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Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Natural Resources Law

Stresses And Mind-Sets In Fishery Management, Douglas M. Johnston Apr 1995

Stresses And Mind-Sets In Fishery Management, Douglas M. Johnston

Dalhousie Law Journal

This paper reviews the evolution of fishery management as a field of crossdisciplinary inquiry and suggests that each participating discipline tends to be attracted to its own range of explanatory theories and to its own stock of relevant data. Impacts of fishery failure are experienced at different levels of society, each suggesting a different approach to remedial action. The fishery collapse in Atlantic Canada should be studied from a comparative perspective in order to gather ideas on how to cope more effectively with the socio-economic consequences. Above all, however, the disaster should be seen as an unprecedented challenge for the …


Behind The Cod Curtain: A Perspective On The Political Economy Of The Atlantic Groundfish Fishery, D Leslie Burke, Leo Brander Apr 1995

Behind The Cod Curtain: A Perspective On The Political Economy Of The Atlantic Groundfish Fishery, D Leslie Burke, Leo Brander

Dalhousie Law Journal

This article addresses the collapse of Atlantic groundfish stocks in terms of its significant social and economic impact. How had so many people become dependent on this modest resource? What circumstances contributed to creating a hidden underemployed class in the fishing industry? The analysis adds to the thesis that public support of unproductive industry and income support systems underlie the current crisis, creating barriers to a viable future for the Atlantic Fishery. The authors draw on comparisons with the economy of the former Soviet Union where central planning of an economy based on state owned common property failed to harness …


The Groundfishery In Crisis: A Personal Snapshot, John G. Leefe Apr 1995

The Groundfishery In Crisis: A Personal Snapshot, John G. Leefe

Dalhousie Law Journal

The collapse of the Atlantic fishery has resulted in significant economic dislocation and is in likelihood, going to result in long-term social dislocation as well. The unalterable fact is that the fishery of the future is going to be dramatically different from that which we are now leaving. Hindsight is not valid currency nor is assessment of blame a worthwhile exercise. We can, if we so choose, learn from the past. If we select that path our descendants will applaud us. If we choose to be as blind in the future as we often have been in the past, they …


Preface, Dawn A. Russell, Moira L. Mcconnell Apr 1995

Preface, Dawn A. Russell, Moira L. Mcconnell

Dalhousie Law Journal

As guest editors we are privileged to have the opportunity to create this special edition of the Dalhousie Law Journal. It is special for a number of reasons. First, the contributions reflect a specific decision on our part to explore the nature and meaning of events being experienced in Atlantic Canada's fishery from a variety of perspectives, of which law, traditionally privileged in law journals for its explanation of events, is perhaps the least important. Secondly the authors, many of whom are people who would not ordinarily write for legal publications, were given express carte blanche to contribute "think pieces" …


The Collapse Of The Northern Cod Fishery: A Historical Perspective, Graham D. Taylor Apr 1995

The Collapse Of The Northern Cod Fishery: A Historical Perspective, Graham D. Taylor

Dalhousie Law Journal

Although the collapse of Atlantic Canada's northern cod fishery may have been unexpected in terms of its rapidity, it is not an isolated or inexplicable event. This paper reviews the major factors affecting the cod fishery crisis (and other natural resource disasters of the 20th century) including: (1) the rapid development of technologies of resource exploitation; (2) the inadequacy of international measures to conserve and regulate the fishery; (3) limitations on scientific capabilities to manage the fishery; and (4) a cultural climate that emphasized economic growth above other values. The paper assesses the prospects for recovery of the fishery in …


Constructing' Fisheries Management: A Values Perspective, David Ralph Matthews Apr 1995

Constructing' Fisheries Management: A Values Perspective, David Ralph Matthews

Dalhousie Law Journal

This paper applies a "social constructionist" position to an understanding of the nature of fisheries management policy. It argues that both the way in which we view "nature" and the way in which we view such natural resources of the fishery are "socially constructed" in terms of particular value orientations and the interests that these represent. In particular, it examines the value orientations related to the social construction of the fishery as a biological, social, or economic resource, as well as the social constructions involved in regarding the fishery as either common property or a common heritage. It also argues …


The Atlantic Canadian Groundfishery: Roots Of A Collapse, Anthony T. Charles Apr 1995

The Atlantic Canadian Groundfishery: Roots Of A Collapse, Anthony T. Charles

Dalhousie Law Journal

While many explanations have been proposed for the 1990s Atlantic Canadian groundfishery collapse-ranging from "natural causes" to over-fishing and damaging technologies, to failures of fishery management and science-this paper examines the possibility that underlying these, at the roots of the collapse, liae set of entrenched attitudes that have driven fishery decision making. These attitudes, about the natural world, about management and about how the fishery should function, became influential especially where they prevailed at the institutional level, as the accepted wisdom among the dominant players in government and the fishery. Four sets of conservation-related attitudes are considered, dealing with (1) …


Lost Moorings: Offshore Fishing Families Coping With The Fisheries Crisis, Marian Binkley Apr 1995

Lost Moorings: Offshore Fishing Families Coping With The Fisheries Crisis, Marian Binkley

Dalhousie Law Journal

The fisheries crisis has severely affected the families of offshore fishermen. In Nova Scotia, offshore fishermen normally spent ten to fourteen days continuously at sea and as little as forty-eight hours on shore between voyages. The fishermen and their families adopted strategies to cope with that work schedule. This paper focuses on how these previously beneficial adaptations conflict with the new situation these families now face when many men have been laid off or had their work reduced.


To Manage Quotas Or Manage Fisheries? The Root Cause Of Mismanagement Of Canada's Groundfish Fishery, Peter Underwood Apr 1995

To Manage Quotas Or Manage Fisheries? The Root Cause Of Mismanagement Of Canada's Groundfish Fishery, Peter Underwood

Dalhousie Law Journal

The collapse of the Atlantic groundfish fishery is the result of a complex combination of factors including scientific uncertainties, overfishing, poor results in capacity control, and ecological conditions. It is argued that the root cause of the collapse is that the foundation of groundfish management since 1977 has been single species quotas rather than a sound set of principles for fisheries resource husbandry. The implications of this for science, management, and the fish are discussed and a principle based management structure is proposed.


Lessons From The Abyss: Reflections On Recent Fisheries Crises In Atlantic Canada And North Norway, Richard Apostle, Knut H. Mikalsen Apr 1995

Lessons From The Abyss: Reflections On Recent Fisheries Crises In Atlantic Canada And North Norway, Richard Apostle, Knut H. Mikalsen

Dalhousie Law Journal

This paper examines some of the basic economic, political and scientific assumptions we have utilized to organize fisheries activities in the North Atlantic. In particular, we discuss and criticize our commitments to corporate economic organization, centralized administrative structures, and conventional science. In addition, we raise questions about the obligation of our respective nation-states to the coastal communities which have most directly been affected by the social policies emanating from our institutional commitments.


What Are We Managing Anyway?: The Need For An Interdisciplinary Approach To Managing Fisheries Ecosystems, Jean-Jacques Maguire, Barbara Neis, Peter R. Sinclair Apr 1995

What Are We Managing Anyway?: The Need For An Interdisciplinary Approach To Managing Fisheries Ecosystems, Jean-Jacques Maguire, Barbara Neis, Peter R. Sinclair

Dalhousie Law Journal

Fisheries managers should really be attempting to manage the fishing fleets and the processing industry, not the fish. Consequently we argue that effective management ought to take an eco-systems approach that is necessarily interdisciplinary, incorporating both natural and social sciences. We ascribe the inadequate results of existing management regimes to scientific uncertainty, political pressures, the regulations' lack of legitimacy among fishers, and excessive reliance on individual fishers (rather than households and communities) as the unit of analysis. In a new interdisciplinary approach, we emphasize the contribution of social science in helping to understand what is defined as Scientific knowledge, how …