UC Berkeley

Groundfisheries in the New England and Pacific regions face enormous environmental and social transformations that threaten the livelihoods of fishermen and the long-term viability of their communities. Federal declarations of economic fishing disasters, climate change impacts, and “the greying of the fleet,” a demographic transition of aging fishermen and fewer recruits entering the industry, together converge upon working waterfronts in coastal communities experiencing gentrification and a loss of shoreside infrastructure for the fishing industry. Concomitant with these shifts, a decade-old transition in fisheries management to “catch shares” effectively privatizes fishing resources, catalyzing new forms of financial investment and triggering a wave of change and conflict.

Employing a qualitative comparative case study approach, this research examines the challenges fishing communities confront as a result of the implementation of catch shares. Within this evolving context of environmental and social change, catch shares effectively enables a novel type of enclosure and accumulation through values-based investments and erects new barriers to fishing rights access, which in turn intensifies the impact of gentrification and the loss of shoreside infrastructure. As powerful actors invest in fisheries, fishermen and community members contest the scientific knowledge and trends of professionalization underpinning management decisions.

This dissertation presents these findings and describes opportunities to democratize fisheries science by embracing aspects of expert and practitioner-based knowledge that, combined, may enhance management outcomes, build trust, improve agency, and increase accountability. This approach offers potential to bolster the livelihoods of fishermen as they navigate ongoing changes both in the ocean and in their social environment.