Small-scale fisheries (SSF) contribute substantially to global food security, sustainable marine ecosystems and poverty alleviation. Yet many SSF face problems of overexploitation and poverty calling for novel governance approaches that enhance human-wellbeing, equity and ecological sustainability. External policies and interventions to support such governance transformations, however, need to take their often self-governed nature into account. Common practices based on informal arrangements between different fishery actors can make existing, mal-adapted structures very persistent and hence difficult to overcome. Here we combine multi-method empirical research on SSF in Mexico with agent-based modeling to analyze if and under which conditions interventions can shift ongoing self-organizing dynamics into directions that support the new governance form. We are particularly interested in the effectiveness of two different types of interventions, financial and social, and their performance under variable social and ecological conditions as commonly found in SSF. Our analysis reveals that a combination of financial and social support during extended periods of time is necessary to ensure persistence of new governance forms in face of competition with established forms, as well as environmental and social uncertainty. The findings highlight the importance of understanding the endogenous self-organizing dynamics created by the interplay between social (e.g. the dynamics of trust) and ecological (e.g. resource dynamics) processes in order to devise policies and measures to initiate a shift towards more sustainable pathways.

小型渔业（SSF）为全球粮食安全，可持续的海洋生态系统和减贫做出了巨大贡献。但是，许多SSF都面临着过度开发和贫困的问题，需要采用新颖的治理方法来增强人类福祉，公平和生态可持续性。但是，支持此类治理转型的外部政策和干预措施必须考虑其通常具有自治权的性质。基于不同渔业行为者之间非正式安排的共同做法会使现有的，适应不良的结构非常持久，因此难以克服。在这里，我们将针对墨西哥SSF的多方法实证研究与基于代理的建模相结合，以分析干预措施是否以及在何种条件下可以将正在进行的自组织动态转变为支持新治理形式的方向。我们对两种不同类型的干预措施（金融和社会干预措施）的有效性以及在SSF中常见的可变社会和生态条件下的效果特别感兴趣。我们的分析表明，在长期内必须结合财务和社会支持，以确保面对与既定形式的竞争以及环境和社会不确定性时，新的治理形式能够持久存在。研究结果突出了理解由社会（例如，社会）之间的相互作用所产生的内源性自组织动力的重要性。