The role of fisheries governance in achieving the sustainable development goals: An exploratory study from the images of stakeholders in the Region of Murcia

Abstract

In September 2015, the United Nations approved the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 SDG target. Recently, a line of research has emerged to study the importance of fisheries governance at various geographic levels for the social, economic and environmental development of the planet. This document studies what changes in fisheries are necessary to achieve the SDGs. For this, it is important to know how the images that stakeholders have about their governance. The images allow us to describe sustainability challenges, explain why governments take a certain decision, and learn about people's motivations to act in favour of sustainability. Using fishing in the Region of Murcia as a case study, this work analyses the images of various groups and their relationship to the SDGs. The results show a wide variety of images and thematic areas related with 84 SDG targets. Furthermore, the document analyses how the image management can facilitate the implement the SDGs in the fisheries and it offers three implications for improving its governance.