Science-to-management pathways in US Atlantic herring management: using governance network structure and function to track information flow and potential influence

Hartley, T. W., and Glass, C. 2010. Science-to-management pathways in US Atlantic herring management: using governance network structure and function to track information flow and potential influence. - ICES Journal of Marine Science, 67: 1154-1163. Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) are crucial members of the ecosystem and economy of the Northwest Atlantic, and a challenging species for management, which in the United States is a multistakeholder process, involving commercial and recreational fishing interests, conservation organizations, state and federal governments, and other interested parties. Given the large number of stakeholders, fisheries management has been conceptualized as a governance network, through which multiple parties access the decision-making process and seek to influence the process or outcome. Network analysis is employed to assess the access pathways for scientific information, i.e. collaborative acoustic-survey data, into stock-assessment decisions and the development process for the fisheries management plan. The governance network map was constructed for US Atlantic herring management in 2006 and 2007. The pathways of information flow in the network showed that participants in the collaborative acoustic survey were well connected to the stock-assessment and fisheries-management processes and decision-makers, particularly through key individuals bridging between the industry, science, and management communities. Heavy reliance on those individuals serving a bridging role made the network connectivity vulnerable, however. The network structure also demonstrated significant influence potential for acoustic-survey information. Ramifications for science-to-management pathways in fisheries are discussed