Materialities, discourses and governance: scallop culture in Sechura, Peru

This paper looks at the institutional emergence, particularly space rights, within theculture of the Peruvian bay scallop (Argopectenpurpuratus) in Sechura Bay. Theinstitutional system developed within a period of 20 years from an open-access,gold rush scenario to a rather structured, formal activity–however, still relies on alot of informality. This work uses the matrix provided by the material dependencyframework presented in this special issue distinguishing between nature, humanand hybrid-made materialities that influence the emergence of institutionalstructures, on the one axis and path-, inter- and goal dependencies on the otheraxis. In this work, we argue that existing natural (high environmental risksassociated with scallop culture in this setting), hybrid (need to process quickly) andhuman-made (export-oriented production) materialities have shaped different pathdependencies in institutional development in favour of largerfirms who graduallytook over the control of scallop production from small-scale producers, who inturn became piece wage labourers. Yet, the realities of both actors are necessarilyintertwined, with informal loop holes being intentionally left open, shapingdifferent institutional solutions over time. Applying the material dependencyframework shows how materialities and goal dependencies are intertwined in thisparticular case of scallop bottom aquaculture.