Psychocultural Adaptation and Development Policy for Small-scale Fishermen's Cooperatives in Ecuador

Resumen

The two principal methods of producing marine products, mariculture and capture fishing, manifest radically different work patterns. The only similarity is the product. The paper argues that these different patterns of production influence different modes of social and psychocultural adaptation among mariculturalists and capture fishermen. Data analyzed from 48 cooperatives in Ecuador indicate that these different modes of adaptation influence factors associated with cooperative success. Factors associated with social solidarity are the most important predictors of cooperative success among capture fishermen while entrepreneurial management style has the greatest impact on shrimp mariculture cooperatives. This leads to the conclusion that different techniques need to be used to form successful cooperatives among the two types of producers.