Perceptions of resource regulation: A comparison of North Carolina fishermen and managers

Lowery, Roger C.; Hepburn, Marcus J.; Dixon, Richard D.; Sabella, James C.

doi:10.1080/08920758309361930

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…There is a tendency for old established regulations to be honored, (19) while new ones raise strenuous objections. This suggests to us that there is a predictable life cycle for regulations with initial objection, followed by reluctant acquiesence, culminating in approval.…”

Section: Regulation and Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fishing a Superfund Site: Dissonance and Risk Perception of Environmental Hazards by Fishermen in Puerto Rico

Burger

Gochfeld

1991

Risk Analysis

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Risk perception studies show that individuals tend to underestimate significant risks, overestimate negligible ones, and distrust authorities. They also rely on a variety of strategies or heuristics to reach decisions regarding their risk-taking behavior. We report on a survey of fishermen and crabbers engaged in recreational and substance fishing in a Puerto Rican estuary (near Humacao), which has been declared a "Superfund site" because of suspected contamination by mercury, and at ecologically similar control sites. Nearly everyone interviewed at the Humacao site was aware of the mercury contamination, but either denied its importance, believed the contamination was restricted to a distant part of the estuary, or assumed that the estuary would be closed by the authorities if the threat was real. All site-users consumed the fish and crabs they caught. At Humacao, the average catch was 7 fish per fishermen (mostly tilapia, Tilapia mossambica, and tarpon, Megalops atlantica) and 13 crabs per crabber (all blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus). On average, the site-users returned to the lagoons about 3-4 times per month. At control sites, fewer fish were eaten. The worst case consumption of tarpon, a species which concentrated mercury at Eastern Puerto Rico, provided an exposure exceeding the EPA reference dose, whereas consumption of one tarpon per week did not entail excess exposure. Fortunately, few individuals caught tarpon exclusively. Unlike counterparts in the northeastern United States, they trusted authorities and indicated that they would have heeded warnings of mercury contamination posted where they fished.

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Section: Regulation and Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fishing a Superfund Site: Dissonance and Risk Perception of Environmental Hazards by Fishermen in Puerto Rico

Burger

Gochfeld

1991

Risk Analysis

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“…More sociological and anthropological studies that penetrate the communities themselves have provided an insight into the reproduction of fishermen's and their families' identities (Nadel-Klein 2003;Williams 2008), gender roles (Gerrard 1995;Grant 2004;Nadel-Klein and Davis 1988) and what it means to define a community as a fishing community (Brookfield et al 2005;Jacob et al 2001). Recent research in the field of economics has examined how fishermen respond to regulatory authorities (Drupp et al 2016), and there is a well-established literature focussing on the attitudes of fishermen towards the regulation, management and governance of fisheries in countries like Spain (Amigo-Dobaño et al 2012;Garza-Gil and VarelaLafuente 2015), Denmark (Christensen et al 2007), Ireland (Reilly et al 2015), the USA (Lowery et al 1983;Pierce and Mozumder 2014) and Panama (Hoehn and Thapa 2009). Political science however has focussed little on fishermen themselves and their communities, focussing instead on matters of governance and policy-making, mainly at the supranational level (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A survey of Scottish fishermen ahead of Brexit: political, social and constitutional attitudes

McAngus

2018

Maritime Studies

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There is a substantial amount of literature that focuses on the governance of offshore fisheries in Europe and abroad, the history of fishing industries in different countries, and anthropological studies of fishing communities around the world. There is also a large amount of literature that explores the attitudes of fishermen towards fisheries governance and management. However, there is very little research that has explored the political attitudes of fishermen through the use of quantitative survey data. Using a survey carried out just ahead of the referendum on the UK's membership of the EU, this paper analyses data from a sample of Scottish skippers who work on vessels over 10 m in length. The paper focuses on how fishermen in Scotland vote at both UK and Scottish elections, how they voted in the Scottish independence and EU referendums, their political and social attitudes and their demographic breakdown. On the EU referendum, the paper finds that fishermen, as well intending to overwhelmingly voting to leave the EU, did so for instrumental reasons in the belief that this course of action would benefit them and their industry.

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Fishing in contaminated waters: Knowledge and risk perception of hazards by fishermen in New York City

Burger

Staine²,

Gochfeld³

1993

Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health

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Risk perception studies show that people may underestimate significant risks while overestimating others. Further, government agencies may assume the public becomes aware of risks when the agency has issued advisories, when in reality a segment of the population remains unaware of these warnings. This article reports on a survey of people fishing on the catchment basins of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York City. Of the 154 groups interviewed, only 19% believed the waters or fish were contaminated or unsafe, despite state warnings to the contrary. Fishermen made nearly five visits per month, and ate an average of three fish a week, (remaining fish were eaten by their families) and fish were usually fried. Most people believed the fish were safe to eat, or that they could recognize if one was spoiled. Thus, most people were ignoring the health advisories on consuming fish from these waters. We suggest that these fishermen are unaware of health advisories, or ignore them because the fishing situation is familiar, voluntary, pleasurable, and has not resulted in their illness. Since they believe they can determine if the fish are bad from smell and appearance, they have changed their own analysis from the unknown (chronic, delayed risks from toxics) to the known (immediate illness), lowering their perceived risk, but not the actual risk.

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Perceptions of resource regulation: A comparison of North Carolina fishermen and managers

Cited by 3 publications

References 1 publication

Fishing a Superfund Site: Dissonance and Risk Perception of Environmental Hazards by Fishermen in Puerto Rico

Fishing a Superfund Site: Dissonance and Risk Perception of Environmental Hazards by Fishermen in Puerto Rico

A survey of Scottish fishermen ahead of Brexit: political, social and constitutional attitudes

Fishing in contaminated waters: Knowledge and risk perception of hazards by fishermen in New York City

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