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Introduction: Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing poses a significant threat to marine resource management globally. Environmental criminology plays a vital role in understanding and mitigating IUU activities by focusing on the contextual elements surrounding these crimes. This study examines the dynamics of poaching within areas managed through Territorial User Rights for Fisheries (TURFs), with a specific emphasis on the loco (Concholepas concholepas) fishery in Chile. Methods: Employing Crime Script Analysis (CSA) as the primary methodological lens, this research meticulously deconstructs the criminal process involved in TURFs poaching operations. CSA is used to identify key elements, providing a comprehensive understanding of poachers modus operandi. Additionally, by integrating CSA with Situational Precipitators of Crime (SPC), the study identifies critical factors such as environmental conditions, socio-economic disparities, and enforcement weaknesses that shape poaching opportunities within TURFs. Results: The analysis reveals a complex interplay between SPC factors, underscoring their role in shaping poaching dynamics. Key findings highlight the importance of specific environmental conditions, socio-economic disparities, and enforcement weaknesses in facilitating poaching activities. The study identifies various tactics and strategies employed by poachers and the roles of different actors involved in the poaching process. Discussion: Building upon these findings, the study proposes a comprehensive Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) framework aimed at effectively combating TURFs poaching. The framework emphasizes the importance of striking a careful balance between restrictive and inclusive measures to mitigate potential negative consequences. The study contributes valuable insights into understanding and addressing IUU fishing, particularly within TURFs in Chile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We study the endogenous formation of common pool resource coalitions. • The experiment participants were Chilean fishers and university students. • Fishers often formed the grand coalition when the cost of deterring poaching was low. • Fishers invested in deterrence frequently and these investments reduced poaching. • Students formed coalitions less frequently and these coalitions tended to be small. We present the results of framed field (lab-in-field) experiments designed to investigate the endogenous formation of common pool resource (CPR) coalitions when the resource is co-defended with costly monitoring by coalition members and sanctions for encroachment imposed by the government. The experiments were conducted with fishers who were members of Chile's territorial use rights fisheries (TURFs) and in the lab with Chilean university students. Consistent with theoretical predictions, the fishers frequently formed CPR coalitions, even when they could not deter outsider poaching. When the cost of monitoring was low, fishers frequently formed the grand coalition. Coalitions tended to be smaller when monitoring was more costly, but not significantly so. However, coalitions were significantly smaller when monitoring was not available relative to when the cost of monitoring was low. Fishers also invested in monitoring frequently and these investments reduced poaching. When coalitions formed, total harvest effort was curtailed and earnings for coalition members generally increased. Students formed coalitions less frequently, these coalitions tended to be small, and they infrequently invested in monitoring, even when it was profitable to do so. Consequently, student coalition members were not better off on average than under open access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this era of a global biodiversity crisis, vascular plants are facing unprecedented extinction rates. We conducted an assessment of the extinction risk of 32 species and 7 subspecies of Copiapoa, a genus endemic to Chile's fog-dependent coastal Atacama Desert. We applied the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List Categories and Criteria enhanced by expert insights and knowledge. Our primary aim was to analyze the impact of trade and poaching on their extinction risk. We employed machine learning models, including multinomial logistic regression (MLR), decision tree (DT), and random forest (RF), to analyze the relationships between conservation status and various factors. These factors encompassed trade and poaching activities, landscape condition, human footprint, monthly cloud frequency, and biological traits such as evolutionary distinctiveness and maximum diameter. Seven taxa had an area of occupancy (AOO) of <10 km 2 , 10 additional taxa had an AOO of <20 km 2 , and 16 taxa had an AOO of ≤100 km 2 . This reassessment exposed a critical level of extinction risk for the genus; 92% of the taxa were classified as threatened, 41% as critically endangered, 41% as endangered, and 10% as vulnerable. MLR, DT, and RF exhibited accuracies of 0.784, 0.730, and 0.598, respectively, and identified trade and poaching pressure and landscape condition as the primary drivers of extinction risk. Our assessment of Copiapoa showed trade, poaching, habitat degradation, and their synergic impacts as the main drivers of the genus' extinction risk. Our results highlight the urgent need for nations to develop and enforce strategies to monitor and control trade and poaching pressure because these factors are crucial for the long-term persistence of desert plants., (© 2024 The Author(s). Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.)

This work presents the results of framed field experiments designed to study the co-enforcement of access to common pool resources. The experiments were conducted in the field with artisanal fishers in Chile. In the experiments, members of a CPR group (called insiders) not only decided how much to harvest but also invest in monitoring to deter poaching by outsiders. Sanctions for poaching were exogenous as if provided by a government authority. Treatments varied the level of the sanction and whether the monitoring investment was voluntarily provided by insiders or collectively provided by a group vote. Results suggest that co-enforcement can reduce poaching by outsiders and increase harvests by insiders, but the insiders' monitoring investments tended to offset their gains in harvest earnings. Higher poaching sanctions and voting on monitoring contributions, separately and together, led insiders to invest enough in monitoring to eliminate the average gains from poaching. However, poaching was not eliminated despite zero or negative average poaching earnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Illegal fishing poses a major threat to conservation of marine resources worldwide. However, there is still limited empirical research that quantifies illegal catch levels. We used the randomized response technique to estimate the proportion of divers and the quantities of loco (Concholepas concholepas) they extracted illegally. Loco have been managed for the past 17 years through a territorial user rights for fisheries system (TURFs) in Chile. Illegal fishing of loco was widespread within the TURFs system. Official reported landings (i.e., legal landings) accounted for 14–30% of the total loco extraction. Our estimates suggest that ignoring the magnitude of illegal fishing and considering only official landing statistics may lead to false conclusions about the status and trends of a TURFs managed fishery. We found evidence of fisher associations authorizing their members to poach inside TURFs, highlighting the need to design TURFs systems so that government agencies and fishers’ incentives and objectives align through continuous adaptation. Government support for enforcement is a key element for the TURFs system to secure the rights that are in place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Territorial use rights in fisheries (TURFs) are becoming a widely promoted tool to enhance the sustainability of small-scale fisheries. In 1991, Chile established a national coastal TURF policy that gave legal authority to assign exclusive access rights to artisanal fisher organizations. In 2014, there were several hundred TURFs decreed to fisher organizations in different biophysical and socioeconomic settings. To date, research assessing TURF implementation has generally been based on a few case studies and have had mixed results. Here, we present results from a survey of 535 fishers from 55 different artisanal fisher organizations. The survey consisted of three open-ended questions that explore users' perceptions of the main problems, benefits, and improvements concerning assigned TURFs. We also sampled 55 presidents of artisanal fisher organizations to explore how they perceived the accomplishments of TURFs. Main key problems, as perceived by fishers, include increased costs associated with surveillance and poaching, and the variability and sometimes lack of financial returns. Despite strong price drops in exported species, TURFs have provided incentives for innovation and stewardship, and fishers are generally unwilling to relinquish them. In fact, fishers define TURF benefits in multiple dimensions, which include conservation/ ecological and territorial empowerment. Fisher presidents stress that although expectations of economic benefits have not been fully realized, territorial empowerment is a critical benefit. Through the analysis of fishers' perceptions on solutions to TURFs' problems, we highlight the development of stocking activities, combining TURFs with marine reserves, food traceability, and what we call BIO+ seafood-- products that have associated biodiversity benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The substantial increase in poaching within the fisheries' management areas (MA) system in central Chile is likely driven by an interplay of socio-economic factors. To assess this problem, the exploitation state of an important benthic resource in the MAs (i.e., keyhole limpet) was related to socio-economic drivers of the fishery. The potential drivers of poaching included the level of formal and informal enforcement and distance to surveillance authorities, a rebound effect of fishing effort displacement by MAs, wave exposure and land-based access to the MA, and alternative economic activities in the fishing village. A Bayesian-Belief Network approach was adopted to assess the effects of potential drivers of poaching on the exploitation state of limpets, assessed by the proportion of the catch that is below the minimum legal size and by the relative median size of limpets fished within the MAs in comparison with neighboring open access areas. Results showed the important role of socio-economic (e.g., alternative economic activities in the village) and context variables (e.g., fishing effort displacement or distance to surveillance authorities) as drivers of poaching in the study area. Scenario analysis explored variables that are susceptible to be managed, evidencing that an integrative ecological and socio-economic approach can offer solutions to the unsustainable exploitation of marine resources. • This study explored the drivers of poaching within a TURF system. • A Bayesian network was designed to identify key drivers of poaching. • The network was based on the link between socioeconomic factors and resource state. • Scenario analysis explored the effects of variables that are susceptible to being managed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We assessed the importance of potential sources of mortality for the Vulnerable southern pudu Pudu puda in southern Chile using the clinical records of wildlife rehabilitation centres, necropsies of animals found in the field and a review of the diet of potential predators. To assess whether the identified mortality sources operate in nominally protected areas, we conducted a camera-trap survey in two areas to determine the presence of pudus and their potential predators. Predation by domestic dogs Canis lupus familiaris and car collisions were the commonest causes of pudu admissions to rehabilitation centres (35 of 44) and of deaths of animals encountered opportunistically in the field (seven of 14). Field data suggest that poaching could also be an important threat to pudus. Pudus were detected in both areas surveyed, accounting for 15.6% of mammal detections. Dogs accounted for 47.8% of all detections of potential predator species, followed by pumas Puma concolor (17.4%), guignas Leopardus guigna (17.4%) and chilla foxes Lycalopex griseus (17.4%). The literature survey implicated only pumas as important pudu predators among native carnivores. Our data suggest that, aside from forest loss, dogs, road kills and probably poaching are important concerns for pudu conservation. Our frequent detections of free-ranging dogs associated with roads within nominally protected areas suggest that long-term efforts to conserve pudu will require not only the protection of remnant native forest but also substantive environmental education to modify dog management near protected areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that forensic techniques for the investigation of crime scenes involved in the poaching of vicuña Vicugna vicugna species will be developed in Chile as a result of increase in hunting occuring on the Andean altiplano. Topics discussed include confiscation of ivory such as furs from smugglers in Chile and the training provided to several officials such as Chilean Police officers in crime scene investigation at the U.S National Fish and Wildlife Forensic Laboratory.