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Recent paradigm shifts in fisheries science have emphasized the need for cooperative research to address sustainability challenges by bridging epistemological differences between scientists and resource users and promoting power sharing in the production of knowledge for a more holistic understanding of the marine environment. To address the question of power-sharing, this paper explores motivations, perceptions, and personal experiences of Maine lobstermen involved with various types of cooperative fisheries research (CFR). The main finding is that distrust between stakeholders is a persistent challenge, as shown in other research. However, a lack of trust may also sometimes serve as a motivator for participation, particularly where fishermen anticipate the threat of increased regulations. In cases where policies are top-down (e.g. Federal regulations like Endangered Species Act), fishermen are aware of a certain powerlessness despite the degree to which cooperative research involves their input. This reinforces their skepticism that often stifles the ability of researchers to build meaningful relationships, especially in projects with short life spans. Fishermen value personal relationships with researchers based on mutual respect that have been built over time, regardless of the type of research. The findings suggest that a better understanding of these personal relationships and power dynamics could guide researchers in the process of building trust and facilitating transparent communication between groups to overcome persistent barriers in CFR, address sustainability challenges in the fishing industry, and promote more power-sharing between scientists, managers, and industry members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent empirical findings have cast doubt on the neoclassical model of labor supply. However, estimation issues, and not workers' behavior, may be responsible for these findings. This paper investigates this possibility by examining the daily labor supply of Florida lobster fishermen. I invariably find that fishermen work more when earnings are temporarily high, behavior that is consistent with a neo-classical model of labor supply. Furthermore, methods that do not control for measurement error and endogeneity of the wage not only produce downward-biased estimates of labor supply elasticities but also generate a spurious negative and significant elasticity of daily hours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Illegal fishing activities are reported to be on the increase in South Africa, including in its marine protected areas (MPAs). Research is presented on the nature and the scale of illegal fishing in Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) by analysing the numbers of abaloneHaliotis midaeand West Coast rock lobsterJasus lalandiiconfiscated from fishers operating in the park's marine protected area between 2000 and 2009. Data were collected from offence logbooks maintained by South African National Parks rangers and managers, the South African Police Services, and interviews with alleged or self-confessed illegal fishers. The research findings indicate that the annual numbers of illegally fished abalone and rock lobsters have increased significantly over time. Spatial analysis suggests that confiscations of abalone occur predominantly on the east coast of the park, whereas higher confiscations of illegally fished rock lobsters occur on the west coast. It is clear from this research that new and more efficient approaches will need to be designed and implemented to minimise illegal fishing in the TMNP MPA. Context-specific conservation targets that acknowledge and integrate social as well as developmental needs are required, and may be essential for limiting biodiversity loss in the longer term, which will ultimately ensure the success of fisheries management and conservation in TMNP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the southern New England lobster fishery in distress, lobster fishermen have focused more effort toward harvesting channeled whelk (Busycotypus canaliculatus). However minimal research has been conducted on the life history and growth rates of channeled whelk. Melongenid whelks generally grow slowly and mature late in life, a characteristic that can make them vulnerable to overfishing as fishing pressure increases. We sampled channeled whelk from Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, in August 2010 and in July 2011, studied their gonad development by histology, and aged them by examining opercula. Males had a slower growth rate and a lower maximum size than females. Male whelk reached 50% maturity (SM50) at 115.5 mm shell length (SL) and at the age of 6.9 years. Female whelk reached SM50 at 155.3 mm SL and at the age of 8.6 years. With a minimum size limit of 69.9 mm (2.75 in) in shell width, males entered the fishery at 7.5 years, a few months after SM50, but females entered the fishery at 6.3 years, approximately 2 years before SM50. Increased fishing pressure combined with slow growth rates and the inability to reproduce before being harvested can easily constrain the long-term viability of the channeled whelk fishery in Massachusetts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: World fisheries, already vulnerable, are under increasing pressure from the impacts of climate change. Using the Tasmanian rock lobster industry as a case study, we considered the efficacy of risk perception as a tool to inform how to communicate the science of climate change and suggestions for management in relation to development of adaptation strategies for fisheries. Fishers surveyed in this study operate in a fishery that is expected to undergo large changes as a consequence of climate change. Fishers also reported observations of similar large changes in the marine environment and lobster fishery consistent with climate change; yet most fishers surveyed expressed doubts about whether climate change was a real process. The important point for adaption of the industry to climate change is that fisher perceptions of risk tended to create barriers to acceptance of climate change as an issue. This means that there is a barrier to communication and awareness about climate change and thus a barrier to future action on the issue. Improving acceptance of climate change and thus ability to adapt will require the development of communications that are culturally appropriate and palatable to fishers. We argue that the application of social learning principles in communications about climate change may be one constructive way forward. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In groundbreaking and award-winning research, social scientists have documented the power of small groups to manage common pool resources (CPRs). That research concludes that collective or communal ownership of CPRs may be optimal in certain circumstances. While group- and community-level rights have also sometimes been conceived in property law terms, these accounts have not focused on whether and how to protect existing groups whose successful management of CPRs has been documented. The idea that such a movement might occur, and what form it should take, is ripe for consideration and evaluation. In this Article, I use an initiative currently being advanced by a community of Maine lobstermen to create and illustrate a model that might be broadly used for the recognition of group-level property rights in communities, or other groups, that are the de facto stewards of CPRs. Describing both when and how such a community-level right might be recognized and what its substantive contours should be, the Article draws not only from the recent social science research that recognizes the benefits of small group management of CPRs, but also from the growing field of cultural property rights, in which group-level rights have already been embraced in both domestic and international law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents updates on the Parliament of Canada in 2020. Topics covered include changes in leadership at the Conservative Party of Canada and the Green Party of Canada, ethical questions raised regarding the federal government's announcement and subsequent cancellation of the Canada Student Service Grant, and an emergency debate held by the House of Commons regarding an ongoing lobster fishing dispute in Nova Scotia between Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups.

This paper describes an attempt by Maine lobstermen to organize a tie-up to protest low prices during August of 1989. The mustering of widespread support for the tie-up required overcoming several obstacles. These included the social isolation of the Maine coast's scattered fishing villages, the lobstermen's traditional values of independence and egalitarianism, the competition resulting from the exploitation of a common property resource, and a divergence of interests between lobstermen. These obstacles contributed to contradictions and ambiguities in the flow of information during the tie-up. While these distortions caused numerous problems for the organizers of the tie-up, there were also instances where misinformation was beneficial to organizational efforts. This complicated role of information and misinformation is discussed. Key words: lobster fishing, information management, fishermen's organization, Maine

Discusses the use, by lobster fisherman, of underwater, artificial shelters off the Caribbean coast of Mexico to increase the number of lobsters the area can support. Explores whether these shelters actually increase lobster production of simply concentrate the animals. Impact of artificial shelters on lobster populations; Research on lobster production. INSET: Ocean ranching of lobsters when ocean farming, or mariculture....

The article offers the author's opinion on the deaths of three lobster fishermen in Tabusintac, New Brunswick on May 18, 2013. He states that these deaths occured within the context of a dispute over lobster prices which was characterized by a strike. He is critical on Keith Ashfield, a federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans from the state, for doing nothing. The impact of the dispute on the market conditions of the state is also discussed.

Abandoned, lost and discarded (ALD) fishing gear causes economic losses and hazards to safety at-sea for fishers and marine fauna. Thirty-two lobster fishers and 5 individuals from fisheries management agencies were interviewed from the Bay of Fundy (BoF), Eastern Canada to determine how to mitigate risk to marine fauna from ALD fishing gear. Results show that fishers across four lobster fishing areas within the BoF regularly lost gear; gear that was often not retrieved. Although fishers informally notified each other of gear losses and sometimes returned retrieved gear to owners, they avoided retrieving old and unidentifiable gear, because possession of this gear is prohibited under their license conditions. Interviews identified specific reporting, regulatory and community-based solutions to help estimate, manage and mitigate ALD fishing gear. Legalizing gear retrievals and establishing waste management systems is required to manage and mitigate ALD gear at-sea. Image 1 • Abandoned, lost and discarded (ALD) fishing gear contributes substantially to marine debris pollution. • ALD was examined using interviews in four lobster fishing areas in the Bay of Fundy, Eastern Canada. • Interviews with 32 fishers and five management agencies yielded qualitative data to help manage ALD lobster fishing gear. • Strategies to estimate amounts and mitigate ALD lobster fishing gear were found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]