Case Studies of Social-Ecological Systems

Title
Type

Mount Desert Island Lobster Fishery

Case
The lobster grounds of Mount Desert Island are located within Hancock County, Maine, some 250 miles northeast of Boston and 150 miles southwest of the U.S. - Canada border. The original case spans from 1969 to1974 and catalogues an action situation involving approximately 75 lobster fishermen; lobster is the stationary resource unit.This case study is part of the original Common-Pool Resource (CPR) database. A summary of the original CPR coding conducted in the 1980s by Edella Schlager and Shui...
09 Aug 2016

Ayvalik-Haylazli Lagoon Fishery

Case
The Ayvalik-Haylazli lagoon fishery is located on the Turkish Mediterranean coast near the town of Adana. The resource units are demersal fish (mullets, groupers, and snappers). The original case, which spans from 1976-1978, catalogues an action situation involving 103 registered fishermen from three neighboring villages. As of 2011, the fishery and its adjacent waters are harvested by 397 registered fishermen from three neighboring villages. There are user group organizations (...
09 Aug 2016

Alanya Coastal Fishery, Turkey

Case
The coastal fishery in Alanya is situated in Antalya Province along the southern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. The original case, which spans from 1976-1978, catalogues approximately 100 registered farmers operating 45 small inboard boats; pelagic fish (including bonits and large carangids) are the target resource unit. There is only one user group organization and no subgroups (just one group of small boat fishermen). The fishermen cooperate with one another and have access rules that involve...
09 Aug 2016

Nam Tan Irrigation Project

Case
The Muong Phieng Valley is located in the Nam Tam watershed in the Sainyabuli Province of western Laos. The main agricultural product is rice. The area suffered major infrastructural changes in two periods. First, during the Nam Tam Irrigation project administered by USAID and the Lao government in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Second, during the Nam Tam Rehabilitation project in the 1990s, supervised by UNDP, UNCF and the Lao government.This case was part of the original CPR database...
09 Aug 2016

Nayband irrigation system

Case
The Nayband Irrigation system is located in The province of Khorasan in north eastern Iran. The original case was reported in 1971 and 1972, and catalogues an action situation involving approximately 80 agricultural related families. The resource appropriated related to the social dilemma is water for irrigation, which is delivered by canals.This case study is part of the original Common-Pool Resource (CPR) database. A summary of the original CPR coding conducted in the 1980s by Edella Schlager...
09 Aug 2016

Pinagbayanan irrigation system

Case
The Pinagbayanan Irrigation System is located in Barrio Pinagbayanan, Laguna in Philippines. The resource appropriated related to the social dilemma is water for irrigation appropriated and distributed by two water pumps and canals that deliver water from the pumps to rice fields, and a gravity irrigation system managed by the National Irrigation Administration. The original case was reported in 1975.This case study is part of the original Common-Pool Resource (CPR) database. A summary of the...
09 Aug 2016

Tasucu Bay Coastal Fishery, Turkey

Case
The coastal fishery in Tasucu Bay is located near the small port town of Tasucu in Mersin Province, Turkey. The original case, which spans from 1976-1978, catalogues 140 fishermen and 90 small inboard boats; the resource unit is demersal fish. It is a relatively simple CPR because there is only one user group of small boat fishermen. All of the fishermen belong to the local cooperative. The cooperative has successfully controlled access to the CPR by fighting off competing users. It provides...
09 Aug 2016

Gahavälla Beach Seine Fishing, Sri Lanka

Case
The original case author uses pseudonyms for both names and places in their study. Gahavälla, a Sinhalese fishing village is located in the Southern Province in Sri Lanka. The original case, which spans from 1970-1971, catalogues approximately 180 farmers; the resource unit is predominantly inshore fish (sardines, anchovies, squid, rockfish, and spanish mackerel).  This case study is part of the original Common-Pool Resource (CPR) database. A summary of the original CPR coding conducted in the...
09 Aug 2016

Chisasibi - James Bay Fishery, Canada

Case
Chisasibi, formerly the island community of Fort George, is located on the eastern coast of James Bay, about 620 miles north of Montreal in the Canadian subarctic. The original case, which spans from 1974-1976, catalogues an action situation involving approximately 1,600 resident native people and 225 nonnatives. The resource units are two species of Coregonus fish: whitefish and cisco. The communal management of the fishery is successful in that there are no pollution and overuse problems. The...
09 Aug 2016

Cat Harbour Cod Fishery, Newfoundland, Canada

Case
Cat Harbour (now known as Lumsden) was a rural fishing community located on a peninsula stretching into the Atlantic off the northeastern coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The original case study is based on fieldwork conducted from 1964-1965 and catalogs an action situation involving 21 fishing crews that had 72 active fishermen during the summer cod-trapping season and 38 active fishermen exploiting the late summer/fall cod fishing grounds. The community is described as homogenous and...
09 Aug 2016

Lurin Sayoc Irrigation, Quinua District, Peru

Case
Lurin Sayoc is one of the two barrios of Quinua district of Ayacucho Province in the Peruvian highlands. The resource appropriated related to the social dilemma is water for irrigation distributed through a canal, diverted by stream. The original case was reported in 1976 and 1977 and catalogues an action situation involving 5,348 people. The author reported many fights around water use.This case study is part of the original Common-Pool Resource (CPR) database. A summary of the original CPR...
09 Aug 2016

Matsigenka agriculture, Manu Biosphere Reserve, Peru

Case
Arable land among the Matsigenka is a public good (Ostrom 2005: 24). At base the Matsigenka do not have institutions that regulate who can access arable land. Anyone who has been incorporated into a community has the right to access arable land. The only requirement before opening up a new field is that people must state their intent. This practice decreases the probability of clearing a plot of land that someone else was planning to clear. In short, use of arable land does not affect the...
09 Aug 2016

Fishery Robustness Diagram

Case
This case is to illustrate the functionality of the dynamic robustness diagram.  Right now, the descriptions are very limited.  They will become much more detailed as the research continues. 
09 Aug 2016

Whaling Practices among the Makah Indians, Neah Bay, Washington State, USA

Case
The case examines the whaling practices of the Makah Indians of Washington State. After practicing whaling for thousands of years, the Makah were forced to stop due to commercial whaling during the late 1800s and early 1900s. In the 1990s, the Makah began efforts to begin whaling again due to increased whale populations. Since their only successful whale hunt in 1999, the Makah have faced continual litigation from animal rights activists.
09 Aug 2016

The Evolution of Social Norms in Common Property Resource Use

Case
The problem of extracting commonly owned renewable resources is examined within an evolutionary-game-theoretic framework. It is shown that cooperative behavior guided by norms of restraint and punishment may be stable in a well-defined sense against invasion by narrowly self-interested behavior. The resource-stock dynamics are integrated with the evolutionary-game dynamics. Effects of changes in prices, technology, and social cohesion on extraction behavior and the long-run stock are analyzed....
09 Aug 2016