Cultures in conflict and the problems of objective interpretation as applied to fisheries management in Canada and the United States

This study is an analysis of the fisheries policy-making process in both Canada and the United States, specifically in Atlantic Canada and in New England.;The study concerns the cultural conflict between small-scale fishermen and members of the bureaucracy, particularly those in charge of public resource management and allocation. Problems arise concerning the reconciliation of differing and/or competing sources of knowledge--a case of multi-objective choice.;The magnitude of the conflict is also determined by the complementarity of the cultural mindset of the fisherman and that of the dominant political culture and ideology. Canada has enshrined the Toryist strain in its ideology, while the United States has favoured the ideology of laissez faire; while the latter lessens the conflict, the former exacerbates it. In the Canadian context, the discomplementarity has resulted in a system of patron-client relationships which try to transcend the differing occupational identities. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).