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The Impact of Federal Fishing Policies on Coastal Maine and the Town of Harpswell
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The Impact of Federal Fishing Policies on Coastal Maine and the Town of Harpswell
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Description
Identifier
Thesis
1827
Author
Elder, David
Title
The
Impact
of
Federal
Fishing
Policies
on
Coastal
Maine
and the
Town
of
Harpswell
Publisher
Central Connecticut State University
Date of Publication
2006
Resource Type
Master's Thesis
Abstract
Since
1995
, the
Northeast
lobstermen
have been
more
regulated
and
managed
than at any
other
point
in the
history
of their
industry
. The
lobster
fishing
industry
has been a
staple
industry
in the
Northeast
United
States
for
over
200
years
. From
first
being
considered
a
staple
food
for
indentured
servants
to its
contemporary
status
as a
popular
delicacy
, the
lobster
fishing
industry
has
played
a
large
role
in
forming
the
landscape
and
economies
of the
New
England
coastline
. In
1995
, the
implementation
of
lobster
zone
management
in the
form
of
limited
entry
fishing
zones
,
trap
limits
, and
zone
management
areas
represents
the
largest
most
comprehensive
management
strategy
to the
lobster
industry
. In
1999
, for
example
,
under
the
authority
of the
Department
of
Commerce
and
Maine's
new
limited
entry
law
,
each
Maine
lobstermen
is
required
to
indicate
which
of the
seven
new
management
zones
he/she
will be
fishing
in. These
new
management
zones
and the
limited
entry
into them
is
the
most
comprehensive
measure
to
achieve
the
goals
set
forth
and
implemented
by the
NOAA
Fisheries
service
. The
effect
this has on the
local
culture
in the
five
states
of
Maine
,
New
Hampshire
,
Connecticut
,
Massachusetts
, and
Rhode
Island
is
felt
in a
variety
of
ways
. From
direct
economic
suffering
through
mandatory
loss
of
productivity
to
stressing
local
community
social
interactions
, the
wave
of
repercussions
flows
freely
from the
policy
makers
in
Congress
to the
bait
men
of
New
England
. The
result
at the
local
level
of these
management
strategies
is
major
impacts
on the
local
cultures
,
communities
, and
individuals
who
depend
on the
open
access
type
of
system
that has been in
place
in the
Northeast
lobster
industry
from its
inception
. The
analysis
of the
effect
of
federal
fishing
regulations
on a
local
Maine
community
reveals
a
web
of
issues
connected
to
land
use
development
,
shifting
economics
, and the
highly
managed
primary
economic
input
of the
local
lobster
fishing
industry
. The
purpose
of this
thesis
is
to
examine
the
connection
between
federal
fishery
management
policies
and the
policies
impacts
on
Harpswell
, a
lobster
fishing
community
in
Maine
.
Managing
the
commons
in the
21st
century
presents
itself
as
no
easy
task
.
It
takes
an
enormous
amount
of
regulation
,
investigation
, and
manpower
to
assess
and then
provide
adequate
measures
to
accomplish
the
goals
set
forth
in the
Sustainable
Fisheries
Act
,
(SFA)
. The
SFA
is
only
one
piece
of
legislation
that
regulates
the
allocation
of
goods
, in this
case
lobster
,
evenly
across
a
large
number
of
users
. As
proposed
by
Garret
Hardin
(1968)
in The
Tragedy
of the
Commons
, a
resource
will be
exploited
until
extinction
as
every
individual
attempts
to
maximize
their
harvest
from a
common
resource
. The
lobster
fishing
industry
in
New
England
is
no
exception
to this
principle
. The
issue
of
primary
concern
is
the
development
of
techniques
which
will
preserve
the
resource
harvested
by
many
individuals
while
still
allowing
adequate
time
for any
given
species
to
replenish
itself
in its
natural
environment
. The
end
result
is
a
process
of
procedural
restrictions
on those
individuals
using
the
resource
in
order
to
achieve
the
ultimate
goal
of
preserving
the
prosperity
of
future
generations
in the
industry
.
One
complication
of
managing
the
fishing
industry
at the
federal
level
is
the
difficulty
in
managing
the
spectrum
of
users
who
rely
on the
industry
. For
policy
makers
and
scientists
the
priority
of
management
strategy
is
to
preserve
the
industry
through
the
maintenance
of
stock
biomass
. By
limiting
the
number
of
users
and
amount
each
user
is
allowed
to
harvest
, the
regulations
that
shape
the
industry
limit
economic
prosperity
to a
number
of
users
. In
order
to
minimize
these
effects
at the
local
level
,
policy
makers
must
include
the
expected
outcomes
of
such
limiting
regulations
into
formulating
new
policy
. In
addition
to the
direct
loss
of
productivity
by
individual
users
, the
larger
aspect
of
local
economies
also
plays
a
role
. The
next
level
of
impact
of
user
restrictions
translates
into a
changing
rural
economy
.
Along
the
Maine
coast
fishing
has been a
primary
staple
of the
economy
. As
such
, its
importance
to the
overall
stability
of the
economy
becomes
increasingly
important
in the
shaping
of
rural
areas
.
Currently
many
of the
communities
once
considered
solely
a
fishing
economy
are
seeing
the
local
economics
change
. The
reasons
for the
change
are the
limitations
on their
earning
potential
and the
declining
fishing
industry
importance
state
wide
because
of
high
demands
for
coastal
access
and
coastal
property
. The
development
pressures
on
coastal
land
are
creating
a
scarcity
of
access
points
to the
waterfront
which
lobstermen
require
to
continue
catching
lobster
.
Access
to
fishing
grounds
is
one
of the
major
issues
that
policy
makers
must
address
to
stabilize
the
declining
fishing
industry
in
Maine
. The
National
Oceanic
and
Atmospheric
Association
(NOAA)
,
is
the
organization
charged
with
monitoring
and
recommending
policies
to the
Department
of
Commerce
. The
Department
of
Commerce
is
a
sub-committee
of the
United
States
Congress
and in this
matter
is
balancing
ecological
indicators
with
economic
profit
viability
. The
Magnusons-Stevens
Fishery
Conservation
and
Management
Act
was
signed
as
legislative
law
on
April
13
,
1976
. The
Act
was
designed
to
establish
ownership
over
200
nautical
miles
offshore
of the
Untied
States
. Its
intent
was to
extend
jurisdiction
over
the
waters
in
terms
of
conservation
and
harvesting
. By the
mid-1970's
it
had
become
apparent
that
much
of the
exploitation
of the
coastal
United
States
resources
was
actually
occurring
by
harvesters
of
neighboring
countries
causing
a
rapid
rate
of
depletion
due
to
limitless
availability
for
fishing
grounds
.
Natural
resources
in the
United
States
are
one
of the
bases
for the
economic
prosperity
of the
United
States
. The
Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery
Conservation
and
Management
Act
, the
governing
act
of
access
to
United
States
Fishery
resources
,
states
; "
Section
2
Findings
Purposes
, and
Policy
that:
(a)
Findings.-The
Congress
finds
and
declares
the
following
:
(1)
the
fish
off
the
coasts
of the
United
States
, the
highly
migratory
species
of the
high
seas
, the
species
which
dwell
on or in the
Continental
Shelf
appertaining
to the
United
States
, and the
anadromous
species
which
spawn
in the
United
States
rivers
or
estuaries
,
constitute
valuable
and
renewable
natural
resources
. These
fishery
resources
contribute
to the
food
supply
,
economy
, and
health
of the
Nation
and
provide
recreational
opportunities
"
(MSFCMA
,
1976)
.
Geography
has
always
been
concerned
with
atmosphere
,
organisms
,
land
cover
, and the
variation
of
geographic
features
.
Natural
resources
have
always
been
encompassed
by the
discipline
of
Geography
.
Indeed
Geography
deals
with
landscape
,
people
, and the
relationship
between
the
two
as
described
in the
Man-Land
Tradition
in
William
D
.
Pattison's
"
Four
Traditions
of
Geography
"
(Pattison
,
1964)
. In the
case
of the
lobster
, and the
U.S
.
Fisheries
in
general
, the
question
becomes
similar
to that
later
addressed
as, "The
Tragedy
of the
Commons
".
When
people
realize
that a
resource's
abundance
is
finite
, the
race
to
profit
by
one's
own
consumption
creates
motivation
to
harvest
until
the
last
bit
of
resource
remains
. The
logic
to this
being
that
eventually
,
whether
you
participate
in the
harvesting
or not, the
resource
will
run
out
and
why
not
take
from that
which
all
your
neighbors
are
taking
?
Regulation
of the
fishing
industry
is
a
complex
system
of
organizational
hierarchies
that
maintain
and
implement
regulations
to
provide
the
most
benefit
to the
most
people
through
managing
ecological
factors
and
resource
extraction
. The
dichotomy
between
long
term
stock
biomass
sustainability
and
immediate
individual
profit
necessitates
the
need
for
stringent
regulations
to
preserve
the
resource
in
order
for
future
extraction
opportunity
. The
two
are
interdependent
of
one
another
. The
management
strategies
are
required
to
manage
stock
biomass
because
each
individual
is
attempting
to
maximize
their
output
.
It
is
a
challenge
of
balancing
the
needs
of
fishermen's
immediate
well
being
with the
longer
term
impact
of the
catch
on the
stock
biomass
.
Another
consideration
is
the
short-term
and
long-term
regional
and
National
economic
impact
. The
challenge
of
regulating
certain
species
and
geographic
areas
according
to
ecological
health
must
be
highly
managed
and
calculated
to
produce
the
best
possible
combination
of
profit
and
product
. For
Harpswell
,
Maine
, this
balancing
act
,
between
the
people
and
local
economies
that
rely
on the
ocean
and the
number
and
variety
of its
creatures
,
is
now
complicated
by the
added
factor
of
economic
strain
through
real
estate
pressures
on their
land
at the
same
time
as their
opportunity
to
earn
more
is
legislatively
limited
in the
name
of
resource
longevity
.
Subject
Lobster fisheries -- Law and legislation -- Maine
Lobster fisheries -- Law and legislation -- Maine -- Harpswell Center
Department
Department of Geography
Advisor
Rickard, Timothy J.
Type
Text
Digital Format
application/pdf
Language
eng
OCLC number
713734063
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