What drives the resilience of wetland-dependent fishermen? Social determinants of co-management in Bangladesh

Abstract The factors driving wetland-dependent fishers' resilience to socio-ecological challenges largely depend on social context; thus, the selection of appropriate criteria to evaluate the resilience of wetland-dependent fishermen is a major issue for both planners and researchers. Taking this into account, this study utilizes a pair-wise comparison matrix model to measure the resilience of a wetland-dependent fishing community in Bangladesh. The model is based on 21 sub-criteria under the categories of social capital, collective action, and community facility. In this study, each sub-criterion is found to have a 6–29% relative importance in determining fishers' resilience to socio-ecological challenges. Social capital is the primary determinant of fishers' resilience (40%), followed by collective action (32%) and community facility (28%). Findings also suggests that bonding and linking social capital are less important than bridging social capital in developing fishers' resilience, and that a lack of coordination among fishers, government officials, and their respective activities may limit the role of collective action in fishers' resilience. The resilience of fishers may also be restricted by their failure to address economic and institutional constraints in managing the fishery. The use of pair-wise comparison to study the relative importance of social factors in fishers’ resilience to socio-ecological challenges, as was done in this study, may serve as a useful tool in managing wetland fisheries in Bangladesh.