Researchers to Engage Fishermen on Topic of Sustainable Management

Mitchell_Ctr_Eastport_kw75304Farmers have some measure of control over the land they till. They can buy it, divide it, get rid of things they don’t want. Not so for fishermen

Like the fish and crustaceans they seek, fishermen are at the mercy of submerged ecosystems they cannot control. And, increasingly, scientists are aware that these systems are changing, displaying troubling shifts due to human impact and climate change.

Changes in the ocean can mean economic changes for fishermen who depend upon it. Right now, fisheries management consists of a separate system for each species, but researchers think the answer to more sustainable fisheries and better economic opportunities may lie in a more place-based, ecological approach. This will, however, require fisherman across fisheries to be actively involved in a cooperative structure.

“Fishermen have knowledge of these fisheries and these waters that no one else has. Their participation is essential to effective management.” But we don’t yet know how they interact with each other across fisheries or if they do,” said Joshua Stoll, graduate student and co-investigator on a project taking an early look at sustainable governance concepts.

Stoll and colleagues at the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions and the School of Marine Science are taking the early steps   in an effort to evaluate the potential for place-based ecosystem management. The project involves collaboration between fishermen from Maine’s diverse fisheries, scientists, local government officials and representatives from non-governmental agencies.

On its most basic level, sustainable, place-based fisheries management depends on the participation and long-term commitment of fishermen – and also a willingness to work together, regardless of their haul. Right now, researchers know neither the extent of social interaction between fishermen in different industries nor the level of interest in doing so. Stoll will be interviewing fisherman across multiple fisheries. He wants to know whom the fishermen turn to for help and advice. Stoll plans to do more extensive interviews with these leaders addressing communications across fisheries.

“To get from where we are now to a place-based approach is going to take a lot of different players,” Stoll said. “This is a social network analysis and from there we can begin to explore what tools we can use to mobilize change.”

It’s likely to be a challenge, researchers and stakeholders concede. Fishermen have adapted by necessity to single species management, say Stoll and his collaborator, James Wilson, Professor of Marine Sciences. Strong social institutions have grown around the stratified management structure to support fisherman and their communities.

But change is already afoot in some of those communities.=

An important stakeholder in the project is the Penobscot East Resource Center (PERC), a non-profit organization in Stonington that has worked for 11 years to secure a sustainable future for fisheries and fishing communities of Eastern Maine and beyond. The executive director of PERC, Robin Alden, said Stoll and Wilson are helping to build the knowledge base necessary to move the sustainable fisheries concept forward.

“This is a very long-term process. This is not a something you design and just do. We’re trying to develop, multifaceted support structure,” said Robin Alden, Executive Director of Penobscot East. She says the Mitchell Center project “is part of our organizational goal to support the emergence of a co-managed, place-based ecosystem management system in Eastern Maine.”

Stoll begins his interviews this spring. He plans to continue research on sustainable fisheries management, though he knows it is a long haul.

“This will be both a technical and a social science challenge,” he said.