Place-based fishing livelihoods and the global ocean: the Irish pelagic fleet at home and abroad

Maritime Studies, Dec 2015

This paper examines the development of the Irish pelagic fleet and how it has impacted place-based fishing livelihoods in southwest County Donegal, both positively and negatively. As part of this effort, we consider how shifting local and global sociopolitical realities have shaped linkages between resource access and people-place connections in southwest Donegal. We pay particular attention to how Irish fishing opportunities, both at home and abroad, are created and constrained under EU governance and how this drives the displacement of fishing livelihoods from coastal southwest Donegal. We identify power as a key and dynamic mechanism underlying fishery systems in the Irish context. Drawing on interview and ethnographic data we discuss how power is perceived and exercised among local fishery stakeholders, and how this in turn works to shape contemporary adaptive strategies in rural fishery dependent Ireland.

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Place-based fishing livelihoods and the global ocean: the Irish pelagic fleet at home and abroad

Donkersloot and Menzies Maritime Studies Place-based fishing livelihoods and the global ocean: the Irish pelagic fleet at home and abroad Rachel Donkersloot 1 Charles Menzies 0 0 Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia , 6303 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 , Canada 1 Alaska Marine Conservation Council , PO Box 101145, Anchorage, Alaska 99510 , USA This paper examines the development of the Irish pelagic fleet and how it has impacted place-based fishing livelihoods in southwest County Donegal, both positively and negatively. As part of this effort, we consider how shifting local and global sociopolitical realities have shaped linkages between resource access and people-place connections in southwest Donegal. We pay particular attention to how Irish fishing opportunities, both at home and abroad, are created and constrained under EU governance and how this drives the displacement of fishing livelihoods from coastal southwest Donegal. We identify power as a key and dynamic mechanism underlying fishery systems in the Irish context. Drawing on interview and ethnographic data we discuss how power is perceived and exercised among local fishery stakeholders, and how this in turn works to shape contemporary adaptive strategies in rural fishery dependent Ireland. Political ecology; Social-environmental systems; EU Common Fisheries Policy; Power; Irish fishing communities - fishing livelihoods, both positively and negatively. As part of this effort we explore the ways in which key processes impacting local fishing livelihoods are embedded in relations of power, especially in the context of fisheries policy, and how this works to inform local understandings of what is possible in place. Key objectives: considering place and power in resource governance This paper focuses on the complex and changing linkages between fishing communities, fishermen and fishery resources in southwest Donegal. We describe how historical relations and shifting local and global sociopolitical realities have shaped linkages between resource access and people-place connections in the region. We pay particular attention to how Irish fishing opportunities, both at home and abroad, have been created and constrained under EU governance and how this changing resource base drives the displacement of fishing livelihoods from coastal southwest Donegal. Our approach is grounded in a political ecology perspective which combines “the concerns of ecology and a broadly defined political economy. Together this encompasses the constantly shifting dialectic between society and resources, and also within classes and groups within society itself” (Blaikie and Brookfield 1987:17) . We explicitly consider power here as a key and dynamic mechanism underpinning the development, delocalization and decline of fishing opportunities in northwest Ireland (Jentoft 2007; see also Bryant 1998; Schroeder et al. 2006; Blaikie 2001) . Jentoft (2007:433) describes power as an understated and understudied aspect of fisheries research contending that “if we want to understand how natural and social systems change, we should focus on how power works in fisheries and coastal settings.” Drawing on interview and ethnographic data, we highlight the ways in which power, operating across multiple scales and through myriad social, political, economic and environmental processes, is perceived and exercised among a diverse suite of fishery stakeholders in Killybegs. Specifically, we explore how power 1) underpins linkages in the condition and change of social/environmental systems (Robbins 2004) , and 2) impacts contemporary adaptive strategies and perceived “potential for change” in southwest Donegal (Boulding 1990 cited in Jentoft 2007) . An underlying objective of this paper is to broaden its resonance beyond the Irish context and advance efforts to more centrally incorporate social goals and place-based community interests and opportunities in fisheries management models (see for example Macinko 2007; St. Martin et al. 2007; Stoll and Holliday 2014) . Methods and materials This paper is based on one year of ethnographic research carried out in southwest Donegal in 2007–2008, followed by a return visit in 2010. Fieldwork included more than 60 semi-structured face-to-face interviews. Participants included active and retired fishermen (e.g. vessel owners, skippers and crew), industry representatives, fish factory workers, community and regional leaders, fishery managers, and local youth from both fishing and non-fishing backgrounds. Interview questions focused on individual and family fishing backgrounds, work experience, sense of place and community, views on fisheries management and EU fisheries governance, and attitudes toward fishing as an occupation and way of life. Data for this paper comes primarily from interviews with 15 project participants. Interview materials are supplemented with a more recent review of secondary sources and lit (...truncated)


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Rachel Donkersloot, Charles Menzies. Place-based fishing livelihoods and the global ocean: the Irish pelagic fleet at home and abroad, Maritime Studies, 2015, pp. 20, Volume 14, Issue 1, DOI: 10.1186/s40152-015-0038-5