Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2010 Artisanal whaling in the Atlantic: a comparative study of culture, conflict, and conservation in St. Vincent and the Faroe Islands Russell Fielding Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Fielding, Russell, "Artisanal whaling in the Atlantic: a comparative study of culture, conflict, and conservation in St. Vincent and the Faroe Islands" (2010). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 368. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/368 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. ARTISANAL WHALING IN THE ATLANTIC: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CULTURE, CONFLICT, AND CONSERVATION IN ST. VINCENT AND THE FAROE ISLANDS A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Geography and Anthropology Russell Fielding B.S., University of Florida, 2000 M.A., University of Montana, 2005 December, 2010 Dedicated to my mother, who first took me to the sea and taught me to explore. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation has benefitted from the assistance, advice, inspiration, and effort of many people. Kent Mathewson, my advisor and major professor, provided the kind of leadership and direction under which I work best, offering guidance when necessary and allowing me to chart my own course when I was able. The other members of my dissertation committee—Craig Colten, William Rowe, and Gene Turner—were always available to contribute from their vast knowledge. Dr. Rowe even took time to visit me in the Faroe Islands where he witnessed Faroese whaling first‐hand. Bin Li, of the Department of Experimental Statistics, assisted with the statistical analysis of Faroese beaches. A very special “thank you” goes to Diane Cooper, who accompanied me in the field as she accompanies me through life. In St. Vincent, my tasks simply would have been impossible without the assistance and camaraderie of Vincent Reid, a local polymath who knows everyone and can get anything done—a fixer of the first degree. In Barrouallie, Victoria Brown, McHorne, Kimmie, Ash, and Vibert Pierre taught me much about the local whaling operation, the work of blackfish vendors, and the fisheries cooperative. Thanks also to the John family—Darwin, Clare, Simeon, and Mirella—for their hospitality and for providing me with a “Vincy Home.” Rosa Vanloo and Dr. Bowens gave me access to the students at their post‐secondary schools to conduct my surveys. Raymond Ryan, Jennifer Cruikshank‐Howard, Leslie Straker, and the Honourable Montgomery Daniel at the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, and Fisheries were helpful to, and supportive of, my research. I was able to conduct participatory fieldwork, rather than just observation, in St. Vincent because of Samuel Hazelwood and his whalers, “Papas” and “Limb,” who trusted my seaworthiness and stamina enough to allow me to become a regular member of their crew. iii In the Faroe Islands, Kate Sanderson began working with me before I even arrived for my first visit in 2005, to make sure that I had contacts who could teach me what I needed to know about Faroese whaling. Dorete Bloch, Janus Hansen, Bjarni Mikkelsen, and Høgni Arnbjarnarson at the Faroese Museum of Natural History are my Faroese scientific mentors. Ólavur Sjúrðarberg, Bjørki Geyti, Astrið Andreasen, David Geyti, Unn Kragsteen, Rói Dahl‐ Jacobsen, Bjarki Gyldenkærne Dalsgarð, Olaf Olsen, Rasmus Ole Rasmussen, Magni Garðalíð, Dennis Holm, and Jógvan Mørkøre taught me much about daily life, and whaling in the Faroe Islands. Joen Remmer and Katja Dhyr Remmer graciously allowed me to use their wonderful photographs in Chapter 6. Eleonora Flach, Hannes Lesch, Sigrið Gyldenkærne Dalsgarð, Mark Kožuch, Vladan Kožuch, and Vít Novák assisted with the beach surveys, bravely suiting up and entering the cold Faroese water, ranging poles in hand. Atli Poulsen and Alex Ocampo helped me gain access to the students at their colleges for my survey. No fieldwork is possible without funding and this work has been generously supported by several organizations. Granskingarráðið (the Faroese Research Council), Fróðskaparsetur Føroya (University of the Faroe Islands), the American Geographical Society, the Viking Society for Northern Research, the University of Montana, and Louisiana State University’s West‐ Russell Fund all provided research funds for this project. There is one final group of people that deserves thanks. Peppered throughout the Acknowledgements sections of dissertations and papers in the fields of geography and anthropology are the names of countless United States Peace Corps volunteers (PCVs) who have lent a hand to researchers in the areas of travel logistics, proper cultural protocol, introductions to key informants, and many other essential components to their fieldwork. I have my own list of PCVs to thank. Based in St. Vincent, Ann Cryster, Amy Hall, Shawn Janzen, iv Stephanie Kistner, Molly Okuneff, and Marco Piña not only volunteered two years of their lives to serve their country in the cause of peace, but also found time to assist a young geographer with his fieldwork. Without the help of these PCVs, essential parts of my work in St. Vincent would have been at best less streamlined, at worst impossible. My thanks go to these individuals specifically and to the United States Peace Corps as an organization. v PREFACE: A NOTE ABOUT LANGUAGE In this dissertation I have endeavored to understand the cultures and human‐ environment interactions of artisanal whaling in two very different Atlantic locations and to make comparisons between them. Whenever a researcher writes about another culture there are bound to be terms and concepts that are unfamiliar to the reader. When the research is based in two very different overseas field sites, the confusion can multiply. In the text of this manuscript I will attempt to either explicitly define any non‐English words or terms of whaling or nautical jargon, or to use the terms in contexts that make their meanings obvious. The official language of the Faroe Islands is Faroese. Danish is also used and English is widely understood. In St. Vincent, an English Creole is spoken. Many Vincentians speak Standard English fluently, albeit as a “foreign language” (Young 1993, 170). In this text, each time I have used a foreign or dialectal word, I have italicized the first instance and have provided definitions or Standard English equivalents within the text. Sometimes the italicization is repeated if reference is made to the word as a word, or within a figure caption. I have included pronunciation hints for especially difficult or commonly mispronounced words. Developing orthographies for Creole languages can be a problematic and value‐laden process (Cassidy 1961, 1986; Schieffelin and Doucet 1994; Kephart 2000). St. Vincent Creole does not have standardized spelling so I have used my best judgment and examples from previous publications to accurately represent the local pronunciation (Reinecke et al. 1975). My choice of spellings for St. Vincent Creole words should be seen only as an attempt to communicate, not to instruct. Finally, there appear in this text several instances of gendered language that might be vi considered antiquated without context. Because whaling is almost exclusively a male activity, I have used masculine terms to refer to those who practice it. Gender roles are nuanced within the realm of whaling, however, and valuable contributions are made by men, women, and children, as will be made clear. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................... iii PREFACE: A NOTE ABOUT LANGUAGE ............................................................ vi LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................... xi LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................... xii ABSTRACT ......................................................................................... xx CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 1 RESEARCH SETTINGS ....................................................................... 1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ..................................................................... 4 LAYOUT OF DISSERTATION ................................................................. 5 CHAPTER 2: WHALES, THEIR PURSUIT AND PROTECTION ......................................... 8 WHALES .................................................................................... 8 WHALING ................................................................................. 18 WHALE CONSERVATION .................................................................. 28 CHAPTER 3: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ........................................................ 41 WHALES, WHALING, AND GEOGRAPHY .................................................. 41 HUMAN AGENCY