Doctoral Dissertation Research:(De-)Constructing the Catch: Fishing Discourses and Fisher-Resource Relations in North Carolina

Duke University, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

United States fisheries scientists and policymakers are currently debating a variety of marine spatial planning and other resource allocation measures designed to better manage the nation's fisheries. At a smaller-scale, regional level individual fishermen are engaged in debates between ocean resources and political opinions. These debates have tangible consequences for fishers and for the wider public. In the Carteret County area of North Carolina a lengthy commercial fishing history has witnessed a steep decline, matched by a simultaneous rise in recreational fishing activity. This has created socioeconomic tensions and political disagreements between the two groups, who often target the same fishing areas. Concern about fishery resources and policies arises not only from commercial fishers anxious about their livelihoods but also from consumers concerned about the environmental sustainability of imported seafood. This confluence of issues has led to the creation of several community-supported fisheries (CSFs) in the Northeast and most recently one in North Carolina. Doctoral student Noelle Boucquey at Duke University, under the supervision of Dr. Lisa Campbell will examine the decline of the fisheries in Carteret County in North Carolina. In this case study the historic changes in fishing patterns and debates will be documented, contemporary fishing narratives and commercial-recreational user group conflicts will be examined, and the symbolic and practical functions of a community-supported fishery program will be probed. This study will collect archived text and imagery data for the historical analysis and will collect ethnographic, in-depth interviews, maps, and photographic data for the contemporary components of the project. Project results are expected to help identify underlying sources of conflict among different fishers, and will provide strategies for better management of fishery resources and their users. The results of the project will help model the relationships between fishers of different types and will help answer questions about how different groups negotiate access to marine common-pool resources. The project will also provide a timely analysis of a relatively new phenomenon in fisheries, the community-supported fishery (CSF), which will allow for fruitful comparisons to be made with analogous community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs. The project's evaluation of the successes and failures of the CSF model will also offer practical insights into a particular fish harvesting and marketing regime. In current State legislative debates about specific marine species, there are real implications for how resources are to be allocated amongst different groups. Assuring the most equitable division of such resources requires the type of thorough ethnographic, historically-situated information this project will provide. This project will provide a basis for the types of fishery regulations that might be successful for managing fisheries at regional and national scales.