Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 3 of 3
Full-Text Articles in Nature and Society Relations
Revisiting Maine’S Lobster Commons: Rescaling Political Subjects, Jennifer F. Brewer
Revisiting Maine’S Lobster Commons: Rescaling Political Subjects, Jennifer F. Brewer
Geography
Calls for cross-scalar theoretical and methodological approaches are not new to commons scholarship. Such efforts might be hastened by channelling poststructuralist and critical theory perspectives through the geographic subfield of political ecology, including attention to political scales and subjects. Toward this end, this paper reconsiders Maine’s lobster fishery. This case has provided rich material for watershed commons scholarship, demonstrating the ability of social groups to conserve resources independent of government or markets, and it continues to offer new findings. Recent fieldwork shows that as lobster boat captains advance collective interests through state-supported co-management governance arrangements, concerns of crew and non-fishing …
Polycentrism And Flux In Spatialized Management: Evidence From Maine's Lobster (Homarus Americanus) Fishery, Jennifer F. Brewer
Polycentrism And Flux In Spatialized Management: Evidence From Maine's Lobster (Homarus Americanus) Fishery, Jennifer F. Brewer
Geography
Spatial approaches to fisheries management hold great promise but require continued conceptual and policy development. Polycentrism and flux emerge as useful concepts, drawing lessons from more customary, informal resourceuse patterns to produce more innovative “spatialized” policies within existing governance architectures. Empirical evidence from Maine shows that pioneering efforts have been limited by the single-species focus of conventional management hierarchies. As entry limits have consolidated the fishing fleet and eliminated flexible, diversified, and adaptive business strategies, cross-species and habitat externalities have become problematic. State lobster (Homarus americanus Milne- Edwards, 1837) comanagement zones have achieved some successes, including trap limits and improved …
Apprenticeship And Conservation Incentives, Robin Alden, Jennifer F. Brewer
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 …