Tim G. Acott

A Sense of Place in Cultural Ecosystem Services: The Case of Cornish Fishing Communities

Fishing communities in Europe are facing significant challenges due to policy measures aimed at reducing fishing effort in order to cope with the “crisis” in key stocks. While it is imperative to ensure sustainability of the resource, such policies may overlook the contribution of fisheries to the social and cultural well-being of coastal communities. This article explores the contribution that sense of place can make to understanding the relationship between fishing and cultural ecosystem services, drawing on case studies from Cornwall, southwest England. Through semistructured interviews with fishing community stakeholders we outline how fishing contributes to sense of place in terms of individual and community identities, as well as a particular place character associated with the physical presence of fishing. We suggest that a co-constructionist account of the relationship between sea and land can provide a starting point for understanding the cultural landscape that emerges as a result of fishing.

Sense of place and socio-cultural values in fishing communities along the English Channel

There is increasing interest in the social and cultural impacts of marine fisheries in coastal communities. This chapter uses the idea of ‘sense of place’ to explore the material and perceptual relations that emerge as a result of marine fishing in a range of villages and towns in France and England along the English Channel. Currently sense of place is an underused concept in resource management in general and within fisheries management in particular. We show how sense of place can be used to make visible a range of social and cultural values that emerge from the process of marine fishing. These values can then be expressed within a cultural ecosystem services framework, potentially helping to make the results accessible to a broader range of stakeholders, including policy makers and those involved in developing sustainable communities. The chapter concludes with some thoughts about the usefulness of approaches like actor network theory in providing relational perspectives for understanding marine fisheries management.

Social Wellbeing and the Values of Small-scale Fisheries

This book advances discussions of values in fisheries by showing the rich theoretical insights and connections possible when value is grounded in a multi-dimensional social well being approach. Questions of value have long been a central, if often unacknowledged, concern in maritime studies and in research on fisheries. Social scientists have looked at changing perceptions of value as coastal regions and fisheries have industrialized, economic interconnections have deepened, ecosystems have been depleted, shifts in population have occurred, and governance arrangements have been transformed. With a focus on the diverse ways in which small-scale fisheries are valued, the contributions to this volume address these and other themes through cases from numerous countries in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

People, environment and place: the function and significance of human hybrid relationships at an allotment in South East England

Allotments are a valued part of the British cultural landscape, with benefits often associated with exercise and fresh food. However, there are other significant but less tangible values that are often implicit in green-space research, but which require further substantiation. This article sheds light on the role of allotments as places where people engage in meaningful relationships with the natural world. Drawing on in-depth qualitative data, we develop a co-constructionist understanding of the human–nature relationships which exist between plot-holders and the non-human agents they encounter. These non-human elements are implicated in formulating important social values, such as identity, knowledge and community. Furthermore, they are seen to help collapse the natural-social dualism, which is often cited as a root cause of unsustainability, and enrich the lives of plot-holders in diverse and significant ways. Advocacy for their inclusion in urban communities is discussed in relation to the development of socially and environmentally sustainable cities.

Co-constructing Cultural Ecosystem Services and Wellbeing Through a Place-Based Approach

Reductive practices in fisheries management have tended to focus on ecological and economic dimensions that have rendered the social and cultural importance of fishing largely invisible, at least in the context of governance and policy making. This chapter builds on 5 years’ research in the English Channel and Southern North Sea in which the authors adopted a sense of place perspective as a framework for understanding the social and cultural value of small-scale fisheries. Through a number of case studies, the chapter describes how small-scale fisheries result in a series of ‘transformations’ as the marine environment is translated into cultural ecosystem services in coastal settings giving rise to socio-cultural value. This perspective is further developed by considering the value of the social wellbeing ‘lens’ to broaden the sense of place / cultural ecosystem services framework. In pursuing ‘values’ through sense of place, cultural ecosystem services and social wellbeing we discuss how the dualistic treatment of nature and society is problematic. We conclude that a relational co-constructionist approach, although challenging, offers a way of making visible an array of social and cultural values that emerge from the activity of small-scale fisheries.

Introduction: Social Issues in Sustainable Fisheries Management

Throughout the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries fisheries policies and management systems worldwide changed as commercial fish stocks declined and fishing pressure intensified. Increased technological developments have enabled fishing fleets to become highly mobile and efficient and, together with a growing demand for fish for human consumption, have contributed to 87 % of commercial fish stocks being either fully exploited or overexploited (FAO 2012). Unsurprisingly, the focus of fisheries policy and management has been directed at biological and economic dimensions in the effort to bring stocks back to sustainable levels and to protect marine environments. However, in the broad global context, social and cultural issues in fisheries policy and management have largely been ignored. Yet omitting socio-cultural objectives has consequences for many fishing communities that today are struggling to deal with the implications of such decision making (Symes and Phillipson, 2009; Urquhart et al., 2011). Examples may include increased levels of unemployment, outmigration, weaker community structures and economic difficulties, which are especially felt in fisheries dependent communities (Scottish Government 2009). These examples have a strong socio-cultural dimension while biological and economic factors are important contributing factors. Consequently, it is increasingly being recognised that sustainable fisheries will only be achieved by integrating management and policy across biological, social and economic dimensions (FCR, 2009).

Reflections on Social Wellbeing and the Values of Small-Scale Fisheries: Implications for Research, Policy and Management

The contributors to this volume engaged in different ways with social wellbeing as an approach through which to investigate, identify and make visible a broad range of values associated with small-scale fisheries. In this concluding chapter, we highlight four themes that emerge from these contributions that are crucial for thinking about the diverse values of small-scale fisheries: (1) the broader context of transition; (2) integrating environmental considerations into wellbeing through co-construction and place; (3) recognizing the fertile, yet productively unsettled idea that value represents for small-scale fisheries, and; (4) putting into practice the social wellbeing approach to values that this volume develops. We point to connections between our approach and the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication.

Towards an Understanding of Social Issues in Sustainable Fisheries Management

At the outset this book presented the idea that sustainable management of fisheries is a complex and difficult area to negotiate. Through the example of the evolution of the Common Fisheries Policy in Europe in Chap. 1, it was argued that politics, power and governance play key roles in influencing management debates and discourses and it demonstrated the obstacles to bringing about reform in well established systems. The assertion was made that despite increasing international interest in sustainable development and natural resource management, when it comes to fisheries, the primacy of achieving biological and economic sustainability is likely to continue to dominate, with social issues being overlooked, despite clear evidence to suggest that sustainable fisheries will only be achieved through the integration of biological, social and economic issues (FCR 2000).