Adaptive management and other structured decision processes represent best practices for decision making but rely on collaboration among stakeholders. However, for many complex natural resource decision problems, conflict over values or interpretation of data prevents collaboration. Thus, a central challenge is to manage decision processes in a way to shift stakeholders and policy makers from conflict to cooperation. We have found that, at least in some instances, the decision process itself, through explicit recognition of competing objectives and uncertainty, can help prepare groups for collaboration. We present a case study that illustrates 1) the use of a structured decision process to shift stakeholders away from conflict and towards collaborative decision making and 2) that uncertainty need not be an impediment to effective decision making. The case study is on the multispecies adaptive management plan for horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) and red knots (Calidris canutus) in Delaware Bay.
Results/Conclusions
Stakeholders differed on socioeconomic and ecological values. Red knots rely on spawning horseshoe crab eggs as a primary food source during their annual migration to breeding areas in the Arctic. Commercial fishers harvest horseshoe crabs for use as bait in other fisheries and the biomedical industry. Thus, this situation has resulted in competing objectives among stakeholder groups. The structured process moved the groups from qualitative expressions of their values to a quantitative objective function so that they could see their values included in the policy comparisons. Interest groups also presented different views on the ecological relationship between horseshoe crabs and red knots. A predictive model set incorporated the competing hypotheses as structural uncertainty so that stakeholders could see that their views contributed to predictions and decisions. The explicit inclusion in policy comparisons of stakeholders' values and predictions helped them develop a shared vision and engender trust. As a result, a path was cleared for the development and implementation of an adaptive management plan. Preparation for collaboration is a prerequisite for adaptive management. However, in some circumstances, the structured decision process itself can be a tool to transform conflict into collaboration.