D.G. Webster

Postdoctoral Researcher
International Fisheries Management

The main focus of my research is on modeling human-environment interactions as complex adaptive systems. Much of my recent work along these lines has been developing and testing a model of adaptive governance that relies on satisficing rather than maximizing as a key decision-rule. As applied to international fisheries management, this means that fishers and the decision-makers they influence are “satisfied” with open access as long as profits are increasing, but will experience growing dissatisfaction as increasing competition causes their profits and eventually their market shares to decline. Following the famous work of Herbert Simon, this dissatisfaction engenders a search for better alternatives which in turn results in a trial-and-error approach to management. Depending on the timing and nature of response, this can lead to resilient, sustainable management regimes or sudden collapses in bioeconomic systems.

My doctoral dissertation presented and tested a preliminary framework for predicting national responses to overexploitation in fisheries for highly migratory species like tunas and marlins.In my subsequent book, Adaptive Governance: The Dynamics of Atlantic Fisheries Management, which is in press with MIT Press and will be out in the fall, I expand on that analysis by identifying several patterns of collective response at the international level. I’m also hoping to further this research by developing computational models of these fisheries and related institutions. To that end, I have been working with several colleagues to secure funding through NSF’s Coupled Natural and Human Systems program and their Human and Social Dynamics program.

More recently, I’ve begun to extend my work into non-fisheries arenas. As I’ve struggled to reduce my own ecological footprint, I’ve started thinking about public responses to climate change and the many other environmental problems associated with modern consumerism. Much as in fisheries, there seem to be adaptive elements in this area, but the feedback mechanisms that cause individuals to be dissatisfied are more distant and difficult to interpret. Because of this, both private preferences, which usually tend toward efficiency gains rather than reductions in usage, and social networks are critical determinants of voluntary changes in consumer behaviors. In the next year or so I plan to develop new models that will facilitate the exploration of these issues.

Curriculum Vita

Statement of Research Interests and Teaching Experience

List of References

Publisher's page for Adaptive Governance

Published Papers

Webster, D.G. 2007. Hakan Seckinelgin, The Environment and International Politics: International Fisheries, Heidegger and Social Method (Book Review). International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics 7: 313-315.

Webster, D.G. 2007. Leveraging Competitive Advantages: The Role of Developing Countries in International Fisheries Management. Journal of Environment and Development 16 (1): 1-24.

Webster, D.G. 2006. The Marlin Conundrums: Turning the Tide for By-catch Species. Bulletin of Marine Science. 79 (3): 561-575.

Kamrany, Nake & D.G. Webster. 2004. A Developing World Economy: Unlimited Growth with Limited Population. Los Angeles: Fundamental Books.

Pendleton, Linwood, Nicole Martin & D.G. Webster. 2001. Public Perceptions of Environmental Quality: A Survey Study of Beach Use and Perceptions in Los Angeles County. Marine Pollution Bulletin 42 (11): 1155-1160.

Presented Papers/Papers under Review

Webster, DG. In review. Quasi-Property Rights & the Effectiveness of Atlantic Tuna Management. In Robin Allen, James Joseph, and Dale Squires, eds. Conservation and Management of Transnational Tuna Fisheries. Boston: Blackwell Publishing.

Webster, DG. In review. Fisheries. In Mark Rushefsky, et al., eds. The Encyclopedia of Issues in US Public Policy. New York: Thompson Gale.

Webster, D.G. In review. Uncertainty as a Red Herring: Availability, Vulnerability, and the Precautionary Approaches. Global Environmental Politics. Also presented at the International Studies Association 49th Annual Convention. San Francisco, CA. March 26-29, 2008.

Webster, D.G. 2008. Adaptive Governance: Patterns from Vulnerability Response. International Studies Association 49th Annual Convention. San Francisco, CA. March 26-29, 2008.

Webster, DG. 2006. Vulnerability Response: The Political Economy of Innovation in International Resource Management. 57th Annual Tuna Conference. Lake Arrowhead, California. 22-25 May.