The Wrong Fish: Maneuvering the Boundaries of Market-based Resource Management

How can economic actors stay afloat in a highly volatile market environment? By drawing on ethnographic material from the Icelandic fishing industry, this article demonstrates how fishers maneuver the boundaries of market-based resource management that tend to ignore the ever-changing environment of the sea. The empirical material shows how fishers skillfully manipulate their socio-technical environment in order to adjust the market for so-called Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs) with the movement of fish stocks. Accordingly, three coping practices are deployed: (i) tinkering with accounts, (ii) socio-technical conversion, and (iii) redefining boundaries. While these practices allow fishers to stay afloat, they are likewise undermined by the ever-changing environment of the sea, consequently fueling a money-induced cycle of socio-technical problem-solving and breakdowns.