Data Collection

I first generate empirical data on fine-scale social and occupational changes in San

Cristobal fisheries. This analysis is a preliminary attempt to improve spotty documentation of the recent changes in the socioeconomic dimensions of Galápagos fishing.

A1. The 2012 Galápagos Livelihood Survey

The sustainable livelihoods “assets-mediating processes-activities” framework is central to my data collection on the differential ability of households to cope with change. I focus on household asset bases, the portfolio of work activities they engage in, and the mediating processes that enable people to actually translate their assets into activities in two ways: quantitatively through a household livelihood survey, and qualitatively through interviews, participant observation, and document analysis.

Analyses in this project follow Ellis’s (2000) categorization of five types of capital assets. These are physical capital, or things “brought into existence by economic production processes” (e.g., homes, boats), natural capital or the natural resource base (e.g., land, water, fish stocks), financial capital or stocks (e.g., cash, credit, income), human capital (e.g., education, health), and social capital (e.g., personalized networks, ties, and mutual obligations).

I conducted an original structured survey (N=167) from March – August 2012 in San Cristobal among individuals within the fishing community. Deliberately administered to individuals who were engaged in fishing to different degrees (49 full-time, 57 part-time, 12 occasional, and 46 inactive) 7_{, I measured household assets, activities, and their changeover the}

7  _{I categorize fishing participation into four levels following the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the}

United Nations. Those who derive ≥ 90% of their income from fishing are full-time fishers, 30-90% are part-time, and ≤ 30% are occasional. Those not fishing but holding a valid license that allows them to fish at any time, are non-

past three years (Scoones 1998). Aims were to assess how marine resource use practices fit into the lives of Galápagos residents – in terms of economic importance (absolutely and relative to other economic sectors), attachment, and changing practices. In addition rather than trying to perfectly capture household asset bases, the goal was to get some sense of differentiation among them. Since the survey was conducted once, most represent a window in time (spanning three years) rather than change over time, although it included retrospective questions.

Questions fall into five major categories: (i) occupational portfolios, (ii) financial and physical capital, (iii) economic security and relative poverty, (iv) job satisfaction and industry preferences, and (v) demographics, social and human capital (Table 1.1).8 I distinguish category (ii) from category (iii) because the latter speaks to how people are able to leverage their capital assets in life, and not simply their ownership of assets. An example is the decision to send one’s children abroad for schooling, which many better-off families do for a higher quality of

education.

Sensitivity to respondent unwillingness to answer certain questions (most commonly around income), or an expressed preference to be interviewed rather than surveyed resulted in not all fishers being asked all of the same questions. While the sample size of different questions may therefore differ, the data gathered gives various understandings of fishing as individually practiced. I personally administered all surveys in Spanish and taped the majority to help with posterior review. Respondents were found by “man-on-the-street” style connections and subsequent snowball sampling. There were 8 refusals, giving a 95% response rate. I surveyed and interviewed many people in their homes and also on park benches, aboard cruise boats, at cargo docks, in tourism agencies, and restaurants. When possible public places were avoided for

active. In the non-active category, I lump together people who may return to fishing but simply did not participate in the 2011-12 season, and those that have retired and do not want to return to commercial fishing.

Table 1.1 Major survey metrics of household assets, activities, and their change over the past three years

Category Variable values

Occupational portfolio & changes

Changes in fishing participation, or “livelihood strategy” from 2009-11

intensify, diminish, maintain

Changes in any jobs # increased, # diminished, equal #

same, equal # different

Fishing preferences fish more, fish less, continue,

ambivalent

Level of fishing engagement Full-time, Part-time, Occasional & Inactive

Financial & Physical Capital

Household Income bracket Fishing Income bracket

Boat ownership Y/N

*Home ownership Y/N

Economic Security & Relative Poverty

Credit constraints: Ability to raise $1000 in one week

borrow from friends/family, borrow from bank, sell something, go fishing, use savings, unable *Have children that attend primary,

secondary or tertiary school outside of the Galápagos

Y/N

*Chronic disability or illness Y/N

self-assessed health comparison better, same, worse *Self-assessed material standard of

living (2012)

good, more or less good, bad Self-assessed material standard of

living (2009-2012)

better, the same, worse

Job Satisfaction & Preferences

Liked being a fisher Y/N

Would still go into fishing, in retrospect

Y/N Would recommend fishing to their

children

Y/N

Demographics, Human, and Social Capital

*Highest individual- and household- level formal education

No. of dependents

involvement in the local fishing cooperative

1=member, 2=also held a post, 3=also has been president or

member of UCOOPEPGALa

Family in politics or government 0=none, 1=public sector employees, 2= nuclear family or sibling in a local political position, 3= family or close friend as head of an

organization, or self was in a political position

*These questions are duplicated from the 2009 Galápagos Living Standards Survey.

a: UCOOPEPGAL is the provincial-level umbrella fishing cooperative that represents all Galápagos fishers and participates in regional and national-level political discussions. All four island-level fishing cooperatives coordinate with UCOOPEPGAL.

more private locales. Group settings also varied (alone, among one to several friends), all of which were recorded to note the positioning of speakers and listeners. All respondents but one were men, and surveys ranged from 34 minutes (shortest) to 3 hours (longest).

A2. Participant Observation & Interviews

I relied heavily on interviews and participant observation for information on how peoples’ livelihoods and careers had changed over time, accompanying survey point-in-time information. Approximately 77% of surveys (N = 127) were also interviews, accompanied by commentary on themes around general change in the industry, conservation in the Galápagos, and respondent- directed concerns. Participant observation greatly helped to deepen my exposure to local perspectives through casual conversations. This method is defined as “…experiencing the lives of the people you are studying as much as you can” (Bernard 2002), with a goal of building experiential knowledge about a research place and situation. I learned of the everyday practice of being a fisher outside of an interviewer-interviewee divide, in which unspoken power

relationships can manifest in unobserved ways (Becker and Geer 1957; Bernard 2002). I had myriad interactions with fishers in town, and accompanied fishers on their daily routines over three fishing trips using different gear types and target species, each lasting one day.

A3. Documentation and Databases

I utilize two independent databases. A broader socioeconomic context is provided by the 2010 Ecuadorian Census, noted above, a household-level census with coverage in the Galápagos archipelago (N = 25,124). Questions covered household income, demographics, educational and occupational patterns, and indicators of economic, social, and health status (INEC 2010) and

provide a source of information independent from surveys and interviews for understanding occupational movement between various activities.

I use the GNP fisheries monitoring database to obtain such as aggregate harvests in the Galápagos from 2009-11, and the number of active vessels and participants. Although coverage is complete only for the two most valuable species of fish caught, it is the only dataset of harvest activity in the GMR. The GNP fisheries database provides general background on fishing trends during the study period only, because it is not possible to map out catches onto individuals or even boat owners, without falsely assuming that boat owners are responsible for their entire boat’s catch. This database is a monitoring and data collection effort documenting harvest at the vessel level since 1994 (H. Reyes, pers. communication). Possession and permission for use was obtained in August of 2012.