Jennifer J. Silver

GATEKEEPERS AND KEYMASTERS: DYNAMIC RELATIONSHIPS OF ACCESS IN GEOGRAPHICAL FIELDWORK*

This article contributes to a recent and growing body of literature exploring the nature of fieldwork in human geography. Specifically, we critically examine the role of gatekeepers in providing access to “the field,” based on existing conceptualizations of gatekeepers in the literature and on our own experiences with gatekeepers. We argue that the concept of gatekeepers has been oversimplified, in that relationships between researchers and gatekeepers are often assumed to be unidirectional—with gatekeepers controlling or providing access by researchers—and predominantly static in form and time. Although we accept the necessity and advantages of working through gatekeepers, our experiences suggest that relationships with them are highly complex and evolve over time, with sometimes unexpected implications for research. In gathering and analyzing data, researchers become gatekeepers themselves, what we are calling “keymasters.” Reconceptualizing the gatekeeper‐researcher relationship will contribute to ongoing efforts to more fully understand field‐workers as undertaking a practice inherently political, personal, and linked to the production of knowledge.

Blue Economy and Competing Discourses in International Oceans Governance

In this article, we track a relatively new term in global environmental governance: “blue economy.” Analyzing preparatory documentation and data collected at the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (i.e., Rio + 20), we show how the term entered into use and how it was articulated within four competing discourses regarding human–ocean relations: (a) oceans as natural capital, (b) oceans as good business, (c) oceans as integral to Pacific Small Island Developing States, and (d) oceans as small-scale fisheries livelihoods. Blue economy was consistently invoked to connect oceans with Rio + 20’s “green economy” theme; however, different actors worked to further define the term in ways that prioritized particular oceans problems, solutions, and participants. It is not clear whether blue economy will eventually be understood singularly or as the domain of a particular actor or discourse. We explore possibilities as well as discuss discourse in global environmental governance as powerful and precarious.

Weighing in on Scale: Synthesizing Disciplinary Approaches to Scale in the Context of Building Interdisciplinary Resource Management

There are many concepts being discussed in the context of resource management that could provide common ground for natural and social scientists. Examples include, but are not limited to, capital, complexity, capacity, and the overall goal of social-ecological resilience. I argue that scale is a concept that should also be considered in this group, and therefore present a review and synthesis of several iterations of scale that appear in the literature. Scale appears with most frequency as a matter of methodological concern, but is increasingly discussed as a sociopolitical construct with the purpose of maintaining existing relations of power. I contend that both should be synthesized into a unified understanding of scale, as is done in the social-ecological systems (SES) literature.

Marine Turtles in the Turks and Caicos Islands: Remnant Rookeries, Regionally Significant Foraging Stocks, and a Major Turtle Fishery

Abstract This study reviews the status of marine turtles in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) using data gathered during a multidisciplinary study involving field surveys, questionnaire-based interviews, and molecular genetics between 2002 and 2006. Large aggregations of foraging turtles in the archipelagos waters are dominated by juvenile green (Chelonia mydas) and hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata), with provisional mixed-stock analysis of these species suggesting that the aggregations originate predominantly from larger and relatively proximate source rookeries in the Wider Caribbean region. This study also suggests that the islands host remnant nesting populations of turtles, with hawksbill turtle nests recorded more frequently than green and loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) nests. The TCI islanders retain a culture of turtle use, with the current regulated and legitimate harvest likely to be one of the largest among the Caribbean Islands. This study suggests that historic and current harvest of turtles and their eggs in the TCI may have contributed to the apparent decline in the countrys nesting populations. In order to address this conservation concern, changes to the regulation and management of the TCIs turtle fishery are necessary, but further research is needed to inform these changes.

Complex context: Aboriginal participation in hosting the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games

In an effort to build understanding of diverse Indigenous experiences with the Olympics, we explore the relationship between the Vancouver Organizing Committee and the Four Host First Nations Society (FHFN). The research is grounded in theory that stresses the social influence and political nature of material–cultural landscapes. The article also connects important details from two disparate literatures: the politics and imagery of Olympic hosting, and the history and tensions surrounding Aboriginal sovereignty in British Columbia (BC). After discussing our methodological approach and reviewing this literature, we trace the formalisation of the FHFN and consider how protocol agreements guided its relationship with the Vancouver Organizing Committee. Next, we overview programmes that enlisted Aboriginal artists and entrepreneurs, highlighting how prominent additions to the material–cultural landscape were produced and overseen, and have since been discursively framed. The hosting relationship has resulted in benefits for some Aboriginal persons and businesses. However, it has also imprinted the landscape in ways that may (re)legitimise dominant political, economic and cultural objectives and perspectives over time. Thus, we question whether the relationship should be taken as a model for future Indigenous participation in the Olympics and/or as evidence of improved relations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in BC.

A heuristic model of socially learned migration behaviour exhibits distinctive spatial and reproductive dynamics

&NA; We explore a “Go With the Older Fish” (GWOF) mechanism of learned migration behaviour for exploited fish populations, where recruits learn a viable migration path by randomly joining a school of older fish. We develop a non‐age‐structured biomass model of spatially independent spawning sites with local density dependence, based on Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii). We compare a diffusion (DIFF) strategy, where recruits adopt spawning sites near their natal site without regard to older fish, with GWOF, where recruits adopt the same spawning sites, but in proportion to the abundance of adults using those sites. In both models, older individuals return to their previous spawning site. The GWOF model leads to higher spatial variance in biomass. As total mortality increases, the DIFF strategy results in an approximately proportional decrease in biomass among spawning sites, whereas the GWOF strategy results in abandonment of less productive sites and maintenance of high biomass at more productive sites. A DIFF strategy leads to dynamics comparable to non‐spatially structured populations. While the aggregate response of the GWOF strategy is distorted, non‐stationary and slow to equilibrate, with a production curve that is distinctly flattened and relatively unproductive. These results indicate that fishing will disproportionately affect populations with GWOF behaviour.

Human conflict over wildlife: exploring social constructions of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in Botswana

ABSTRACT Researchers argue that human–wildlife conflict (HWC) can be understood better in terms of conflict between humans over wildlife. We explore human conflict over wildlife by using a social constructionist approach to examine meanings of African wild dogs in Botswana. In 2013 and 2015, we conducted a qualitative study in four study sites by completing: (a) 113 semi-structured interviews with individuals in the agricultural, conservation, and tourism sectors; (b) participant observation; and (c) document analysis. Our results reveal that wild dogs are socially constructed as problem animals, as an endangered species, and as an economic resource, reflecting stakeholders’ diverging agendas, priorities, and values. The social constructions are driven by and emblematic of politico-economic and sociocultural trends, and competing development trends in Botswana. We propose: (a) seeing HWC as human conflict over wildlife can increase communication between conservationists and affected communities, and (b) integrative management plans that increase collaboration among stakeholder groups.