Qualitative Indicators of Social Resilience in Small-Scale Fishing Communities: An Emphasis on Perceptions and Practice

• Published in: Human ecology review Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 97 - 115
• Main Authors: Johnson, Teresa R., Henry, Anna M., Thompson, Cameron
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bar Harbor ANU Press 01.01.2014; Society for Human Ecology
• Subjects: Communities; Crop diversification; Ethnography; Fisheries; Fisheries management; Fishermen; Fishers; Fishery economics; Fishing Communities; Focus groups; Human ecology; Indexes (Measures); Interviews; Licenses; Maine; Marine ecology; Optimism; Oral History; Perceptions; Qualitative research; RESEARCH AND THEORY IN HUMAN ECOLOGY; Resilience; Social Identity; Social impact; Synecology; Threat; Threats; United States > US; USA, Maine
• ISSN: 1074-4827; 2204-0919
• DOI: 10.22459/her.20.02.2014.05

This paper reports on ethnographic research aimed at understanding what resilience means to those living within fishery-dependent communities. We draw on semi-structured and oral history interviews, focus groups, and household and business interviews in four Maine fishing communities to examine the reflections of fishermen and other community members on the past, present, and future of their communities, including the threats they face and how they are able to respond to them. Based on our analysis, we identify broad qualitative indicators of resilience: survival, social identity, diversification, getting by, and optimism. The indicators of resilience that we identify are difficult to fully understand using secondary data and, therefore, we argue that understanding them also requires an ethnographic research approach that focuses on the practices of fishermen and the context in which those fishermen live.