Institutionalizing co-production diplomacy in contexts of long-term epistemological conflict: A case study of cod fisheries governance

Knowledge co-production is a collaborative approach to research that seeks to enable transformative societal change and improve outcomes in natural resource management and sustainable development. Instituting knowledge co-production requires that researchers, decision-makers, and stakeholders be willing to work together towards shared goals. In the context of fisheries management, co-production represents a significant departure from the technocratic discourses and governance practices that have characterized decision-making for decades. Moreover, some fisheries contexts have been plagued by persistent and seemingly intractable epistemological conflicts between stakeholders and decision-makers. Such situations complicate the implementation of co-production and raise questions about the extent to which researchers can achieve the aims of co-production in situations of distrust, amenity, and entrenched positions. We use the case study of Northern Cod, a stock of Atlantic Cod (Gadus morhua) governance in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, a case of long-standing conflict between the regulator, fishers, Indigenous peoples, and industry parties, to explore whether and how co-production can enable collaborative research leading to “transformative societal change.” We find five factors complicating uptake of co-production in the governance of Northern Cod: (i) competing perspectives exist regarding the relative worth of different types of knowledge; (ii) links between epistemic preferences and interests; (iii) barriers related to access and inclusion in governance spaces; (iv) barriers related to institutional design; and, (v) conflict-ridden stakeholder relations. In a context of persistent epistemological conflict and distrust, we propose that knowledge co-production focus on diplomacy through science with an aim to repair relationships rather than produce new knowledge that can serve as evidence in decision-making as the primary goal of the co-production process.