Browsing by Author "Knight, Peter"

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Bluff Oyster Fishery: Management in Review
(2003) Knight, Peter
From the introduction: "The newspaper reports on the fine quality of this year's oysters fall a little flat; at over a dollar apiece I've stopped buying them. I've another interest in the Bluff oyster now. This paper is the result of research during the summer of 2002-2003 into the way the Bluff oyster fishery has historically been managed. My interest is in both the environmental struggle to conserve the resource, and the cultural struggle on the part of the fishermen to preserve a way of life, and a body of knowledge. The sight of the oyster boat Monica hauled out the water at Bluff and parked outside Bluff's Maritime Museum sustains my interest. As I go aboard I sense the beam of the ship, the wide decks with room to move. I imagine the short and sturdy spars shuddering at the clang of a dredge being shipped, the crash of the oysters on the bench, the motion of the boat, the men working at sea. And, on the side of Bluff Hill the houses of the fishermen overlook the harbour as they have done for generations. There is in Bluff a combination of economy, culture and place that ought to be as productive for my research as the Foveaux Strait was for the oyster fishery."
Ownership and Belonging in the Bluff Oyster Fishery
(2006) Knight, Peter
"The Bluff oyster fishery became part of New Zealand fisheries Quota Management System (QMS) in 1998 and management responsibility fell to the owners of individual transferable quota (ITQ). A group of conservation-minded Bluff oyster fishermen believe that the owners of ITQ are locked into a need for exploitation that will ultimately result in the fishery's demise. The proposition that private property rights encourage conservation through the self-interest of owners is questioned in a situation where establishing those property rights has meant the exclusion of conservation-minded fishermen. Conservation-minded fishermen play an important role in the fishery viewed as a socio-ecological system. The concept of belonging is proposed as a complement to the idea of ownership in the theory of property-rights regimes aimed at managing local resources."
Picking among the Ruins: Which Way Forward in Managing the Bluff Oyster Fishery?
(2004) Knight, Peter
"The town of Bluff on the Foveaux Strait in southern New Zealand is the centre of the world's richest and last remaining wild oyster fishery. For over 150 years many generation of oyster fishers have engaged in a vibrant economy that has sustained the town and established a unique relationship of people to land. But today the fishery is in ruins from overfishing and disease. Dredges have mined the seafloor of Foveaux Strait until very little remains of the original seafloor benthos from which the oyster beds developed. The oyster-killing disease bonamia is rampant, and the productivity of the fishery is only a small fraction of what it once was. The demise of the Bluff oysters is matched by a social breakdown of the oyster fishing culture of Bluff. The introduction of individual transferable quotas to the fishery resulted in the dispossession of many oyster fishers. A number of conservationminded fishermen with long histories in managing the fishery are presently excluded from an official role, excluding with them an important diversity of opinion. "Management of the Bluff oyster fishery has historically taken place within a framework of interactions between the national and the local level. This framework changed dramatically in the mid-nineties with the introduction of the Quota Management System (QMS). Together with the institution of individual transferable quotas, the QMS has led to a perception in the community that the fishery has been captured by the quota-owners, who, operating under a commercial paradigm, fail to acknowledge the extent of the environmental crisis that has been caused by the history of exploitation in the fishery. The quota-owners are organized under the umbrella of an industrial consortium know as the Bluff Oyster Management Company (BOMC). The BOMC derives its power from the Ministry of Fisheries (MFish), whose policy it is to devolve management power to quota owners."
Where Did We Go Wrong? A Critical Assessment of Management in the Bluff Oyster Fishery
(2008) Knight, Peter
"More than a century of dredging for oysters in the Foveaux Strait, New Zealand has resulted in a decimated fishery. In 1999 the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment asked the question: Where did we go wrong? This thesis provides answers to this question by presenting information provided by the Bluff oyster fishermen. In order to gain as much exposure to the community of fishermen as possible, a cumulative period of approximately six months was spent living in the town of Bluff between 2002 and 2007. During this time relationships were built with key informants, and a total of more than 50 community members were interviewed. The thesis describes the practical knowledge of the oyster fishermen, and places it in the context of more that 40 years of modern scientific studies concerned with the fishery. The finding are that since 1996 when the Quota Management System was introduced in the fishery, the most knowledgeable and responsible people in the fishery have been systematically excluded from roles in management. The practical knowledge of fishermen has been discounted in an industry and government led management system, which is an elaborate justification for continued maximum exploitation of the fishery. The theoretical contribution of the thesis lies in its description of belonging as a factor as important as that of property-rights in a sustainable resource system. The practical knowledge and conservation-mindedness of the fishery elders are characteristics of belonging, but not necessarily of ownership. Fishery management should recognize belonging as cultural capital, and make use of it under the present system (i.e. the Quota Management System) by according fishermen rights of management and access to the oyster fishery."