Demographic change and fisheries dependence in the northern Atlantic

Northern Atlantic fisheries have experienced a series of environmental shifts in recent decades, involving collapse or large fluctuations of the dominant fish assemblages. Over roughly the same period, many fisheries-dependent human communities have lost population, while their countries as a whole were growing. Population loss tends to increase with the degree of fisheries dependence, among communities and sub-national regions of Newfoundland, Iceland and Norway. A close look at Norway, where municipality-level data are most extensive, suggests that population declines reflect not only outmigration, but also changes in fishing-community birth rates. Multiple regression using 1990 and 1980 census data for 454 municipalities finds that fisheries dependence exerts a significant negative effect on population, even after controlling for six other predictors including unemployment and income. The general pattern of changes seen in northern Atlantic fishing communities resembles those identified by migration research elsewhere. Fishing communities are unusual among contemporary first-world societies, however, in that rapid and large-scale environmental shifts appear to be among the forces driving population change

Social change, ecology and climate in 20th-century Greenland

Two great transitions, from seal hunting to cod fishing, then from cod fishing to shrimp, affected population centers of southwest Greenland during the20th century. These economic transitions reflected large-scale shifts in the underlying marine ecosystems, driven by interactions between climate and human resource use. The combination of climatic variation and fishing pressure, for example, proved fatal to west Greenland\u27s cod fishery. We examine the history of these transitions, using data down to the level of individual municipalities. At this level,the uneven social consequences of environmental change show clearly: some places gained, while others lost. Developments in 20th-century Greenland resemble patterns of human-environment interactions in the medieval Norse settlements, suggesting some general propositions relevant to the human dimensions of climatic change

Sex Ratio and Community Size: Notes from the Northern Atlantic

In parts of the circumpolar North, smaller communities tend to have fewer young women than men. Among newcomer populations such as non-Natives in Alaska, this reflects disproportionate in-migration by young men seeking jobs on the frontier. Imbalances can also emerge, however, due to female outmigration from small villages—a pattern observed, for example, among the native populations of Alaska, Canada and Greenland. Several authors have linked female outmigration with socioeconomic change also in rural Finland, Norway and Ireland. This paper briefly examines plots of sex ratio versus community size in four northern Atlantic regions (Maine, Newfoundland, Iceland and Norway). We then look more closely at Norway, where the correlation between sex ratio and community size is strongest. Multiple regression suggests that economic factors, rather than community size as such, best explain this pattern. Specifically, the percent female among young adults tends to be lower in communities experiencing longterm population declines, dominated by fishing and other primary-industry employment, and having in consequence relatively few jobs for women. Further socioeconomic changes in many resource-dependent Atlantic communities seem inevitable as resources become depleted, and they also face the possibility of large-scale environmental change. When such changes occur, female outmigration could be an important component of the social response and individual-level adaption

Social change, ecology and climate in 20th century Greenland

Two great transitions, from seal hunting to codfishing, then from cod fishing to shrimp, affectedpopulation centers of southwest Greenland during the20th century. These economic transitionsreflected large-scale shifts in the underlying marineecosystems, driven by interactions between climate andhuman resource use. The combination of climaticvariation and fishing pressure, for example, provedfatal to west Greenland\u27s cod fishery. We examine thehistory of these transitions, using data down to thelevel of individual municipalities. At this level,the uneven social consequences of environmental changeshow clearly: some places gained, while others lost. Developments in 20th-century Greenland resemblepatterns of human-environment interactions in themedieval Norse settlements, suggesting some generalpropositions relevant to the human dimensions ofclimatic change