental. Both opinion groups agreed that consistent law enforcement is the key to a successful TURF implementation. This study evaluated key stakeholders’ perspectives on co-management programs to identify points of consensus and disagreement that could ultimately help ensure the long-term success of TURF and similar co-management programs.

Costa Rica is supporting Marine Areas of Responsible Fishing (AMPRs) to enable small-scale fishing communities to apply for exclusive harvesting and management rights within spatially delimited areas under a co-management policy framework. Communities need to self-organize their own fishing association and develop a fishing management plan (POP) to apply. Seven AMPRs have been established in the Gulf of Nicoya, but many face collective action challenges to develop and achieve common goals and implementation. In this article, we conduct a qualitative comparative analysis by applying the Social-Ecological System Framework (SESF) as a tool to identify the social and ecological conditions influencing collective action and co-management in three AMPRs in the Gulf of Nicoya, and we compare the similarities and differences between them Our results show that all three AMPRs face collective action challenges for different reasons. Nonetheless, some commonalities exist. Common drivers motivating collective action include the desire to restrict certain types of fishing gears due to perceptions of resource scarcity and high dependence on local resources. Monitoring and sanctioning mechanisms, the presence of effective leadership and the economic heterogeneity of actors all positively influence collective action in two cases. However, in all three cases, there are more variables hindering collective action such as mistrust among actors, internal conflicts, non-rule compliance, lack of governmental support and resource unit mobility. Our findings suggest that AMPRs are a promising and potentially effective governance strategy because they can empower marginalized small-scale fishing communities and bring them into national development processes. However, there is an evident need for more state and local community investment into capacity building for self-organization and deliberation processes that can better enable the development of mutually accepted goals and implementation tools such as communication and enforcement strategies. Maintaining the perceptions among local communities that AMPRs are an acceptable and legitimate form of governance is a key challenge for continued collective action and achieving associated conservation goals. This research shows that adapting governance institutions to fit the social-ecological context of each AMPR is critical for success, despite the perceived similarity between the AMPRs.

Privatization is, since Hardin, often promoted as a solution to many natural resource management challenges, particularly in common-pool resource systems. However, novel forms of privatization are being implemented in unexamined ways. In this article we explore how privatization affects natural resource management from the perspective of multi-dimensional social-ecological systems. We critique the notion that privatization is desirable due to its pure efficiency, and argue that efficiency must be relative to achieving other normative societal goals, in particular, sustainability. While sustainability outcomes often cannot be fully actualized, the processes through which privatization attempts to achieve them are more tangible criteria. First, we draw on (1) distributional and (2) procedural justice as normative societal goals to assess effectiveness of different forms of privatization. Second, we analyze the broader implications of privatization for social-ecological system functioning considering (3) path dependency and (4) spillover effects. We apply these four concepts to examine three different cases of privatization: eco-certification in fisheries, seed patents in agriculture and property rights in rangelands. We argue that the evaluative criteria for the success of privatization are often oversimplified, and highlight how privatization can influence social-ecological systems and the achievement of normative goals in largely unexamined ways.

Encouraging people’s pro-environmental behaviors is an objective of Education for Sustainable Development. In the context of small-scale fisheries, unsustainable fishing practices are compromising the integrity of coastal communities and ecosystems. Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) is an ecosystem modeling software that presents interactions/changes in the food web as a result of fishing. Despite the multiple applications of EwE in fisheries management, it is unknown from a quantitative perspective whether the application of EwE trophic modeling in environmental education processes and management produces effects on norms and ecological beliefs, and if it alters behavioral intentions of the participants receiving ecosystem modeling information. We conducted a behavior change intervention with gillnet fishers in the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica, to compare antecedents of pro-environmental behavior between participants who received an ecosystem-based intervention (lectures containing EwE models; treatment) and those who received lectures that didn’t involve EwE (control). Based on theories of environmental psychology, we used a pre–post survey design, to evaluate changes between control/treatment, and to assess the influence of psychometric constructs and fishing characteristics on the behavioral intentions to support sustainable fishing measures and owning a fishing license (revealed behavior). Personal norms and values were significant at explaining management measures’ support, along with some fishing characteristics (e.g., fishing site). Deliberating about possible future scenarios (via EwE-modeling) helped reduce uncertainties, increasing legitimacy and a perceived behavioral control (PBC) to support measures. Currently, licenses in the Gulf aren’t granted under defined ecological criteria, and although altruistic-biospheric values scored highly before the intervention began, due to mistrust and high illegal-unlicensed fishing, fishers may be underestimating how much others care about the environment. Value-oriented and ecosystem-based interventions may assist to effectively redesign the licensing system and encourage fishers to support sustainable measures. Our research indicates the importance of education interventions that teach about the impacts of fishing in the ecosystem while helping participants to perceive themselves as capable of implementing actions (PBC) and expressing biospheric-altruistic values to restore trust. Redirecting human behaviors to reconnect with ecosystem resilience can be a leverage point for sustainability and for the compliance of small-scale fisheries management measures.

This study develops and applies an interdisciplinary and mixed method approach to operationalize the social-ecological systems (SES) framework in the context of aquaculture, the fastest growing food production sector worldwide. We apply this methodology to conduct a case study of community-based pond aquaculture on the island of Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. This diagnostic approach demonstrates how sustainability challenges are interrelated at multiple levels through an analysis applying common-pool resource (CPR) and collective action theories. At the community level, qualitative data show how pond aquaculture systems can have CPR dilemmas, requiring communities to work together to solve them. We show how a provision dilemma manifests from the need to maintain common canal infrastructure to distribute water to private ponds. Asymmetric incentives to contribute exist because there are up and downstream users in the pond network, similar to some irrigation systems. Second, at the level of individual ponds, we developed indicators for the Resource System, Resource Unit, Governance and Actor tiers of the SES framework. Indicator data for each pond was measured and transformed into normalized quantitative scores to examine the relationships between social and ecological outcomes within and between ponds. We combine the results of our multi-level analysis to discuss the broader social-ecological relationships which link collective action challenges in managing common canal infrastructure with pond level outcomes and current government policies for advancing community development. We emphasize the need for increased knowledge and training on effective aquaculture practice as an underlying driver of current system conditions. This study raises many methodological challenges associated with designing empirically based SES research and building SES theory. We discuss challenges with integrating diverse data types, indicator selection and making normative assumptions about sustainability.

Scientific agenda setting is critical at all levels of research, but can be strongly influenced by structural path dependencies of the science system itself. In this article we examine how knowledge production is shaped by interconnected path dependencies using the field of tropical marine sciences as a global case study. We use scientometric analysis methods on an original data set of 1328 peer-reviewed journal publications to examine publication trends including a co-authorship network analysis, links between author origin and research locations as well as a quantitative analysis of terminology use over space (i.e., region) and time. Scientometric findings are analytically discussed through a conceptual framework premised on theories of path dependency. Findings and critical analysis highlight how tropical marine science provides a prominent global example of how North American, European and Australian science programs predominantly shape knowledge production of the global science system, generating critical reflection on the path dependencies these create on current and likely future knowledge production and science agendas. Similar dependencies face other fields of science, and thus this study provides broadly relevant quantitative observational empirical findings supplemented with a critical social science analysis of how a transcultural Science and Technology Studies lens is useful for unpacking the webs of path dependencies driving, inhibiting and/ or shaping global knowledge production, placing meaning and context over observed empirical trends.

Anecdotal evidence from philanthropic fundraisers shows that virtual reality (VR) technology increases empathy and can influence people toward pro-environmental behavior. Non-profit organizations are increasingly marketing their causes using virtual reality and they report increased donations when VR technology is employed. In VR, users are immersed in situations intended to feel more like the real world through technology, such as 360° video viewed through 3D headsets that block out visual and auditory distractions. The framing of the message as either positive or negative has long shown to have an effect on behavior, although consensus on the impact of framing has not been reached in relation to encouraging contributions to public goods. This paper focuses on field experiments used to investigate the effects of varying degrees of visual immersion and positive versus negative message framing on respondents' contributions to a conservation charity. Participants were exposed to a five-minute underwater film about coral reefs and the importance of protecting them. We employed a 2x2 experimental design using 3D head-mounted displays comparing 360° film footage vs. unidirectional film and a positive message vs. a negative message. After watching the film, each participant completed a short questionnaire and had the opportunity to donate to a marine conservation charity. In addition, we tested a control treatment where no video was observed. The video was filmed in Indonesia which is host to some of the world's most biodiverse reefs that are under great threat from human activity. We also conducted the study in Indonesia, sampling a total of 1006 participants from the Bogor city area and tourists on the island of Gili Trawangan-which is popular for scuba diving and snorkeling. We find significant differences in observed behavior and reported emotions between all treatments compared to the control condition. Among the tourist sample, we find significant differences between the 360° film with a negative message which garnered significantly larger average donation amounts compared to the unidirectional film with both positive and negative framing. Overall, we can infer from these studies that virtual reality is an effective way to raise awareness of environmental threats and encourage behavioral action, especially when tailored to target groups. New technology, such as the VR head-mounted display, is highly effective at attracting interest which is an important point to encourage organizations to invest in new technologies.

Trophic models of the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) type and local ecological knowledge (LEK) have widely been applied to fisheries assessment and management. However, there are no specific methodologies describing how LEK from local fishers can be incorporated with the scientific data from the models in the context of ecosystem-based fisheries management. To our knowledge this is the first contribution exploring a systematic integration of LEK with EwE modeled output. An EwE food web model of the Nicoya Gulf ecosystem constructed 20 years ago and recently revisited by the authors and collaborators, was used in workshops to stimulate discussion among local stakeholders regarding changes in the marine ecosystem. For this study, 58 artisanal fishers were recruited to eight workshops. To assess the LEK, we documented the discussions, and the qualitative data were analyzed with quantitative frequency of responses to identify trends. Next, we systematically compared the changes in the fishery over time through an analysis of similar, complementary, and contradictory information across knowledge systems. In general, the analysis across systems reflected changes in species composition of the catches, paralleled by a harvest reduction in high-trophic-level species, as well as economic losses due to a shift in harvesting low-value species and due to an increase in operational costs. Particularly, we identified (1) similar pieces of information that delivered the same message, providing robust evidence of changes in the social–ecological system; (2) information complementary to each other, which together provided a broader picture (descriptors and attributes) of the changes of some fishing resources; and (3) conflicting pieces of information that indicated mismatches between sources of knowledge, which might suggest the cause of management problems. This study demonstrated how integrating knowledge systems can enhance our understanding of the state and changes in ecosystems, helping to improve fisheries management. We also found that an EwE model can be an effective communication tool to be used with fishers and to promote discussion and engagement. Our aspiration is to bring new and replicable tools to the policy interface in Latin-American fisheries, based on both stakeholder participation (including LEK) and the best scientific information available.

The paper contributes to the social-ecological systems literature by adapting and using Elinor Ostrom’s Social-Ecological System (SES) framework in the context of a coastal ecosystem. We modified the SES framework in the case of the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta (CGSM), an estuarine lagoon in the Caribbean coast of Colombia. The ecological importance of CGSM and its species is undeniable. This paper aims to understand why collective action for a sustainable use of CGSM’s fishery resources has not taken place. In order to respond to that question, we created new variables within the social, economic, and political settings of the SES framework. The results show that the fishers’ fear of the indiscriminate and strong violence that illegal armed groups have inflicted on them since the 1960s and the economic development in the Colombian Caribbean region help explain the lack of collective action.

This article synthesizes and compares environmental governance theories. For each theory we outline its main tenets, claims, origin, and supporting literature. We then group the theories into focused versus combinatory frameworks for comparison. The analysis resonates with many types of ecosystems; however, to make it more tangible, we focus on coastal systems. First, we characterize coastal governance challenges and then later link salient research questions arising from these challenges to the theories that may be useful in answering them. Our discussion emphasizes the usefulness of having a diverse theoretical toolbox, and we argue that if governance analysts are more broadly informed about the theories available, they may more easily engage in open-minded interdisciplinary collaboration. The eight theories examined are the following: polycentricity, network governance, multilevel governance, collective action, governmentality (power / knowledge), adaptive governance, interactive governance theory (IGT), and evolutionary governance theory (EGT). Polycentricity and network governance both help examine the links or connections in governance processes. Polycentricity emphasizes structural configurations at a broader level, and network governance highlights agency and information flow within and between individuals or organizations. Collective action theory is helpful for examining community level governance, and helps analyze variables hindering or enabling self-organization and shared resource outcomes. In contrast, multilevel governance helps understand governance integration processes between localities, regions, and states across administrative, policy, or legal dimensions. Governmentality is helpful for understanding the role of discourse, power, knowledge, and narratives in governance, such as who creates them and who becomes governed by them with what effect. Adaptive governance helps analyze the links between context, change, and resilience. IGT helps examine the interdependencies between the systems being governed and the governing systems. EGT is helpful for unpacking how coevolutionary processes shape governance and the options for change.

Privatization of the ocean, in the sense of defining more exclusive property rights, is taking place in increasingly diverse ways. Because of more intensive and diversified use patterns and increasing sustainability challenges, it is likely that this process will continue into the future. We argue that the nature of privatization varies from one oceanic domain to another. We differentiate four ideal-typical domains: (1) resources, (2) space, (3) governance control, and (4) knowledge, and nine criteria for the assessment of privatization. We apply those criteria to a selection of examples from the realm of marine life (from micro-organisms to fish) to highlight similarities and differences and establish foundations for broader analysis. We aim hereby to develop the groundwork for a balanced, interdisciplinary perspective on ocean privatization. Our analysis demonstrates that privatization has multiple dimensions and cannot be condemned or embraced in its entirety. Instead it requires more nuanced assessment and deliberation.

Collective action of resource users is essential for sustainability. Yet, often user groups are socioculturally heterogeneous, which requires cooperation to be established across salient group boundaries. We explore the effect of this type of heterogeneity on resource extraction in lab-in-the-field Common Pool Resource (CPR) experiments in Zanzibar, Tanzania. We create heterogeneous groups by mixing fishers from two neighbouring fishing villages which have distinct social identities, a history of conflict and diverging resource use practices and institutions. Additionally, we analyse between-village differences in extraction behaviour in the heterogeneous setting to assess if out-group cooperation in a CPR dilemma is associated with a community's institutional scope in the economic realm (e.g., degree of market integration). We find no aggregate effect of heterogeneity on extraction. However, this is because fishers from the two villages behave differently in the heterogeneity treatment. We find support for the hypothesis that cooperation under sociocultural heterogeneity is higher for fishers from the village with larger institutional scope. In line with this explanation, cooperation under heterogeneity also correlates with a survey measure of individual fishers' radius of trust. We discuss implications for resource governance and collective action research.

The outcomes of marine conservation and related management interventions depend to a large extent on people's compliance with these rule systems. In the South Pacific, community-based marine resource management (CBMRM) has gained wide recognition as a strategy for the sustainable management of marine resources. In current practice, CBMRM initiatives often build upon customary forms of marine governance, integrating scientific advice and management principles in collaboration with external partners. However, diverse socio-economic developments as well as limited legal mandates can challenge these approaches. Compliance with and effective (legally-backed) enforcement of local management strategies constitute a growing challenge for communities—often resulting in considerable impact on the success or failure of CBMRM. Marine management arrangements are highly dynamic over time, and similarly compliance with rule systems tends to change depending on context. Understanding the factors contributing to (non-) compliance in a given setting is key to the design and function of adaptive management approaches. Yet, few empirical studies have looked in depth into the dynamics around local (non-) compliance with local marine tenure rules under the transforming management arrangements. Using two case studies from Solomon Islands and Fiji, we investigate what drives local (non-) compliance with CBMRM and what hinders or supports its effective enforcement. The case studies reveal that non-compliance is mainly driven by: (1) diminishing perceived legitimacy of local rules and rule-makers; (2) increased incentives to break rules due to market access and/ or lack of alternative income; and (3) relatively weak enforcement of local rules (i.e., low perceptions of risk from sanctions for rule-breaking). These drivers do not stand alone but can act together and add up to impair effective management. We further analyze how enforcement of CBMRM is challenged through a range of institutional; socio-cultural and technical/financial constraints, which are in parts a result of the dynamism and ongoing transformations of management arrangements. Our study underlines the importance of better understanding and contextualizing marine resource management processes under dynamic conditions for an improved understanding of compliance in a particular setting.

The social-ecological system framework (SESF) can be useful for applied research and management practice beyond its traditional academic applications. In this article we transform the SESF into an image-based practical tool to facilitate knowledge exchange and deliberation processes within community-based natural resource comanagement settings. We develop a transdisciplinary methodology to transform the SESF into simple and context relevant images that are understandable by nonspecialists, yet the image-based framework still conveys its core tenets of systems thinking, a checklist for system complexity and conceptualizing social-ecological interactions. We then demonstrate a mixed-method approach for testing the usefulness of the image-based framework for enhancing communication, knowledge exchange, and deliberation processes. We show how the academic uses of the SESF, its core tenets, can serve the same purpose for nonacademic actors. When transformed, the image-based SESF has potential to be a tool that can enhance communication and knowledge exchange between actors in governance settings. We demonstrate our methodology with small-scale fishers involved with comanagement in the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica. In the example, we show how scientists must learn from fishers, to understand how they view their system, in order to make the image-based tool useful in context. We then test its usefulness by exploring the hypothesis that the image-based framework can help fishers discuss with more depth and complexity because it provides a simple conceptual base for systems thinking and a core set of variables to consider as interacting. Furthermore, we explore how using the framework during deliberation may be able to alter the social-psychological outcomes of participants using field experimental methods. We discuss our combined methodology, for transforming the framework and measuring deliberation impacts, while reflecting on new ways of thinking about how the SESF can be useful for applied research and practice.

Brazil has a network of marine extractive reserves (RESEX), a form of marine protected area (MPA) using comanagement. The RESEX program aims to bring traditionally marginalized populations with natural resource dependent livelihoods into national development processes by empowering them to participate in governance and steward biodiversity conservation. We apply the social-ecological systems framework (SESF) and collective action theory to diagnose challenges for comanagement in the Caete-Teperacu marine RESEX near Bragança, Brazil, a multiuse mangrove estuary supporting a small-scale crab fishery. We conducted key informant interviews and build on over 20 years of research in the region to provide an overarching analysis of the challenges facing comanagement. We describe the variables from the SESF in the case context and find that many social and ecological variables interact in clusters over time, and these clusters can be identified as themes, including (1) social and political momentum supporting the RESEX; (2) shifting perceptions of local residents and fishers; (3) patron-client relationships and social-ecological traps; (4) challenges with institutional fit; and (5) the interactions between harvesting closures, compensation, and dependence on local natural resources. Furthermore, we use collective action theory to help explain the role that each variable plays in either hindering or enabling successful governance. Our findings suggest that institutional resilience is needed to make RESEX adaptive to shifting social and political momenta. It could do this by providing more platforms for communication, deliberation, and knowledge exchange among the relevant actors. We believe our findings reflect broader challenges facing RESEX implementation throughout Brazil, and lessons can be learned for MPAs facing difficulties with the implementation of comanagement worldwide.

In this experiment, we test whether subjects’ responses to variations in the action set in a dictator game depends on induced group identities. The action set includes choices in which the dictator can either give money to or take money from the other player. As an extension to the anonymous setting, we introduce induced group identities using the minimal group paradigm. Based on a dictator game conducted with more than 300 students in Indonesia, we implement a full factorial design in order to analyze the framing of the action set in a varied cultural context and to examine varied prevalence of social norms given a group identity context. If group identity is not salient, we find that participants are slightly more generous when they have an opportunity to give to rather than to take from the recipient. However, when participants are matched with in-group members, this result is reversed and highly significant. The result of differing responses to framing effects in within-group interactions compared to a neutral setting are largely ascribed to the varied compliance with existing social norms.

Natural resource users face a trade-off between present and future consumption. Using harmful methods or extracting unsustainably, lowers future consumption. Therefore, it is reasonable to posit that people with higher time preferences extract more as compared to people with lower time preferences. The present study combines experimental methods and questionnaire data in order to understand the relationship between individual time preferences and fishers' extraction behavior. We elicit individual time preferences using an incentivized experiment, linking the resulting time preference measures to extraction data from a questionnaire, as well as data collected from a framed Common Pool Resource (CPR) experiment. Both the experiments and questionnaire were conducted with artisanal fishers in Zanzibar. Our findings suggest that the relationship between time preferences and CPR extraction is not as straightforward as predicted by classical economic theory. In contrast to earlier studies, we find that fishers' time preferences are negatively correlated to their extraction rates. Our surprising findings can partly be explained by the fact that higher time preferences are associated with lower investment in extraction capability (the disinvestment effect of time preferences), and by fishers´ cognitive abilities.

Overexploitation of common-pool resources, resulting from uncooperative harvest behavior, is a major problem in many social-ecological systems. Feedbacks between user behavior and resource productivity induce non-linear dynamics in the harvest and the resource stock that complicate the understanding and the prediction of the co-evolutionary system. With an adaptive model constrained by data from a behavioral economic experiment, we show that users' expectations of future pay-offs vary as a result of the previous harvest experience, the time-horizon, and the ability to communicate. In our model, harvest behavior is a trait that adjusts to continuously changing potential returns according to a trade-off between the users' current harvest and the discounted future productivity of the resource. Given a maximum discount factor, which quantifies the users' perception of future pay-offs, the temporal dynamics of harvest behavior and ecological resource can be predicted. Our results reveal a non-linear relation between the previous harvest and current discount rates, which is most sensitive around a reference harvest level. While higher than expected returns resulting from cooperative harvesting in the past increase the importance of future resource productivity and foster sustainability, harvests below the reference level lead to a downward spiral of increasing overexploitation and disappointing returns.