Assessing information-sharing networks within small-scale fisheries and the implications for conservation interventions

Abstract The effectiveness of biodiversity conservation interventions is often dependent on local resource users' underlying social interactions. However, it remains unclear how fine-scale differences in information shared between resource users can influence network structure and the success of behaviour-change interventions. We investigate this knowledge gap by comparing information-sharing networks in a fishing community in Peru where a trial conservation intervention is underway to reduce the incidental capture of sea turtles (bycatch). We show that the general network structure detailing information sharing about sea turtle bycatch differs from other fishing-related information sharing, specifically in degree assortativity (homophily) and eccentricity. This finding highlights that fine-scale differences in the information shared between resource users may influence network structure.