Cromer Crab” Fishery, UK
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Social resilience, place and identity in the small-scale North Norfolk “Cromer Crab” fishery, UK. Carole Sandrine White September 2015 A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the University of East Anglia School of International Development This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived there from must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution. Abstract Fishing once defined many coastal community identities around the British Isles. Over recent decades, these communities have faced the decline of their fishing industry in addition to demographic, environmental, economic change and a changing policy context in coastal areas focused on marine conservation and economic growth. Using a qualitative case study of a small- scale crab fishery, in North Norfolk, famous for its iconic ‘Cromer Crab’, I investigate place identity and attachment and their implications for social resilience. Like many coastal fishing towns, Cromer has become less reliant on fishing and the future of the fishery, central to the town’s identity, appears to be in question. Although the fishing community has been reduced, the remaining Cromer crab fishermen could be considered resilient. I identify the different livelihood strategies fishermen have adopted in order to continue fishing and explore the trade-offs each strategy involves. However, given the significant entry barriers new fishermen face, the future of this fishery appears bleak regardless of the strategy selected. The conceptual approach used allows the relational dynamics of coastal communities experiencing change to be drawn out, enabling a deeper analysis of social resilience. It challenges some of the implicit ideas in the social-ecological resilience and place attachment literature on collective action. It questions the extent to which fishing communities can collectively respond to change and influence fisheries governance. While the social and cultural importance of small-scale fisheries are recognised in national and European policy, the limited participation of fishing communities in their governance continues to hinder their sustainable development and social resilience. The insights from this case study are particularly relevant given recent changes to the management and use of marine space in the UK and highlights the need to broaden debates on social resilience and sustainable development by considering the governance context and relational dynamics of coastal communities experiencing change. Contents Tables and Figures .......................................................................................................................... 7 Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................. 9 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 12 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 12 1.2 Social resilience and place: understanding livelihood adaptation ........................................ 12 1.2.1 The role of place and identity .............................................................................................. 13 1.2.3 Application to fisheries ........................................................................................................ 13 1.3 Fisheries governance and social impacts in fishing communities ......................................... 14 1.3.1 Missing social values ........................................................................................................... 15 1.4 Case study introduction: Norfolk ‘Cromer Crab’ fishery ....................................................... 16 1.5 Thesis Structure .................................................................................................................. 17 1.5.1 Overarching theoretical questions ...................................................................................... 17 Chapter 2: Conceptual framework ................................................................................................ 19 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 19 2.2 Resilience as a new paradigm for sustainability .................................................................. 19 2.2.1 Social resilience, livelihoods and natural resource governance .......................................... 20 2.2.2 Resilience for whom, to what and how? ............................................................................. 22 2.2.3 A consideration of place for exploring social resilience ...................................................... 24 2.3 Outline of conceptual framework ....................................................................................... 25 2.4 Social Constructions and Meanings of Place ........................................................................ 26 2.4.1 Relationships to place and within place: Place identity and place attachment .................. 27 2.4.2 Valuing and constructing place: Place meanings and their function ................................... 29 2.4.3 Change, mobility and globalisation: questions of scale ....................................................... 30 2.4.4 Identity construction in fishing communities: place, occupation and dependency ............ 32 2.5 Experiences of and Responses to Change ............................................................................ 35 2.5.1 Experiencing and responding to changes in place ............................................................... 35 2.5.2 Categorising individual and collective responses to change ............................................... 36 2.5.3 Household and gendered livelihood responses of fishing communities ............................. 38 2.6. Governance for adaptation ................................................................................................ 40 2.6.1 Livelihood adaptation and Institutions ................................................................................ 40 2.6.2 Assumptions about place relationships and natural resource governance ........................ 43 2.6.3 The role of the state and civil society in participatory fisheries governance ...................... 44 2.6.4 Narratives and discourses shaping fisheries governance .................................................... 48 2.7 Conclusion and Research Questions .................................................................................... 50 Chapter 3 Methodology ................................................................................................................ 52 3.1 Research approach .............................................................................................................. 52 3.2 Case study methodology and research design ..................................................................... 53 3.2.1 Case study selection ............................................................................................................ 54 3.2.2 The case of the North Norfolk “Cromer Crab” fishery ........................................................ 55 3.2.3 Defining the case, analytical units and sampling ................................................................. 56 3.3 Data sources and methods of data collection ...................................................................... 59 3.3.1 Observation ......................................................................................................................... 59 3.3.2 Interviews ............................................................................................................................ 60 3 3.3.3 Questionnaires and Structured Interviews .......................................................................... 62 3.3.4 Secondary data .................................................................................................................... 64 3.4 Analysis .............................................................................................................................. 65 3.4.1 Interviews and field notes ................................................................................................... 65 3.4.2 Questionnaire data .............................................................................................................. 66 3.4.3 Application of research questions in the thesis .................................................................. 67 3.5 Reflections on research process .......................................................................................... 68 3.5.1 Research Ethics .................................................................................................................... 68 3.5.2 Maintaining anonymity ....................................................................................................... 68 3.5.3 Making contact, sampling ..................................................................................................