Small-scale fisheries are likely to experience a higher frequency and magnitude of environmental and socioeconomic change because of increasing climate shocks and pressures that result from them, as well as because of the influence of global market dynamics. Fisheries’ responses to the impacts of global change are often influenced by relations between fishers and traders. Such relations constitute a link between markets, fishers, and the marine ecosystems. However, the ways that fisher-trader relations respond to global change, influencing the adaptive capacities of small-scale fisheries are poorly understood. Addressing this gap in this paper, we explore how fisher-trader relations, embedded within other social, ecological, and social-ecological relations, mediate change, such as disasters, new policies, or market demand. We do this by mapping the interactions that shape the mediating role of the fisher-trader relations in five case studies of small-scale fisheries. Synthesizing among the case studies we develop a typology of combinations of relations, their roles, and characteristics that influence the capacity of small-scale fisheries to respond to abrupt, slow, and cyclical change, resulting in absorbing or reinforcing its effects. Particularly we show how fisher-trader relations can generate the capacity to maintain livelihoods and form new relations when exposed to disruptive change and the capacity to increase supply in response to new market opportunities. The findings highlight the importance of studying responses to change in small-scale fisheries through the lens of relations and combinations of relations rather than individual behaviors. Future research on this topic could explore how the identified patterns of relations, including fisher-trader relations, may mediate change in other socio-cultural and social-ecological contexts, and when exposed to different types of disturbances.