Tragedy of commodification: Displacements in Alutiiq Fishing Communities in the Gulf of Alaska

Abstract Processes of marine enclosure are radically shifting ocean governance and marine-based livelihoods across the globe. Drawing on ethnographic research with indigenous Alutiiq fishing villages in the Gulf of Alaska, this paper explores the displacements generated by the privatization of fisheries access. Social and economic relationships between Alutiiq villages and salmon canneries in the twentieth century facilitated flexible commercial-subsistence fishing engagements. More recent property rights forms of fisheries harvest have brought about a dramatic alienation of local fishing rights and place-based livelihoods. The commodification of fishing rights is based on conceptualizations of human-environment relationships fundamentally opposed to the cultural logics of social dependence and informal economy of village communities. Privatization discourses and policies represent fishing participants as efficient, professional, fully engaged in commercial economies, and geographically and occupationally mobile; fishing motivations as profit-driven; and fishing rights as alienable commodities. These conceptualizations have excluded and marginalized certain kinds of fishing operations, lifestyles, communities, and rights

Quota Share Emigration and Small Remote Fishing Communities in the Gulf of Alaska Halibut Fishery

Individual fishing quota programs are increasingly being used to establish property rights in commercial fisheries in the U.S. These programs are intended to promote resource conservation while improving economic efficiency. However, these rationalization programs are often criticized for their distributional consequences. In the Gulf of Alaska halibut fishery, there is concern that fishing quota are leaving small, remote Alaska fishing communities (SRFCs). In this paper, we analyze quota share transactional data from 1994 to 1999 and find support for the hypothesis that halibut fishing quota holdings are migrating away from SRFCs. Using the same data, we analyze the differences between buyers and sellers of quota to assess which factors contribute most to an individual's decision to buy or sell quota shares. The results support the hypothesis that characteristics of an individual's community influence the decision to buy or sell, and that these community-based factors may collectively be more important than individual characteristics such as one's age

Total Environment of Change: Impacts of Climate Change and Social Transitions on Subsistence Fisheries in Northwest Alaska

Arctic ecosystems are undergoing rapid changes as a result of global climate change, with significant implications for the livelihoods of Arctic peoples. In this paper, based on ethnographic research conducted with the Iñupiaq communities of Noatak and Selawik in northwestern Alaska, we detail prominent environmental changes observed over the past twenty to thirty years and their impacts on subsistence-based lifestyles. However, we suggest that it is ultimately insufficient to try to understand how Arctic communities are experiencing and responding to climate change in isolation from other stressors. During interviews and participant observation documenting local observations of climatic and related environmental shifts and impacts to subsistence fishing practices, we find the inseparability of environmental, social, economic, cultural, and political realms for community residents. Many of our informants, who live in a mixed economy based on various forms of income and widespread subsistence harvesting of fish and game, perceive and experience climate change as embedded among numerous other factors affecting subsistence patterns and practices. Changing lifestyles, decreasing interest by younger generations in pursuing subsistence livelihoods, and economic challenges are greatly affecting contemporary subsistence patterns and practices in rural Alaska. Observations of climate change are perceived, experienced, and articulated to researchers through a broader lens of these linked lifestyle and cultural shifts. Therefore, we argue that to properly assess and understand the impacts of climate change on the subsistence practices in Arctic communities, we must also consider the total environment of change that is dramatically shaping the relationship between people, communities, and their surrounding environments

Evaluating impacts of marine governance on human communities: Testing aspects of a human impact assessment model

A human impact assessment (HIA) model was developed to guide research to understand how changes in a fishery can impact fishermen and fishing communities. Path analysis demonstrates that job satisfaction is an important variable intervening between marine governance and well-being. Individual-level variables in the demographic latent variable influence aspects of job satisfaction as well as well-being. It is variance in management that influences satisfaction with fishing which has a direct effect on well-being. In the HIA model, the three components of job satisfaction (self-actualization, income, and psycho-social) have the greatest total impact on well-being. The model also indicates complex relationships between management, fishing activity attributes, job satisfaction, and individual and social attributes. Relationships between community context and differences in job satisfaction in the Northeast and Alaska regions confirmed that these factors, also included in the HIA model, are important aspects of impact assessment. Results help to show that changes in ocean governance have impacts on the human communities who use these important resources. To anticipate and ameliorate potential impacts on human well-being as indicated by tools such as the HIA model, research needs to be accomplished to appropriately design and account for these impacts

Seabirds as a subsistence and cultural resource in two remote Alaskan communities

Small rural Alaskan communities face many challenges surrounding rapid social and ecological change. The role of local subsistence resources may change over time because of changes in social perception, economic need, and cultural patterns of use. We look at the Bering Sea's Pribilof Islands, comprising two very small communities, and investigate the relationship between the local residents and seabirds as a natural resource. Seabirds may strengthen ties to older ways of life and have potential for future economic opportunities, or modernization may direct interest away from seabirds as a cultural and economic resource. We conducted a survey and interviews of residents of the two Pribilof Island communities, St. Paul and St. George, to assess opinions toward seabirds and harvest levels. Seabirds were generally regarded as important both to individuals and the wider community. However, current levels of subsistence harvest are low, and few people continue to actively harvest or visit seabird colonies. Respondents expressed desire for greater knowledge about seabirds and also concerns about the current economy of the islands and a lack of future development prospects. Despite the challenging economic conditions, the villages retain a strong sense of community and place value on their environment and on seabirds. Surveys indicated an interest in developing eco-tourism based around local resources, including seabirds, as a way to improve the economy

Pacific Salmon in the Rapidly Changing Arctic: Exploring Local Knowledge and Emerging Fisheries in Utqiaġvik and Nuiqsut, Alaska + Supplementary Appendix 1

One of the most pervasive signals of global climate change is altered patterns of distribution with trends towards poleward shifts of species. While habitat loss and destruction has severed connections between people and salmon in many locales, salmon fisheries in the high Arctic are just beginning to develop. To explore these emergent connections, we gathered local knowledge about Pacific salmon and emerging subsistence salmon fisheries in the Beaufort Sea region through ethnographic research in Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow) and Nuiqsut, Alaska. Between 2010 and 2013, we interviewed 41 active fishermen and Elders who generally agreed that harvests of Pacific salmon species have been increasing in recent years, beginning in the 1990s and early 2000s. About 46% of active fishermen and Elders who discussed salmon abundance perceived an increasing trend over time. Another 43% characterized salmon abundance as cyclical or perceived no directional trend over time. The remaining fishermen (all from Nuiqsut) expressed their perception of decreasing salmon and fish abundance overall related to oil and gas development impacts to their local lands and waters. Given these mixed perceptions and harvests being an imperfect proxy for abundance, it remains unclear whether salmon populations are expanding in Arctic river systems. However, research participants have identified new stream systems not currently documented in the scientific literature where salmon are present and thought to be spawning. In both communities, we found that many fishermen and Elders often do not differentiate Pacific salmon species. Fishermen in both communities are developing new knowledge of salmon and increasing their use of salmon as a subsistence resource, yet uncertainties in the current data and local knowledge combine to generate equivocal evidence that salmon abundance is increasing. This lack of a clear increase in salmon abundance provides nuance to a simple story that warming has led to the increases of salmon in the Arctic. Despite the uncertainty regarding abundance, it is clear we are witnessing an emergence of new salmon fisheries in the high Arctic, perceived to be one among a suite of environmental and social changes currently being experienced in this region.Un des signes les plus omniprésents du changement climatique à l’échelle mondiale se voit dans les modèles de répartition modifiés, les espèces affichant des tendances de déplacement vers les pôles. Même si la perte et la destruction d’habitats ont coupé les liens entre la population et le saumon en maints endroits, les pêcheries de saumon de l’Extrême- Arctique ne font que commencer à se développer. Afin d’explorer ces liens émergents, nous avons recueilli des connaissances locales au sujet du saumon du Pacifique dans la région de la mer de Beaufort par le biais d’une recherche ethnographique à Utqiaġvik (anciennement Barrow) et à Nuiqsut, en Alaska. Entre 2010 et 2013, nous avons interrogé 41 pêcheurs actifs et aînés, qui s’entendaient généralement pour dire que les récoltes d’espèces de saumon du Pacifique ont augmenté ces dernières années, plus précisément depuis les années 1990 et le début des années 2000. Environ 46 % des pêcheurs actifs et des aînés qui se sont entretenus de l’abondance du saumon avaient perçu une tendance à la hausse au fil des ans, tandis que 43 % d’entre eux estimaient que l’abondance du saumon était cyclique, ou encore, qu’elle n’affichait aucune tendance directionnelle avec le temps. Les autres pêcheurs (tous de Nuiqsut) ont déclaré que dans l’ensemble, ils avaient l’impression que l’abondance de saumon et d’autres poissons diminuait en raison des incidences de la mise en valeur du pétrole et du gaz sur les terres et les cours d’eau de leur région. Compte tenu de ces perceptions mitigées et du fait que les récoltes ne constituent pas de bons témoins de l’abondance, il n’est toujours pas clair si les populations de saumon augmentent ou non dans les réseaux fluviaux de l’Arctique. Cependant, les participants à la recherche ont indiqué que de nouveaux réseaux hydrographiques non documentés dans les publications scientifiques comptent du saumon et que celui-ci semble frayer. Dans les deux collectivités, nous avons trouvé que de nombreux pêcheurs et aînés ne font souvent pas la différence entre les espèces de saumon du Pacifique. Les pêcheurs des deux collectivités acquièrent de nouvelles connaissances au sujet du saumon et intensifient leur usage du saumon comme ressource de subsistance. Cela dit, les incertitudes entourant les données actuelles et les connaissances locales s’allient pour prouver de manière équivoque que l’abondance du saumon augmente. L’absence de preuves claires en ce qui a trait à l’abondance du saumon vient nuancer une histoire simple selon laquelle le réchauffement se traduit par l’augmentation du saumon dans l’Arctique. Malgré l’incertitude concernant l’abondance, il est clair que nous sommes témoins d’une émergence de nouvelles pêcheries de saumon dans l’Extrême-Arctique. Cette émergence est perçue comme faisant partie d’un éventail de changements environnementaux et sociaux se manifestant dans cette région

Measuring perceptions of climate change in northern Alaska: pairing ethnography with cultural consensus analysis

Given current and projected warming trends in the Arctic and the important role played by subsistence hunting and fishing in the life of northern rural communities, it is increasingly important to document local observations of climate change and its impacts on livelihood practices. We describe ethnographic research exploring local observations of climate changes and related impacts on subsistence fisheries in three Iñupiat communities in northwest Alaska and six Athabascan communities in the Yukon River drainage. We found consistent agreement among perceptions concerning a broad range of environmental changes affecting subsistence practices in these communities. These observations of environmental changes are not experienced in isolation but within the context of accompanying social changes that are continually reshaping rural Alaskan communities and subsistence economies. In this paper we reflect on our research approach combining multiple methods of inquiry. Participant observation and semidirected interviews provided the conceptual framework for broadening our focus from climate and environmental change to community residents' understanding of climate change in the context of their holistic human-environment worldview. Cultural consensus analysis allowed us to assess the extent to which perceptions of change are shared among hunters and fishers within and between villages and regions and to identify those phenomena occurring or experienced at smaller scales. Reflecting on this multimethods approach, we highlight important questions that have emerged about how we understand, synthesize, and represent local knowledge, especially as it is used in regulatory or management arenas