Springer Resilience in the English Small-Scale Fishery: Small Fry but Big Issue

This book is a contribution to our understanding of the worrying situation of small-scale fisheries (SSF) which face marginalisation in most coastal countries. The authors explain why SSF are so pressured; how there has been a powerful backlash against this marginalisation during the last 30 years; what are the main ideational currents supporting this backlash; and what is the enduring value of SSF that justifies that support. The authors discuss the major contemporary interpretations of SSF; the challenges facing SSF globally and in England; and SSF’s coping strategies in response to those challenges through the framework of resilience theory. In an innovative analysis, the authors show how there are three kinds of resilience: passive resilience (where fishers are resigned to their adverse fate), adaptive resilience (where fishers make the best use of the opportunities that are available to them), and transformative resilience (where fishers attempt to change the system that faces them). The authors draw on an extensive range of interview data to provide rich insights into the world of SSF, and they discuss a variety of proposals for improving their conditions. The book will appeal to the growing academic and public community that is following with increasing concern the debate about the future of SFF, and to the environmental movement which has committed itself to support SSF as a greener form of fishing than the large-scale industrial sector. From the Back Cover This book is a contribution to our understanding of the worrying situation of small-scale fisheries (SSF) which face marginalisation in most coastal countries. The authors explain why SSF are so pressured; how there has been a powerful backlash against this marginalisation during the last 30 years; what are the main ideational currents supporting this backlash; and what is the enduring value of SSF that justifies that support. The authors discuss the major contemporary interpretations of SSF; the challenges facing SSF globally and in England; and SSF’s coping strategies in response to those challenges through the framework of resilience theory. In an innovative analysis, the authors show how there are three kinds of resilience: passive resilience (where fishers are resigned to their adverse fate), adaptive resilience (where fishers make the best use of the opportunities that are available to them), and transformative resilience (where fishers attempt to change the system that faces them). The authors draw on an extensive range of interview data to provide rich insights into the world of SSF, and they discuss a variety of proposals for improving their conditions. The book will appeal to the growing academic and public community that is following with increasing concern the debate about the future of SFF, and to the environmental movement which has committed itself to support SSF as a greener form of fishing than the large-scale industrial sector. About the Author Dr Rebecca Korda holds a PhD from Newcastle University which examined the resilience strategies of the English small-scale fleet and she has co-authored several papers on small-scale fisheries in England and Honduras. Her interest in this topic is particularly focused on how agencies can improve fisher’s participation in their marine environmental decision-making processes as well as how small scale fisher grass-roots movements can gain traction and strength. She has over ten years’ experience working for fisheries management agencies directly and in an advisory capacity. She is currently employed as a Senior Marine Adviser for Natural England and is investigating how power and relationship mapping techniques used by community organisers can be transferred to fisheries, as a means to help managers better understand and deal with potential divisions between themselves and their stakeholders. Dr. Tim Gray is Emeritus Professor of Political Thought employed