About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

18 Dalhousie L.J. 141 (1995)
What Are We Managing Anyway: The Need for an Interdisciplinary Approach to Managing Fisheries Ecosystems

handle is hein.journals/dalholwj18 and id is 141 raw text is: Jean-Jacques Maguire* What are we Managing Anyway?: Barbara Neis** The Need for an Interdisciplinary Peter R. Sinclair*** Approach to Managing Fisheries Ecosystems 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 interdis- ciplinary, incorporating both natural and social sciences. We ascribe the inad- equate 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 contribu- tion of social science in helping to understand what is defined as Scientific knowledge, how expert scientific and local or traditional knowledge might be integrated, and the role of science in the management process. We conclude by advocating an ecosystem management strategy of periodic (every three to five years) in-depth assessments with explicit requirements for sociological and economic input. Introduction Although most people recognize that wild fish are almost impossible to manage, the field of fisheries science is still overwhelmingly concerned with fish biology and fish population dynamics. In addition, despite the well-known unanticipated consequences of fisheries management re- gimes, managers have tended to persist in their reliance upon highly simplified models of human behaviour. Yet, it is the fishing fleets and the * Graduated from Laval University (M.Sc. Biology). He has been working with the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans since 1977. After five years as a stock assessment scientist at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, he moved to the Quebec Region of DFO where he headed the resource assessment group from 1984 to 1988. He was chairperson of the Canadian Atlantic Fisheries Scientific Advisory Committee (CAFSAC) from 1989 to 1992. ** Dr. Neis is an Associate Professor of Sociology, Memorial University, St. John's, Nfld. She hxas wesched -a hTvoadi yas'ge 4a( late d t43 tlxt fislxevy ixl4ing Snial M~axremexnts, industrial crisis and restructuring, occupational health, gender relations, technological change, and fishery workers' ecological knowledge and science. *** Ph.D. Edinburgh, 1972. University Research Professor, Memorial University of New- foundland. Current Research: Formal and informal economic practices in rural Newfoundland; doing marine biology and its relationship to fisheries policy; timber dependency in rural Alabama. Books-Author: From Traps to Draggers, 1985: State Intervention and the Newfoundland Fisheries, 1987; Co-author: Village in Crisis, 1974; A Question of Survival, 1988; Living on the Edge, 1995; Aquacultural Development, forthcoming.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most