Jennifer BECKENSTEINER
Bio-économie et gouvernance des ressources marines
Cadre de recherche Ifremer
Assignment
UMR 6308 AMURE - IUEM Bureau D125
Contact
+33 2 21 74 56 57
Links
Research interests
- Fisheries co-management
- Small-sclae fisheries governance
- Social-Ecological Systems adaptation
- Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries
- Participatory research and transdisciplinarity
Current research project
• PAMS: Participatory Approaches in Marine Social-ecological systems
o April 2025 – April 2028
o Funding : PPR Océan & Climat
o Co-pis: Yunne Shin (IRD) and Olivier Thébaud (Ifremer)
o In the context of societal challenges related to biodiversity conservation and the sustainability of marine SES, participatory approaches are key methods in research involving actions and decision-making. However, there are many gaps and shortcomings in the practical, conceptual and ethical ways in which stakeholders have been involved in scientific research. In order to strengthen and improve the relevance of stakeholder engagement (SkE) processes in research projects, there is a need to review and assess the existing scientific corpus on the topic. The main goals of the PAMS project is to provide an exhaustive panorama of the level of SkE related to research projects, the types of marine SES management concerns addressed, the type of intention for declared stakeholder participation, the approaches and tools used, as well as the lessons learned and future prospects. The review will be conducted in close collaboration with an interdisciplinary team of 15-20 experts covering marine environmental and sustainability sciences.
Past postdoctoral positions
• Stakeholder learning in transdisciplinary research: application in the mangrove crab fisheries co-management in Madagascar
o Jan. 2023- Jan. 2025
o Funding: IRD – CoSav Littoral et Océan
o Co-Pi: Marc Léopold (IRD)
o This project aimed at assessing local stakeholders’ learning and participation in the processes of collaborative management of mangrove crab export-fisheries through a transdisciplinary research. We first evaluated the technical and relational learning of stakeholders who participated in the CORECRABE action research project’s regional working groups and/or the national workshop organized from 2020 to 2022. Then, we interviewed local small-scale fisheries actors (fishers, buyers, and community leaders) in 12 coastal villages involved or not in the CORECRABE project activities. Their fishery knowledge, project participation, social network construction, and management perceptions were collected. The actors’ learning from the project workshops and village-based in situ activities was analyzed, as well as the transfer of knowledge to and from the local communities at the regional and national levels. The study highlights the opportunities (e.g., fishery diagnostic co-production) and the challenges (e.g., limited diffusion within villages) of transdisciplinary approach associated with learning mechanisms at varying scales for operationalizing SSF co-management.
• FishAdapt: Enhancing fishery sustainability through adaptation of socio-ecological systems to global changes
o Oct. 2020- Dec. 2022
o Funding: EUR ISblue
o Co-Pi: Olivier Thébaud (Ifremer) and Tony Charles (St Mary’s University)
o This project investigates how fishers and fishery management institutions have responded to large-scale changes (ecological, economic and/or political driven changes). We expect that adaptations of fishers and of fishery governance occur at different temporal and spatial scales, having different adaptive capacity. One specific question that this research aims to answer is how institutional and governance mechanisms can facilitate or limit fisher’s adaptation to changes. A balanced-method approach formed of conceptual bio-economic models and institutional analyses will allow for a more comprehensive assessments of the long-term responses of fisheries systems, identifying key adaptation processes at the sector, community and institutional levels. The research focuses on a comparative analysis of two case studies on the North Atlantic Ocean coasts that have experienced dramatic changes in their fisheries and are in the middle of one at the moment. The first one includes the analysis of the anchovy fishery in the Bay of Biscay that collapsed in 2004 and was closed from 2005 to 2010. The second case study involves the response of communities to the collapse of the cod fishery and the resulting development of the lobster fishery in Nova Scotia, Canada. Based on combined natural and social sciences methods, this research framework enables conceptualizing global change adaptation processes, as experienced by fishers and management institutions, with a focus on the role of response timing.
Selected Conference Presentations
- Beckensteiner J. et al. “Assessing the performance of a national participatory scheme for the co-management of the mangrove crab fishery in Madagascar”, Oral presentation, MSEAS – Marine Socio-Ecological Systems Symposium, PICES/ICES, Yokohama, Japan, June 2024.
- Beckensteiner J. & Daurès F. “A network analysis of Bay of Biscay small pelagic fisheries trades facing major changes”, Oral presentation, TRANSPEL Conference interdisciplinaire sur les petits pélagiques, Brest, France, April 2025.
- Beckensteiner J. et al. “Resilience for whom and according to what criteria?” Oral presentation, PICES/ICES Small Pelagic Fish Symposium, Lisbon, Portugal, November 2022.
- Beckensteiner J., Boschetti F., Thébaud O. “Making the most of the best (and the least of the worst) in adapting to climate change: a stylized fishery example” Oral presentation, the International Institute of Fisheries Economics & Trade Biennial Conference, Vigo, Spain, July 2022.
- Beckensteiner J., Scheld A.M., Kaplan D.M., “Use and non-use of private oyster leases in the lower Chesapeake Bay”. Oral presentation, North American Association of Fisheries Economists Forum, Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 2019. Best student presentation award.
- Beckensteiner J., Scheld A.M., Fernández M., Kaplan M. “The Chilean Territorial User Rights for Fisheries (TURFs) network and catch of benthic resources in open access areas” Oral presentation, 3rd World Small-Scale Fisheries Congress, Chiang Mai, Thailand, Oct. 2018. Best student presentation award
Publications
- Quezada F., Tommasi D., Kaplan I., Hernvann P-Y., Frawley T., Garcia D., Ibaibarriaga L., de Moor C., Beckensteiner J., Sánchez‑Maroño S., et al. (2025) Evaluating Inter-Sectoral Tradeoffs and Community-Level Response to Spatio-Temporal Changes in Forage Distribution and Abundance. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-025-09949-4
- Beckensteiner J., Villasante S., Charles A., Petitgas P., Le Grand C., Thébaud O. (2024) A systemic approach to analyzing post-collapse adaptations in the Bay of Biscay anchovy fishery. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, in press. Publisher’s official version : https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2023-0087 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00883/99495/
- Beckensteiner J., Boschetti F., Thébaud O. (2023) Adaptive fisheries responses may lead to climate maladaptation in the absence of access regulation, NPJ Ocean Sustainability, 2 (3) https://www.nature.com/articles/s44183-023-00010-0
- Garraud L., Beckensteiner J., Thébaud O., Claudet J. (2023) Ecolabel certification in multi-zone marine protected areas can incentivize sustainable fishing practices and offset the costs of fishing effort displacement. Earth System Governance, 17. 10.1016/j.esg.2023.100184
- Le Floc’h P., Beckensteiner J., Thébaud O., Alban F., Duhamel E., Merzéréaud M. (2023) Explaining technical change and its impacts over the very long term: the case of the Atlantic
sardine fishery in France from 1900 to 2017. Research Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2023.104864 - Melbourne-Thomas J., Tommasi D., Gehlen M., Murphy E., Beckensteiner J., Bravo F., Eddy T.D, Fischer M., Fulton E., Hofmann E., Ito M., Mynott S., Ortega-Cisneros K., Osiecka A.N., Payne M., Lucio R.S., Scherrer K. (2022) Integrating human dimensions in decadal-scale prediction for marine social-ecological systems: lighting the grey zone. ICES Journal of Marine Science. DOI: 1093/icesjms/fsac228
- Munroe, D., Powell, E., Hofmann, E., Scheld, A., Borsetti S., Beckensteiner J., Klinck, J. (2022) The Atlantic surfclam fishery and offshore wind energy development: 1. Model development and verification ICES Journal of Marine Science, fsac108, https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsac108
- Scheld, A., Beckensteiner J., Munroe D., Powell E., Borsetti S., Hofmann, E., Klinck J. (2022) The Atlantic surfclam fishery and offshore wind energy development: 2. Assessing economic impacts. ICES Journal of Marine Science, fsac109, https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsac109
- Beckensteiner J., Scheld A.M., St-Laurent P., Friedrichs M.A.M., Kaplan D.M. (2021) Environmentally-determined production frontiers and lease utilisation in Virginia’s eastern oyster aquaculture industry, Aquaculture, 542. DOI: 10.1016/j.aquaculture.2021.736883
- Beckensteiner J., Kaplan D.M, Scheld A.M. (2020) Barriers to eastern oyster aquaculture expansion in Virginia, Frontiers in Marine Science,7:53, DOI: 3389/fmars.2020.00053
- Beckensteiner J., Scheld A.M, Fernández M., Kaplan D.M. (2020) Drivers and trends in catch of benthic resources in Chilean TURFs and surrounding open access areas, Ocean & Coastal Management, 183, DOI: 1016/j.ocecoaman.2019.104961
- Huynh Q.C., Beckensteiner J., Carleton L.M., Marcek B.J., Nepal V.K.C., Peterson C.D., Wood M.A., Hoenig J.M. (2018) A comparison performance of the length-converted catch curve and Beverton-Holt total mortality estimator, Marine and Coastal Fisheries, 10, 298–313, DOI: 1002/mcf2.10027.
- Nomura K., Scheld A.M., Beckensteiner J., and Kaplan D. M. (2017) Comparative analysis of factors influencing spatial distributions of marine protected areas and territorial use rights for fisheries in Japan, Marine policy, 82, 59-67. DOI: 1016/j.marpol.2017.05.005.
- Beckensteiner J., Kaplan D.M, Potts W.M., Santos C.V. and O’Farrell M.R. (2016) Evaluation of population status from length frequency data of coastal marine fish species in southern Angola, PlosOne, DOI: 1371/journal.pone.0147834.
- Léopold M., Beckensteiner J., Kaltavara J., Raubani J. and Caillon S. (2013) Community-based management of near-shore fisheries in Vanuatu: What works? Marine policy, 42, 167-176 DOI: 1016/j.marpol.2013.02.013.
Education
- 2014-2019: PhD at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (William & Mary, USA)
- Dissertation title: Efficacy and unintended outcomes of spatial property rights for fisheries and aquaculture management in Chile and in Virginia, U.S.A
- 2013: M2 Sciences halieutiques et aquacoles at Agrocampus-Ouest (France)
- Thesis title: Evaluation of population status and potential for conservation with marine protected areas of coastal marine fish species in southern Angola.
- 2009-2011: M1-M2 Ingénierie en Écologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité at the University of Montpellier II (France)
- Thesis title: Artisanal reef fisheries community-based management in Vanuatu.
