Many human communities organized around the extraction of open access natural resources are confronted with dilemmas posed by rapid resource depletion and deterioration of the natural environment. Nowhere is this more evident than in commercial fisheries. Declining fish stocks, ineffective management policies, and increased marginalization of fishermen worldwide imperil coastal fishing communities, marine ecosystems, and critical food resources. Understanding the long-term, synergistic structure of fisheries is essential to saving them, but few baseline studies exist describing historic human engagement with marine ecosystems. The federally subsidized, but unrestricted New England cod fishery 150 years ago offers an excellent model for examining social and environmental variables affecting adaptive response among fishermen. Archival records of New England cod fishing vessels between 1852 and 1866 present a data set suitable for modeling human behavior in the hook and line fishery as well as the synergistic influences of social and ecological change. Logs can report daily catch, vessel location, depth of water, and the condition of the sea floor as well as familial affinities among the crew and communications with vessels fishing nearby. Fishing agreements list vessel size, homeport, crew names, and residences and total catch weight. The combination of daily catch statistics, observations at sea and geographic location with social, cultural, and demographic data discloses communitarian knowledge systems, information networks, and decision-making processes operating within ecological and social contexts. This interdisciplinary research project will correlate ecological change on cod fishing banks in the mid 19th century with choices made by New England fishermen plying their trade. Data from archival fisheries records will be evaluated historically and modeled with Global Information Systems (GIS) Software. Tracking changes over time, the investigators will correlate the geographic distribution of fishing vessels with homeport, familial and social affinities, and biological indicators for cod stock generated by fisheries stock assessment models. Discrete choice modeling will identify and rank variables that influence behavior and signal changes such as adopting new technologies, altering fishing strategies, and accepting greater risk in a dangerous business. This project will train graduate and undergraduate students in aspects of historical ecology as they work with original documents, modern statistical modeling, and GIS. Outreach efforts will inform the public and strive to mediate between conflicting stakeholders.
By identifying modes of traditional behavior among mid 19th century New England cod fishermen, the project will analyze the factors influencing them and will chart trends in their behavior. The project will contribute a behavioral baseline for an important modern fishery currently in freefall by establishing a historic range of responses to ecological and economic crises. Acknowledging 19th century fishermen as accurate observers of the environment will encourage a dialog between contemporary scientists and fishers on the state of the marine ecosystem from which better management policy may eventually result. The interdisciplinary analyses will offer potential for other historical scenarios featuring open access resource exploitation, extend biological trends back in time. They will contribute to an understanding of humans as architects of the natural world and nature as an agent of social change while expanding the potential for interdisciplinary education in the sciences and humanities. This award is made as part of the FY 2004 Human and Social Dynamics (HSD) portfolio, following a competition that involved participation from all NSF Directorates and Offices. HSD awards are administered through specific programs that may change over the duration of the award. Management of all HSD awards is coordinated on an NSF-wide basis.
