Preparing Tomorrow's Fisheries Managers for Real-Life Issues

By Joanna Kafarowski

Maintaining relevance in a complex, dynamic world is a constant goal of academic institutions seeking to attract new students.  Most natural resource management programs at Canadian universities offer a curriculum heavily weighted towards courses that are theoretically, rather than empirically, based and focusing almost exclusively on the natural and physical sciences.  Yet, increasingly, managers are finding that “wicked” natural resource problems, as Shindler (1999) refers to them, cannot be adequately addressed through solutions generated solely through scientific analysis.  Rather, resource managers must identify and utilize a variety of tools in dealing with the diverse contemporary resource management issues that exist today.  This raises critical questions about the training that is being provided to the natural resource managers of the future—are today’s students being provided with effective training that will enable them to help solve the natural resource management issues of tomorrow?  

Fisheries pose unique challenges for resource managers who must deal with declining species populations caused by habitat loss, climate change, pollution, technological advances and over-fishing (McCay and Finlayson, 1995; Young, 1999).  Shifting socio-economic factors in coastal communities and legislation supportive of the public participation process have resulted in the greater input of local residents and other concerned citizens into fisheries management (Butler, Steele and Robertson, 2001; McCool and Guthrie, 2001).  Greater public involvement and the very nature of the resource engenders further managerial challenges, including jurisdictional disputes.  This is most evident in the case of anadromous fisheries.  For example, a migrating Fraser River sockeye salmon in British Columbia may pass through two countries, three provinces and/or states, over two hundred communities and over one hundred traditional First Nations territories (Lewis, 1991).  Gradually, fisheries management is being redefined as managers recognize that solutions to fisheries crises lie equally within the realms of social and natural sciences.  It is critical, therefore, that curricula be developed that balances the natural/physical scientific bias found in the majority of fisheries management university and college lecture halls.  This paper outlines an interdisciplinary university course designed to prepare students for modern-day fishery issues and, in particular, acknowledges women in coastal communities by addressing issues relevant to their unique participation. 

Entitled, “Gender, Culture and Natural Resources,” this course was designed for third year undergraduate students at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, British Columbia, and is delivered as a five-day intensive summer course.  Students taking this course during the regular university year would normally require four months.  The availability of this course in summer can help students wishing to complete their degree in a timely manner.  Another bonus is that the course is held at the North Pacific Cannery in Prince Rupert, British Columbia.  Once a prosperous working cannery, the North Pacific Cannery is now a busy museum located in a coastal fishing community.  Easy access to the magnificent Queen Charlotte Islands allows students to complete the course and take a well-deserved holiday afterwards in one of the most breathtaking regions of the province.   

“Gender, Culture and Natural Resources” is based on the premise that as fisheries worldwide are being depleted at an alarming rate, women are being adversely affected.  Women in coastal communities play a critical role in world fisheries; working as fishers, in processing industries, in subsistence Aboriginal fisheries, and supporting families (Davis and Nadel-Klein, 1988).  The course adopts both a theoretical and empirical approach to investigating the links between gender, culture and natural resources as applied specifically to fisheries.  Each of the five days of the course is devoted to a different aspect relating to this broader issue and links between these aspects are established and emphasized.  Students are encouraged to view fisheries management holistically—as a discipline with many facets.  Over the course of the week, they read, discuss and critically analyze topics presented in class from diverse points of view.  Students thereby gain an appreciation of the benefits and challenges of this approach when applied to natural resource management in a real-life setting. 

The first day introduces the course, outlining course expectations and addressing logistical matters for the duration of the week.  Additionally, we examine the state of fisheries on global, national and local levels.  While international and national examples are provided, the course focuses on the local level.  The students who take this course almost exclusively reside in the northwest region of British Columbia, an area heavily dependent on resource development.  In the future, many of these students will likely be employed by resource industries such as commercial fisheries or government agencies addressing the management of this resource, so a keen knowledge and understanding of local issues is seminal.   

The second day of the course explores employment issues, situating women’s work in fisheries on a global scale through considering the feminization of the labor force, and the impact of globalization and gender distribution at various levels of the fishery.  The third day examines the cultural aspects of fisheries and the impact of socio-economic changes in the fishery on the community.  Increasing violence against women, increased substance abuse and changes in family dynamics are identified and related to labor and other issues.  Women’s health issues are explored on the fourth day and emphasis is placed on the occupational health hazards faced by women in processing industries, although other areas we discuss include the rise in HIV/Aids in the families of fishers in Asia and the dangerous working conditions of women fishers.  The fifth and final day examines the role of women in decision-making and leadership, whether in a union, government department, or not-for-profit agency. 

As a university course, the discussions in this class are based heavily on recent scholarly literature but this literature reflects work conducted in both the social and natural sciences.  For example, the health section of the course is based on medical reports about how and why snow crab asthma develops and why it is so prevalent amongst fish-processing workers, as well as on sociological studies of how snow crab asthma impacts on employment rates and on the lives of women (Malo et al., 1988; Neis, 1994).   

Students’ understanding of fisheries is broadened by two other components of the course.  First, students have the opportunity to conduct oral history interviews with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women involved with fisheries in the local community.  In Canada, fisheries managers regularly address issues relating to Aboriginal peoples and fishing rights and, historically, conflict has frequently occurred, as it still does in the present day.  Although the rights of Aboriginal peoples to fish for subsistence purposes is enshrined in Canadian law, this right is often challenged by the powerful commercial fishing industry or may be compromised by perceived threats to the goals of conservation according to government staff.  Through working with Aboriginal women, students will gain an introduction to the Aboriginal worldview and how fisheries are managed according to this perspective.  Non-Aboriginal women with experience in fisheries are also included in this project.  Finally, the oral history component of the course recognizes the vital need to include user knowledge in fisheries management (Neis and Felt, 2000). 

Involving local women in the class as experts requires pre-planning on the part of the instructor.  Conducting oral history interviews means that appropriate women must be identified and approached several months before the class begins to ensure that participants are informed about the project and are willing to discuss fisheries-related issues in depth with students.  Ethical issues must be addressed at various levels, including with the academic institution hosting the course, the students, and the participants.  This is critical with Aboriginal participants, given the exploitative nature of much research that has been conducted with Aboriginal peoples in the past.  Local women must be welcomed into the classroom and effort expended to establish a positive working relationship between students and participating local women.  Through this project, students learn about real-life issues that impact on women as individuals and on the community.  Local women have their experiences validated and their knowledge in fisheries recognized.  The North Pacific Cannery also benefits as the oral histories remain as part of the permanent record of the museum.  The oral history project also garners positive attention for the university as it provides an excellent example of a successful partnership between the academy and the community. 

The third component of the course involves the course materials.  As indicated, scholarly literature provides the framework upon which the course is designed, but additional documentation is also useful.  The intensive nature of the course lends itself to the student becoming immersed in the subject.  This is fostered through an appeal to the student’s heart and soul as well as to their intellect.  Students explore poetry written about and by women in fisheries.  They also investigate archival photographs documenting women’s lives and experiences.  These stark photographs capture the nuances of where and under what conditions women lived and worked during the past when segregation was the norm in canneries.  Students also explore the North Pacific Cannery over the course of the week and link their own experience of cannery life with that of the experiences of the women they learn about.   

Students who successfully complete this course gain an understanding and appreciation of how gender impacts on natural resource management and, in particular, how fisheries profoundly affects individuals and communities in many spheres and at various levels.  This course highlights the fact that training in preparation for fisheries management must recognize and address issues such as community health, culture, gender and decision-making equally with more traditional issues such as quotas, total allowable catches, and species distribution.  Effective fisheries management of the future depends on this integration of the social with the scientific. 

Joanna Kafarowski is a doctoral student in the Natural Resources and Environmental Studies program and an instructor in the Geography and Environmental Planning departments at the University of Northern British Columbia, Canada.  She welcomes queries or comments and can be reached at gypsy_four@hotmail.com.

References 

Butler, M., L. Steele and R. Robertson.  2001.  Adaptive resource management in the New England groundfish fishery; implications for public participation and impact assessment.  Society and Natural Resources.  14: 791-801. 

Davis, D. L.  and J. Nadel-Klein.  1988.  Terra cognita? A review of the literature.  In To work and to weep: Women in fishing economies.  Edited by D. L. Davis and J. Nadel-Klein.  pp. 18-50.  Social and Economic Papers No. 18.  Institute of Social and Economic Research, Memorial University of Newfoundland.   

Lewis, R.  1991.  Can salmon make a comeback? Bioscience.  41: 6-10. 

Malo, J-L., Cartier, A., Ghezzo, H., Lafrance, M., McCants, M., Lehrer, S.  1988.  Patterns of improvement in spirometry, bronchial hyperresponsiveness and specific IgE antibody levels after cessation of exposure in occupational asthma caused by snow-crab processing.  American Review of Respiratory Diseases.  138: 807-812. 

McCay, B. and A. Finlayson.  1995.  The political ecology of crisis and institutional change: The case of the Northern Cod.  Paper presented to the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C.  November 15-19, 1995. 

McCool, S. and K. Guthrie.  2001.  Mapping the dimensions of successful public participation in messy natural resources management situations.  Society and Natural Resources.  14: 309-323. 

Neis, B. 1994.  Occupational health and safety of women working in fish and crab processing in Newfoundland and Labrador.  Chronic diseases in Canada.  15 (1): 6-11. 

Neis, B.  and L.  Felt (eds.).   2000.  Finding Our Sea Legs: Linking Fishery People and Their Knowledge with Science and Management.  ISER Books.  Institute of Social and Economic Research, Memorial University of  Newfoundland. 

Shindler, B.  1999.  Shifting public values for forest management: making sense of wicked problems.  Western Journal of Applied Forestry.  14 (1): 28- 34. 

Young, K.  1999.  Managing the decline of Pacific salmon: Metapopulation theory and artificial recolonization as ecological mitigation.  Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.  56: 1700-1705.