I have been in contact with Bianca Haas through her work for a few years and finally met her personally last December at the WCPFC. Besides being a prolific researcher working in areas of my interest, she is a really lovely person with a curious mind, a great personality and a contagious smile.
Fishers… at once the source and first victims of power in fisheries
I just finished the first draft of the fisheries and aquaculture chapter for the forthcoming Oxford University Handbook on Human Rights at Sea, and her lead or collaborative work is referenced quite a few times.
In any case, while doing the research, I came across this little jewel of paper she led last year that touches on power in ocean governance, which is an area I have been very aware over the years, mainly through the opportunity of being invited to work with small countries on those forums and not being a native English speaker (a minority language in most international language). I have linked that to neo-colonialism and cultural bullying… and this paper by Bianca and fellow authors deals with these topics. It is a great read. I recommend you go for the original.
I've quoted the abstract and, the last paragraph of the Discussion and Conclusion below.
Abstract
Ensuring inclusivity, especially the meaningful participation of diverse actors, is a key component of good governance. However, existing ocean governance frameworks have not yet achieved an equitable and fair playing field and are indeed often characterized by inequitable practices. In this perspective piece, we argue that one of the reasons for this lack of inclusion are the existing power frameworks and ways in which power is exercised within fora nominally intended to foster inclusion and cooperation. By focusing on four case studies of basic ocean governance processes, we explore how influential and interactive power is exercised in intergovernmental meetings, international conferences, and regional negotiations. These case studies demonstrate how specific exercises of power that undermine procedural inclusivity influence decision-making and the setting of agendas, and exclude important voices from ocean governance fora. This perspective piece contributes to the existing literature on power by highlighting how power is exercised within fundamental aspects of ocean governance. This paper merely scratches the surface, and more actions and research are needed to uncover and, more importantly, reverse deeply-rooted and self-perpetuating power structures in ocean governance.
Discussion and Conclusion
The presented examples not only occur in a predetermined set of structures, rules, and guidelines, but also in the context of climate change, biodiversity, trade, security, and fishing, which influence these negotiations, meetings, and conferences. For example, some countries depend on overseas aid or trade agreements with other countries. To achieve their economic aspirations, aid-providing countries might use their power to influence negotiations in multilateral for a. Overall, these four examples demonstrated the different ways how influential and interactive power is exercised in ocean governance fora. Many more forms of power exercise can be experienced in ocean governance, and more work is needed to make power exercises and the resulting consequences visible, to develop strategies to empower actors, and to link the exercise of power to concepts such as colonialism, racism, misogyny, capitalism, or classism in ocean governance.