A Politics of Doing Social Research for Fishery Biologists, Managers and Industry

Abstract

Social impact assessment of management change is becoming an increasingly common injunction in many fisheries around the world. Funding for such work is often provided by government and/or corporate bodies and can require researchers to work with industry participants and fishery biologists and managers to produce work that is credible and useful to these groups. Design of such work, therefore, is scrutinized by other than social researchers. In this article, I present some responses to challenges put by fishery biologists, fishery managers and industry participants regarding my research. It eventuated that in my work I had to be mindful of both political and methodological requirements affecting the credibility, use and funding of my research outside the academy.

Constructing ‘The Stade’: Fishers' and non-fishers' identity and place attachment in Hastings, south-east England

“…While anthropology and fisheries has a long history [13] and social impact assessment of fisheries is becoming more common place [14][15][16] there is a lack of studies that explicitly explore people-place relationships, including how marine fishing contributes to place attachment and sense of place in coastal communities. This is surprising given the importance of place and community identity in broader policy making contexts.…”

Is it the end for anonymity as we know it? A critical examination of the ethical principle of anonymity in the context of 21st century demands on the qualitative researcher

“…While issues related to working within and outside academia have been considered elsewhere (see Bradshaw, 2003), few critiques or pieces of guidance exist on the reality of the implementation and application of the ethical principles by which researchers conduct their work (with a few exceptions, see Tilley and Gormley, 2007).…”

“…So where does all this leave qualitative researchers, particularly those who are committed to the dissemination of their research findings in both academic and non academic contexts? While issues related to working within and outside academia have been considered elsewhere (see Bradshaw, 2003), few critiques or pieces of guidance exist on the reality of the implementation and application of the ethical principles by which researchers conduct their work (with a few exceptions, see Tilley and Gormley, 2007).…”