| This thesis investigates how the Atlantic Canada shellfishery is being managed to prevent overfishing and avoid an ecological collapse of shellfish resources. The thesis examines certain issues in shelfishery management in Atlantic Canada using A political ecology approach to the analysis of federal government fisheries management documents. It also uses the traditional anthropological technique of cross-cultural comparison, with the example of the lobster fishery in the state of Maine (USA). This thesis examines the role of actors in the shellfishery drama, including the state (both federal and provincial), business, fishers, and lobsters. It also investigates the ecological effects of various fishing methods and of different sources of pollution in the Atlantic Canada shellfishery. It critically examines the management practices in the Atlantic Canada lobster fishery, interrogating the use of the “Tragedy of the Commons” model and the “Precautionary Approach”. Similar issues are investigated and compared in the Maine lobster fishery to the Canadian lobster fishery. Key issues of comparison between the two fisheries are the “commons” versus “private property” approaches and centralized versus local management practices. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
