This study explored how a scenario-based approach to change management could help improve multi-scalar decision-making within fishery systems. We used many tools, including structured decision-making tools, qualitative modelling, and scenario stories. Using an iterative and interactive research process, we developed cognitive maps, a weighted hierarchy, and a small Bayesian model to quantify and understand fishers' perceptions of their system’s drivers of change.

These tools eventually informed the scenarios stories, which was the last tool used in this approach. Set in 2050 in the town of Melkhoutfontein, the resulting small-scale scenario stories explore the long-term future of the town, especially with regards to access to fishing rights, capital, climate change, and fish stock availability. These small-scale scenario stories stimulated learning and prompted important conversations about what the future may hold for this group of fishers. Ultimately, reflecting on both the process and the product, our research demonstrates how participatory decision-making can be enacted. It engages with a diversity of tools to explore both the current state and potential improvements of day-to-day decision-making at the level of the fisher or household. It also simultaneously aids the implementation of system-based management approaches such as the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAF).