Towards a new economy of artisanal fisheries: from "extractive" to "exceptionality"

The goal of this article is to analyze the strategic market actions of artisanal fishers from Maitencillo cove (Chile), under the framework of institutional, technological, and economic transformations in the fisheries field, in which governance units aim at the sustainability of marine capture resources. An ethnographic research was carried out between 2016 and 2021. In a first phase (2016-2017), semi-structured interviews were conducted; in a second period (2017-2021), participant observation was applied; finally, a collection and review of photographs were carried out. The results show that the co-management of certain resources, represented by a type of territorial use right in this cove, is in an effective and alternative way of managing them. Moreover, a transformation on the valuation of Maitencillo products were identified. Here, the value of the products is guaranteed by the story and by the "staging" in the purchase and sale. It is concluded that the strategic market actions of these fishers are aligned with what Boltanski y Esquerre (2015) call the "economy of enrichment", in which heritage, tourism and the exceptionality of resources stand out. © 2023 Fundacion para la Investigacion Social Avanzada. All rights reserved.