Coastal Livelihoods
What is our goal?
Building, maintaining and restoring healthy and vibrant coastal communities where fishing is a meaningful source of employment for a large part of the population.
Why are we working on this?
Atlantic Canada’s coastal communities have been hard hit by the collapses of fish stocks and the subsequent consolidation of the fishing industry. As new fishing technology became available and the capacity and reach of fishing vessels increased, both fish stocks and coastal fishing communities suffered. One large factory-freezer trawler was able to catch the same quantity of Atlantic cod as dozens of small boats using hooks and lines were able too. In the 1990s, as groundfish collapsed throughout Nova Scotia, and many of the other fisheries were consolidated, unemployment in coastal communities skyrocketed and populations plummeted as people had no choice but to move away in search of work.
Today, lobster fishing is the only fishery where a large number of coastal residents can still make a living. Ensuring that the lobster fishery remains an owner-operator fishery,
And working to improve access to small-scale sustainable fishing practices for coastal residents will help rebuild Nova Scotia’s coastal communities while helping to restore a sustainable fishery.
Small-scale, independent fishermen are akin to small-scale farmers; they are the people who provide the fabric of renewable rural economies. As we are interested in restoring the resilience of the natural ecosystem, we are similarly concerned with the resilience of coastal communities. Implementing a true ecosystem approach to fisheries management will have to include small-scale fishermen who have a knowledge of the natural history of the sea and who are willing to act as stewards of the ecosystem.
What have we achieved?
In the Same Boat? - Film Tour and Panel Discussion: In collaboration with film director Martha Stiegman from Concordia University, the Bay of Fundy Marine Resource Centre and Bear River First Nations, we organized a film tour of two films – one telling the story of the last handliner in Digby and the other of the First Nations struggle for a food fishery. Both films address the struggles of small communities to maintain sea-based livelihoods and the need to support independent fishermen, as the basis of coastal communities.
We have expanded and built on our relationships with coastal communities through much of our sustainable seafood outreach increased collaboration with the Coastal Communities Network.
Priorities for 2008 and beyond
Working directly with coastal communities to support sustainable fishing practices and support the development of local fish markets as part of increasing food security and engaging in the “food” tourism niche market.
Engaging fishermen as environmental stewards through partnership projects around marine debris reduction and species at risk programming, primarily through gear substitution and modification.
Marine Issues Committee
Phone: (902) 446-4840
Fax: (902) 405-3716
Are you interested in mysterious sea creatures, fishing boats and gear, tasty and sustainably caught seafood dishes, or the unique and beautiful Sable Island? Then you’ll be in good company at our monthly Marine Issues Committee (MIC) at the Ecology Action Centre on the last Tuesday of every month at 5:30.
*note: the July MIC meeting has been cancelled. Our next meeting will be August 31
