Mismatches between institutions and social–ecological systems (SESs), often termed institutional mismatches or problems of fit, are a major sustainability challenge in natural resource management ( Young 2002 Cash et al. While these findings are based on the Skeena River watershed, they may be generalizable to other salmon SESs in which mismatches between social and ecological processes and institutions exist. I argue that improving social–ecological fit in salmon SESs will require new or revitalized forms of environmental governance that consciously fit the underlying social–ecological dynamics.
This case study suggests that mismatches are threatening salmon sustainability and negatively affecting Indigenous People’s rights, livelihoods, and approaches to resource management and stewardship. Utilizing Canadian federal environmental assessments as a proxy for colonial environmental governance institutions, I describe the common causes and consequences of mismatches between institutions and salmon SESs. Here, I use the theoretical concept of fit to examine institutional alignment in a large-scale Pacific salmon SES, the Skeena River watershed in British Columbia, Canada. This is particularly true for complex SESs, such as on the Pacific Coast of North America, where salmon drive interactions across multiple environments, jurisdictions, and scales. However, while mismatches are often cited in the literature as a major challenge, empirical evidence of mismatches and their consequences is limited. Mismatches between institutions and social–ecological systems (SESs) are one of the foremost challenges in natural resource management.
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