As guest editors we are privileged to have the opportunity to create this special edition of the Dalhousie Law Journal. It is special for a number of reasons. First, the contributions reflect a specific decision on our part to explore the nature and meaning of events being experienced in Atlantic Canada\u27s fishery from a variety of perspectives, of which law, traditionally privileged in law journals for its explanation of events, is perhaps the least important. Secondly the authors, many of whom are people who would not ordinarily write for legal publications, were given express carte blanche to contribute think pieces on the phenomenon of the collapse -including whether the events experienced in the fishery are a collapse or a change or perhaps even a revolution. Underlying this is an awareness, as signified by the title of this collection, of the place of the writer and the active formulation of ideas about current experience. More importantly, there is an assumption that the experiences of the Atlantic Canadian fishery are not without meaning for other places and times. They are extremely significant harbingers of what was faced in many other areas in relation to the environment. As is often the case, those close to the margin, whether it be geographic, economic or political,6 can provide lessons about the dangers of a situation and also inspiration, through the ability of the human spirit to survive, to those who still have the luxury of choice
