Qualitative Evaluation of Impacts of Marine Reserves on Commercial and Charter Fishers: Understanding the Big Picture

Identification Information

Citation

Originator: Marino, Elizabeth

Publish Date: 2020

Online Link: None

BPA Project #:

Contact Information

Agency: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Name: Lindsay Aylesworth

Job Position: Marine Reserves Program Leader

Telephone: 541-867-4741

E-Mail Address: lindsay.x.aylesworth@odfw.oregon.gov

Description

Abstract: This research project develops and implements an on-going qualitative investigation into the impacts and experiences of the fishing community along the coast of Oregon in response to the marine reserve system implemented by the Oregon legislature. Between 2008 and 2012, five marine reserves were slated for implementation including original sites at Otter Rock and Redfish Rocks and three subsequent sites at Cape Falcon, Cape Perpetua, and Cascade Head. The process of establishing the marine reserve system, and designating where the reserves would be located, was a complex effort, organized around a series of community-based stakeholder group engagement sessions called community-teams. In total, community-team members put in over 25,000 volunteer hours over a period of 11-months, making the establishment of marine reserves a community-intensive process. This process has been reported on previously by the author for ODFW (Marino 2015). As I have previously stated in those reports, and observed throughout the course of my research, marine reserves are not divorced from other resource management decisions in the minds of fishers and other coastal residents. Therefore, while fishers often know more about marine reserves than the Oregon public at large, perspectives on the reserves are often tied to perspectives on other management and conservation projects and strategies. It was not uncommon in these interviews for fishers to speak of both marine reserves and the impact of farming on salmon streams, for example. Given the challenges of the fishing industry, and the loss of catch over the last decade, this conflation means that fishers often have negative reactions to marine reserves, despite most saying that they have minimal economic impact. The conflation of different kinds of management, I have seen, is frustrating to managers, scientists and conservationists because it makes it challenging to ascertain community perspectives on any given strategy. However, a relationship-based assessment of management, as I believe fishers are doing here, is true to grounded experience, and is a great asset to understanding fisher/management relationships. While it is easy to see the challenges inherit in the conflation of marine reserves with all conservation and management decisions – the reverse is also true: positive experiences with marine reserve systems could have ripple effects on establishing better management/fisher/science interactions. In turn, improving this dynamic has the potential to increase resilience to risk by improving trust and efficiency in decision making. Therefore, this report is meant to offer insights into how multiple logics and experiences all come to the table when discussing marine reserves. We have the hope that understanding is a necessary step towards building social cohesion. Ultimately there will be a programmatic review and report submitted on the marine reserves system to the Oregon legislature in 2023. In order to assess outcomes, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife marine reserve office has been tasked with all ecological, economic, and socio-cultural impact monitoring. This report and affiliated research project falls under this task. While there are extensive quantitative/survey, ecological monitoring, and computer modeling research happening within ODFW designed to measure ecological, social, and economic impacts of marine reserves – this project is designed to capture the lived experience of fishers who are directly impacted by marine reserves. We were particularly interested in economic and socio-cultural impacts of marine reserves to fishers, including whether or not they were shifting their efforts to other species or to other locations, following the implementation of reserves. What this study did not focus on were the ecological impacts of marine reserves, as perceived by fishers. Instead, this project sought to hear from fishers about their own experiences and perspectives about the impacts of marine reserves to their social, cultural, and economic lives. In the future it would be interesting to investigate fisher perspectives on ecological conditions of the ocean broadly, and ecological impacts of marine reserves specifically.

Purpose:

Time Period of Content:

Geographic Extent: Oregon

Status: Final

Use Constraints: Prepared for Marine Reserves Program, Oregon Dept. Fish and Wildlife by Oregon State University Cascades (IGA 432-19)

Format: PDF

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Is a physical copy maintained for reference at Headquarters? Unknown