The impact of proximity to urban areas on the dissolution of fishing cooperatives: Evidence from Mexico

Cooperative organizations are internationally promoted as a means of achieving conservation and governance objectives in small-scale fisheries (SSFs), but global trends in coastal development and population growth may be disincentivizing some fishers from joining or remaining in cooperatives. This idea has potentially important implications for SSF governance and conservation but has not been tested on a national scale. Our study aims to fill this gap by empirically establishing the relationship between Mexican fishing cooperatives’ rate of dissolution and their proximity to urban areas. The outcome of the analysis suggests that cooperatives near urban centers are more likely to dissolve. Specifically, a cooperative that is less than half an hour from an urban center is about twice as likely to go defunct compared to a similar cooperative that is farther away. This result suggests that cooperatives may be less attractive to fishers near urban areas due to social-ecological characteristics that diminish the appeal of three benefits offered by cooperativism: self-governance, collective marketing, and participation in the fishing sector. Policymakers, development practitioners, and conservation organizations in Mexico and elsewhere should be aware of the implications of these dynamics when considering governance and conservation strategies that rely upon long-term collaboration with cooperatives.