TY - JOUR
T1 - "We and us, not I and me"
T2 - Justice, social capital, and household vulnerability in a Nova Scotia fishery
AU - Barnett, Allain J.
AU - Eakin, Hallie
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by an NSF ( SES-0645789 , BCS-026363 ) and CNH grant ( GEO-1115054 ). Thanks to Kathy Kyle, Scott McClintock, and Julia C. Bausch, and to the anonymous reviewers, for their advice and recommendations for improving this manuscript. Thanks also to Patty King, Shannon Scott-Tibbetts, the Fishermen and Scientist Research Society, Alida Bundy, Anthony Davis, Ken Frank, John Tremblay, Carl McDonald, Joe Walcott, Mike Campbell, Nancy Shackell, Marc Allain, and Peter Comeau for their assistance and advice. Thanks to all fishermen, fishing families, and fisheries representatives who took the time to share their perspectives. Thank you to the captains and crew who helped me gain first-hand experience of fishing practices.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
PY - 2015/5/1
Y1 - 2015/5/1
N2 - Marine harvesters face significant livelihood challenges due to the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems, and due to economic fluctuations that influence their incomes. In this study, we demonstrate vulnerability as a product of the interactions among marine harvesters, government and buyers. We combined Elinor Ostrom's attention to the influence of institutions on resource exploitation, with political ecology's attention to perceptions of agency, and the contribution of justice and equity to measuring the success of institutions. We demonstrate the benefits of this approach by examining the multi-species fishery of Barrington, Nova Scotia. We conducted 31 semi-structured interviews and 113 surveys in the summer of 2012 with buyers, harvesters, and local experts. We used Ostrom's SES framework to pinpoint system elements that were salient to respondents, with attention to household vulnerability outcomes. Based on an analysis of these themes, we outline three processes affecting vulnerability outcomes: 1) Harvesters preferred individual over collective action due to low procedural justice and social cohesion in decision-making, 2) agents with greater political and economic power gained control over fishing access-rights while others became more dependent on lobster, and 3) economic and ecological conditions, combined with increased dependence, incentivized harvesters to catch more lobsters as prices declined. The case suggests that actors sense of control over their resource base and perception of justice in the process of institutional design may be as significant in vulnerability as the exogenous drivers of change that affect livelihood outcomes. We suggest interventions that may improve these interactions among government, harvesters and buyers, and improve the livelihoods in coastal communities.
AB - Marine harvesters face significant livelihood challenges due to the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems, and due to economic fluctuations that influence their incomes. In this study, we demonstrate vulnerability as a product of the interactions among marine harvesters, government and buyers. We combined Elinor Ostrom's attention to the influence of institutions on resource exploitation, with political ecology's attention to perceptions of agency, and the contribution of justice and equity to measuring the success of institutions. We demonstrate the benefits of this approach by examining the multi-species fishery of Barrington, Nova Scotia. We conducted 31 semi-structured interviews and 113 surveys in the summer of 2012 with buyers, harvesters, and local experts. We used Ostrom's SES framework to pinpoint system elements that were salient to respondents, with attention to household vulnerability outcomes. Based on an analysis of these themes, we outline three processes affecting vulnerability outcomes: 1) Harvesters preferred individual over collective action due to low procedural justice and social cohesion in decision-making, 2) agents with greater political and economic power gained control over fishing access-rights while others became more dependent on lobster, and 3) economic and ecological conditions, combined with increased dependence, incentivized harvesters to catch more lobsters as prices declined. The case suggests that actors sense of control over their resource base and perception of justice in the process of institutional design may be as significant in vulnerability as the exogenous drivers of change that affect livelihood outcomes. We suggest interventions that may improve these interactions among government, harvesters and buyers, and improve the livelihoods in coastal communities.
KW - Agency
KW - Atlantic Canada
KW - Institutions
KW - Justice
KW - Social capital
KW - Vulnerability
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U2 - 10.1016/j.apgeog.2014.11.005
DO - 10.1016/j.apgeog.2014.11.005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84928620880
SN - 0143-6228
VL - 59
SP - 107
EP - 116
JO - Applied Geography
JF - Applied Geography
ER -