Lessons from a Multi-Scale Historical Reconstruction of Newfoundland and Labrador Fisheries

1. The research we report on was carried out as part of the Coasts Under Stress (CUS) project, a multidisciplinary, bi-coastal Canadian research program that sought to understand the interactions between environmental, social, industrial, and political restructuring and the health of people, communities, and the environment (CitationDolan et al., 2005).

2. Moreover, the data themselves are known to be suspect—as has been well documented, landings data are vulnerable to misreporting, can be sparse or uneven over time, and are limited to species of commercial interest.

3. We also asked fishers for their observations on certain ecological areas of interests (including nursery areas, migration patterns, habitat, etc.). Results from these questions are not discussed in detail in this article, although see Murray et al. (in press); Murray et al. (submitted).

4. A longliner is the local name for a large (usually over 35 foot) vessel. Many would employ gillnets and/or longline gear.

5. For Figure 2 landings include reported landings from all countries in NAFO Divisions 2, 3, and Subdivision 4R using the NAFO 21a database (available at http://www.nafo.int/about/frames/activities.html). The groundfish category includes: American Plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides), Atlantic Cod, Atlantic Halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus), Redfishes (Sebastes spp.), Greenland Halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides—also known as turbot), Haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), Pollock (Pollachius virens), Red Hake (Urophycis chuss), White Hake (Urophycis tenuis), Summer Flounder (Paralichthys dentatus), Winter Flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus), Witch Flounder (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus), Yellowtail Flounder (Limanda ferruginea), non-specified flatfishes, and non-specified groundfishes. Pelagics include Atlantic Herring (Clupea harengus+harengus), Atlantic Mackerel (Scomber scombrus), Capelin (Mallotus villosus), and non-specified pelagic fishes. Crustaceans include American Lobster (Homarus americanus), Queen Crab (Chionoecetes opilio), Northern Prawn/Pink Shrimps (Pandalus spp.), and non-specified marine crustaceans. Other includes a total of 71 other species for which small landings were reported. Data sources for the number of licenses Newfoundland fishers include: 1950–1969 from Department of Fisheries Annual Report; 1970–1979 from Annual Statistical Review of Canadian Fisheries; 1980–1982 from Historical Statistics of Newfoundland and Labrador; 1983–present from DFO website.

6. During the time period covered by Figure 3, inshore/fixed gear landings came from Canadian vessels, whereas offshore landings will be entirely Canadian only after 1977. We provide data from 2J as a particularly dramatic example, although the general trend was echoed in other Newfoundland waters.

7. Following DFO classifications, inshore refers to the under 35 foot class, whereas “nearshore” refers to those vessels between 35 and 65 feet.

8. Both Figures 5 and 6 were created by charting aggregate landings from all countries in these divisions. Data for 1960–2002 from NAFO 21a database. Landings Data from 1953–1959 from International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF) records. Although there is no distinction between sectors here, inshore/fixed gear landings came from Canadian vessels throughout the time period, whereas the offshore landings will be mostly Canadian only after 1977. Mean trophic level was calculated using landings by species along with trophic levels derived from Fishbase, accessed at http://www.fishbase.org/search.php. It should be noted that these should be treated as estimations, particularly for the early (1950–1970s) period of study where landings records are sparse and incomplete. For example, no lobster landings were recorded by ICNAF prior to 1959 for 4R, although a fishery existed. Nonetheless, the general trends of declining trophic levels remain accurate.

9. In addition, we selected those species most often highlighted during our interviews and compiled landings of these species from the NAFO 21b database. We underlined the importance of these species by estimating a crude approximate price for those key species over time (by dividing total Newfoundland landings by total Newfoundland landed value for each year for each species) and multiplying that by landings recorded for each subdivision (2J and 4R in this case) for that species for vessels with a gross tonnage under 150 tons (an approximation of the “inshore” sector). Value was then adjusted to 1990 dollars using the Canadian consumer price index.

10. It is difficult to neatly summarize “access” issues for the inshore 2J fishery for several reasons: NAFO statistics are organized by vessel tonnage whereas DFO assigns quotas based, in part, on vessel length; shrimp are managed by shrimp areas that include multiple NAFO divisions (although DFO reports landings and assigns quotas also by NAFO division); the assignment of quotas varies from year to year and it is not always clear who falls into which quota category. In addition, 2J fishers are also sometimes allotted small amounts of quota in adjacent areas, and receive benefits from offshore licenses granted to the Labrador Shrimp Company, which holds two licenses and is collectively owned by fishers from 2J.

11. The struggle between agency and structuralist explanations is not a new one in sociology (e.g., CitationGiddens, 1986).