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Full-Text Articles in Sociology

Harvesting A Knowledge Commons: Collective Action, Transparency, And Innovation At The Portland Fish Exchange, Jennifer F. Brewer Jan 2014

Harvesting A Knowledge Commons: Collective Action, Transparency, And Innovation At The Portland Fish Exchange, Jennifer F. Brewer

Geography

While localist visions of alternative food systems advocate for the expansion of local ecological knowledge through more proximate producerconsumer relationships, globalized seafood supply-demand chains persist. Moving beyond this dichotomy, commons scholars recognize that collective action among resource users at the local level can shape cross-scalar producer relations with government and more capitalized firms operating in regional and global markets. In the case of the New England groundfishery, a quasi-public fish auction not only transformed the scalar, logistical, and financial parameters of harvester-buyer relationships, it altered the production and use of local knowledge among some harvesters, and their technological choices. Resulting …


Above And Below The Water: Social/Ecological Transformation In Northwest Newfoundland, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Richard L. Haedrich, Cynthia M. Duncan Jan 2004

Above And Below The Water: Social/Ecological Transformation In Northwest Newfoundland, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Richard L. Haedrich, Cynthia M. Duncan

Sociology

Marine fisheries and fishing societies develop around the resources provided by a particular ecosystem. As they exploit these resources, fisheries transform the ecosystem, which pushes fishery and society to adapt in turn. This process is illustrated by fisheries, ecological and social data tracking dramatic changes on Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula and its adjacent marine ecosystem, the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence. There a longstanding fishery for cod and other groundfish collapsed in the 1990s, and was replaced by fisheries targeting invertebrates. The new invertebrate fisheries have different socioeconomic characteristics than the former groundfish fisheries. The shift in target species reflects deep …


Outport Adaptations: Social Indicators Through Newfoundland's Cod Crisis, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Melissa J. Butler Jan 2001

Outport Adaptations: Social Indicators Through Newfoundland's Cod Crisis, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Melissa J. Butler

Sociology

The 1992 moratorium on fishing for Northern Cod marked a symbolic end to the way of life that had sustained Newfoundland's out ports for hundreds of years. It also marked the completion of an ecological regime shift, from an ocean ecosystem dominated by cod and other predatory ground fish, to one in which such fish are comparatively scarce, and lower-trophic-level invertebrates more common. We examine patterns of change seen in large-scale social indicators, which reflect the smaller-scale adaptations of individuals and communities during this ecological shift. Trends in population, migration, age, unemployment and dependency suggest declining conditions in rural Newfoundland …


Apprenticeship And Conservation Incentives, Robin Alden, Jennifer F. Brewer Jan 2000

Apprenticeship And Conservation Incentives, Robin Alden, Jennifer F. Brewer

Geography

Apprentice programs offer a method to encourage responsible individual behavior by laying the foundation for successful collective property rights. Apprenticeship has three purposes: to restrict the rate of entry, to affect the quality of the participant, and to create the conditions for collective action for sustainability. Apprenticeship could be an important fishery management tool, particularly in decentralized, adaptive management regimes that require ongoing, multi-party negotiation for success. It is not vocational training; instead it serves a public purpose: to create the conditions for stewardship and participation in management. This perception of collective property right mimics customary practice in some successful …