From Policy Instruments to Action Arenas: Toward Robust Fisheries and Adaptive Fishing Households in Southwest Nova Scotia by Allain J. D. Barnett A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Approved April 2014 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Dr. John M. Anderies, Chair Dr. Joshua K. Abbott Dr. Bob Bolin Dr. Hallie Eakin ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY May 2014 ABSTRACT The coastal fishing community of Barrington, Southwest Nova Scotia (SWNS), has depended on the resilience of ocean ecosystems and resource-based economic ac- tivities for centuries. But while many coastal fisheries have developed unique ways to govern their resources, global environmental and economic change presents new challenges. In this study, I examine the multi-species fishery of Barrington. My ob- jective was to understand what makes the fishery and its governance system robust to economic and ecological change, what makes fishing households vulnerable, and how household vulnerability and system level robustness interact. I addressed these these questions by focusing on action arenas, their contexts, interactions and out- comes. I used a combination of case comparisons, ethnography, surveys, quantitative and qualitative analysis to understand what influences action arenas in Barrington, Southwest Nova Scotia (SWNS). I found that robustness of the fishery at the system level depended on the strength of feedback between the operational level, where re- source users interact with the resource, and the collective-choice level, where agents develop rules to influence fishing behavior. Weak feedback in Barrington has pre- cipitated governance mismatches. At the household level, accounts from harvesters, buyers and experts suggested that decision-making arenas lacked procedural justice. Households preferred individual strategies to acquire access to and exploit fisheries resources. But the transferability of quota and licenses has created divisions between haves and have-nots. Those who have lost their traditional access to other species, such as cod, halibut, and haddock, have become highly dependent on lobster. Based on regressions and multi-criteria decision analysis, I found that new entrants in the lobster fishery needed to maintain high effort and catches to service their debts. But harvesters who did not enter the race for higher catches were most sensitive to low demand and low prices for lobster. This study demonstrates the importance of com- i bining multiple methods and theoretical approaches to avoid tunnel vision in fisheries policy. ii iii Acnkowledgements This research was funded by NSF (SES-0645789, BCS-026363). This research was also supported through a research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Re- search Council of Canada (SSHRC), research grant #410-88-1202. Thank you to the Center for the Study of Institutional Diversity, the Arizona State University Gradu- ate College, and the Graduate Professional Students Association for travel grants. I also greatly appreciate travel funds, discussions, and collaboration with the Marine Research Coordination funded through the National Science Foundations Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability activity in the Research Coordination Network (SEES-RCN). My fieldwork was only possible with the help of many people. First, thank you to Anthony Davis, Alida Bundy, and to Tormond Davis for accommodating me in Halifax while I established contacts in Barrington. I am also very grateful to Anthony Davis for his comments, advice, criticism, and for introducing me to the communities of Port Lameron, and Brazil. Thanks also to Patty King, Shannon Scott-Tibbetts, the Fishermen and Scientist Research Society, Ken Frank, John Tremblay, Carl Mc- Donald, Joe Walcott, Mike Campbell, Nancy Shackell, and Peter Comeau for their assistance and advice. Upon arriving in Barrington, I had no place to stay. But within hours of searching for accommodation, members of the community demon- strated their hospitality. Thank you to the families that welcomed me into their iv lives, cribbage games, baiting sheds, and onto their boats. I am also grateful to the informants that introduced me to captains and crew of active vessels. Thanks to all fishermen, fishing families, and fisheries representatives who took the time to share their perspectives. Thank you to the captains and crew who helped me gain first-hand experience of fishing practices. Finally, thank you to the communities of Barrington for welcoming me into your households and social events. I thank all those who helped me to analyze my data. Thank you to Jacopo Baggio for your statistical advice, and to Amber Wutich for advice on text analysis. Thank you to Chrissie Bausch for your guidance on multicriteria decision analysis. I also thank Scott Coffen-Smout for providing geospatial data for generating maps of lobster fishing areas. As I wrote and presented my work at conferences, many provided critical but en- couraging feedback. I am grateful to Katherine Kyle and Scott McClintock for your in-depth comments and suggestions for improving the write-up. This dissertation work has also benefited from comments from Marc Allain and other anonymous re- viewers. I also had the opportunity to present my work at two Fisheries and Scientist Research Society annual meetings. I thank Patty King, Tricia Pearo, Jennifer Da- gley, and Shaun Allain for helping to make my attendance at these meetings possible. Thank you Sarah Delorey, John Tremblay, and to the many harvesters and scientists that provided feedback to my work at both meetings. I also thank Patrick Swim for connecting me to others interested in understanding and strengthening coastal communities. My chair and advisory committee has given me the tools and theory to conduct interdisciplinary research and to think broadly. John M. Anderies has helped me to think of the mathematical relationships between components of social-ecological sys- tems, and demonstrated the benefits of iterative research that combines ethnography v and mathematical modeling. Joshua K. Abbott has helped me to better articulate my discussions of economics, and has provided insightful and helpful feedback to all of my work. Bob Bolin taught me first, that there is this thing called critical social theory, and also, that it is important to consider it. Hallie Eakin has given me advice and guidance on how to incorporate political ecology and vulnerability analysis in my research on social-ecological systems. Thank you for all of your feedback, guidance, and advice. Thank you to the staff at the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, in- cluding Georgianna Miller, Philomena Wong Bell, Tae O'Connor, and Jennifer Fraser, and to the International Students Support Office for advice, guidance, and support throughout the Ph.D. program. Thank to my parents, Aline Barnett and Mike Barnett, for your copyediting work and for being supportive throughout the many years of my education. I also thank my aunt Roseann Loranger and Annette Loranger for their support and encouragement. I am very grateful to have the emotional and intellectual support from my honorary fourth committee member, Chrissie Bausch. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES . xiii LIST OF FIGURES . xv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Problem Statement . 1 1.2 Research Objectives and Questions . 3 1.3 Research Strategy and Scope . 4 1.4 Research Questions and Dissertation Organization . 5 2 LITERATURE REVIEW . 9 2.1 Social-Ecological Systems, Commons Research, and the Fisheries Context........................................................ 9 2.2 Conceptualizing Society and Nature . 10 2.2.1 Social-ecological systems and global change . 11 2.2.2 Governing social-ecological systems . 17 2.3 Context, Diverse Rationalities, and the Dynamics of the Commons . 18 2.3.1 The political ecology of the commons . 21 2.4 Privatization, Catch Shares, and Fisheries Governance . 24 2.4.1 Fisheries, vulnerability, and justice . 32 2.5 Conclusion . 34 3 STUDY SITE AND FIELD METHODS. 38 3.1 Barrington, Nova Scotia . 38 3.2 Demographics . 41 3.3 Fisheries Management . 44 3.4 Economic and Ecological Pressures . 45 vii CHAPTER Page 3.4.1 Landings and fishing effort. 47 3.4.2 Collective action and price bargaining . 49 3.4.3 Lobster licenses and the stealth market . 56 3.5 Field Methods . 62 3.5.1 Participant observation . 62 3.5.2 Interviewing and surveys . 65 3.5.3 Secondary and archival data . 66 3.5.4 Analyzing ethnographic data. 67 4 WEAK FEEDBACKS, GOVERNANCE MISMATCHES, AND ROBUSTNESS . 69 4.1 Introduction . 69 4.2 Qualitative Case-Study Analysis Through a SES Lens . 71 4.3 Background Information . 75 4.3.1 Governing the lobster commons . 77 4.3.2 Relationship to government agencies. 78 4.4 Missing Feedbacks and Governance Mismatches . 80 4.4.1 Poor state-resource user relations . 81 4.4.2 Governance mismatches and institutional change . 88 4.4.3 Summary. 99 4.4.4 Outcomes . 100 4.5 Discussion. 103 5 JUSTICE, SOCIAL COHESION, AND HOUSEHOLD VULNERABILITY . 109 5.1 Introduction . 109 viii CHAPTER Page 5.2 Theoretical Framework . 111 5.2.1 Vulnerability in fisheries . 114 5.3 Study Area: Barrington, Nova Scotia . 117 5.3.1 Description of management system . 117 5.4 Methods . 118 5.5 Results and Discussion . 120 5.5.1 Decision-making and social cohesion . 121 5.5.2 Ownership and control of fisheries . 127 5.5.3 Economic and ecological change, and the price of lobsters . 134 5.5.4 Livelihood outcomes for harvesters . 139 5.5.5 Comparison of buyers and fishermen . 140 5.6 Conclusions . 141 6 DEPENDENCY AND STRATEGIES FOR COPING WITH CHANGE . 146 6.1 Introduction . 146 6.2 Methods . 147 6.3 Results and Discussion . 148 6.3.1 Access to fish species . 148 6.3.2 Characteristics of lobster fishing . 152 6.3.3 Harvester responses to stressors . ..