ADCAP: Adaptive Capacity of Fisheries Institutions

ADCAP (Strengthening the adaptive capacity of institutions in fisheries; Research Council of Norway, NORKLIMA programme, 2012–2017) asked how institutions shape the ability of fisheries to cope with change, and how to tell cause from effect. Fisheries with weak institutions often collapse, but collapsing fisheries can also erode the institutions that govern them, so simple correlations say little about what actually works. ADCAP tackled this from two sides. Using global fisheries data and an instrumental-variable approach, the project isolated the causal effect of institutions on ecosystem collapse and showed that secure property rights reduce the risk that fish stocks collapse. In laboratory experiments on the commons, it tested whether the way a social dilemma is framed changes behaviour, and how this differs between public goods games and common pool resource games.