Navigating Coastal Dynamics: Illegal Institutional Arrangements, Gangs’ Activities, and Knowledge Mobility in the Gulf of Guayaquil
This study investigates how corruption and criminal gangs affect small‐scale fisheries, driving forced displacement and reshaping fishing knowledge through the process of epistemic mobility. The research focuses on the interactions between the fishing communities of Puerto Bolívar and Puerto Roma wi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cogitatio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Ocean and Society |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/oceanandsociety/article/view/8851 |
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| author | Wendy Chávez‐Páez Anna‐Katharina Hornidge |
| author_facet | Wendy Chávez‐Páez Anna‐Katharina Hornidge |
| author_sort | Wendy Chávez‐Páez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study investigates how corruption and criminal gangs affect small‐scale fisheries, driving forced displacement and reshaping fishing knowledge through the process of epistemic mobility. The research focuses on the interactions between the fishing communities of Puerto Bolívar and Puerto Roma within the Gulf of Guayaquil, Ecuador. By tracing the movement of fishers and their knowledge, the study reveals how the imitation and attempted learning of fishing techniques, such as the use of plastic tubes to detect fish, occur between communities. Displaced due to the illegal encroachment of semi‐industrial vessels bolicheros protected by criminal gangs, Puerto Bolívar’s fishers have been forced to migrate northward to fish near Puerto Roma, and then return to Puerto Bolívar. While they are fishing in the northern waters, Puerto Roma’s fishers observe their techniques and attempt to imitate them. Nonetheless, the transfer of this knowledge is imitative and incomplete, as it is observed from a distance rather than fully understood. The study highlights that, while the displacement caused by corruption and illegal activities brings fishers into new contexts, it is the fishers themselves who contribute to the mobility and transformation of knowledge. By focusing on epistemic mobility, this study highlights how knowledge is not always successfully transferred but is adapted, hybridized, or even resisted, offering new insights into the resilience and vulnerability of small‐scale fishers in the context of systemic corruption and ecological conflict. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-120ca6178df44e29b701ebd781450898 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2976-0925 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Cogitatio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ocean and Society |
| spelling | doaj-art-120ca6178df44e29b701ebd7814508982025-08-20T03:26:00ZengCogitatioOcean and Society2976-09252025-01-012010.17645/oas.88513945Navigating Coastal Dynamics: Illegal Institutional Arrangements, Gangs’ Activities, and Knowledge Mobility in the Gulf of GuayaquilWendy Chávez‐Páez0Anna‐Katharina Hornidge1Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany / German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), GermanyGerman Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), Germany / University of Bonn, GermanyThis study investigates how corruption and criminal gangs affect small‐scale fisheries, driving forced displacement and reshaping fishing knowledge through the process of epistemic mobility. The research focuses on the interactions between the fishing communities of Puerto Bolívar and Puerto Roma within the Gulf of Guayaquil, Ecuador. By tracing the movement of fishers and their knowledge, the study reveals how the imitation and attempted learning of fishing techniques, such as the use of plastic tubes to detect fish, occur between communities. Displaced due to the illegal encroachment of semi‐industrial vessels bolicheros protected by criminal gangs, Puerto Bolívar’s fishers have been forced to migrate northward to fish near Puerto Roma, and then return to Puerto Bolívar. While they are fishing in the northern waters, Puerto Roma’s fishers observe their techniques and attempt to imitate them. Nonetheless, the transfer of this knowledge is imitative and incomplete, as it is observed from a distance rather than fully understood. The study highlights that, while the displacement caused by corruption and illegal activities brings fishers into new contexts, it is the fishers themselves who contribute to the mobility and transformation of knowledge. By focusing on epistemic mobility, this study highlights how knowledge is not always successfully transferred but is adapted, hybridized, or even resisted, offering new insights into the resilience and vulnerability of small‐scale fishers in the context of systemic corruption and ecological conflict.https://www.cogitatiopress.com/oceanandsociety/article/view/8851conflicts in fisheriescriminal gangsepistemic mobilityfishing industryillegal institutional arrangementsknowledgesmall‐scale fisheries |
| spellingShingle | Wendy Chávez‐Páez Anna‐Katharina Hornidge Navigating Coastal Dynamics: Illegal Institutional Arrangements, Gangs’ Activities, and Knowledge Mobility in the Gulf of Guayaquil Ocean and Society conflicts in fisheries criminal gangs epistemic mobility fishing industry illegal institutional arrangements knowledge small‐scale fisheries |
| title | Navigating Coastal Dynamics: Illegal Institutional Arrangements, Gangs’ Activities, and Knowledge Mobility in the Gulf of Guayaquil |
| title_full | Navigating Coastal Dynamics: Illegal Institutional Arrangements, Gangs’ Activities, and Knowledge Mobility in the Gulf of Guayaquil |
| title_fullStr | Navigating Coastal Dynamics: Illegal Institutional Arrangements, Gangs’ Activities, and Knowledge Mobility in the Gulf of Guayaquil |
| title_full_unstemmed | Navigating Coastal Dynamics: Illegal Institutional Arrangements, Gangs’ Activities, and Knowledge Mobility in the Gulf of Guayaquil |
| title_short | Navigating Coastal Dynamics: Illegal Institutional Arrangements, Gangs’ Activities, and Knowledge Mobility in the Gulf of Guayaquil |
| title_sort | navigating coastal dynamics illegal institutional arrangements gangs activities and knowledge mobility in the gulf of guayaquil |
| topic | conflicts in fisheries criminal gangs epistemic mobility fishing industry illegal institutional arrangements knowledge small‐scale fisheries |
| url | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/oceanandsociety/article/view/8851 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT wendychavezpaez navigatingcoastaldynamicsillegalinstitutionalarrangementsgangsactivitiesandknowledgemobilityinthegulfofguayaquil AT annakatharinahornidge navigatingcoastaldynamicsillegalinstitutionalarrangementsgangsactivitiesandknowledgemobilityinthegulfofguayaquil |