Browsing by Author "Murray, Grant"

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The Capacity to Adapt? Communities in a Changing Climate, Environment, and the Economy on the Northern Andaman Coast of Thailand
(2014) Bennett, Nathan J.; Dearden, Phillip; Murray, Grant; Kadfak, Alin
"The health and productivity of marine ecosystems, habitats, and fisheries are deteriorating on the Andaman coast of Thailand. Because of their high dependence on natural resources and proximity to the ocean, coastal communities are particularly vulnerable to climate-induced changes in the marine environment. These communities must also adapt to the impacts of management interventions and conservation initiatives, including marine protected areas, which have livelihood implications. Further, communities on the Andaman coast are also experiencing a range of new economic opportunities associated in particular with tourism and agriculture. These complex and ongoing changes require integrated assessment of, and deliberate planning to increase, the adaptive capacity of communities so that they may respond to: (1) environmental degradation and fisheries declines through effective management interventions or conservation initiatives, (2) new economic opportunities to reduce dependence on fisheries, and (3) the increasing impacts of climate change. Our results are from a mixed methods study, which used surveys and interviews to examine multiple dimensions of the adaptive capacity of seven island communities near marine protected areas on the Andaman coast of Thailand. Results show that communities had low adaptive capacity with respect to environmental degradation and fisheries declines, and to management and conservation interventions, as well as uneven levels of adaptive capacity to economic opportunities. Though communities and households were experiencing the impacts of climate change, especially storm events, changing seasons and weather patterns, and erosion, they were reactinKo Sin Hi Pierg to these changes with limited knowledge of climate change pe se. We recommend interventions, in the form of policies, programs, and actions, at multiple scales for increasing the adaptive capacity of Thailands coastal communities to change. The analytical and methodological approach used for examining adaptive capacity could be easily modified and applied to other contexts and locales."
Creeping Enclosure, Cumulative Effects and the Marine Commons of New Jersey
(2010) Murray, Grant; Johnson, Teresa R.; McCay, Bonnie J.; Danko, Mike; St. Martin, Kevin; Takahashi, Satsuki
"In response to declining fish stocks and increased societal concern, the marine ‘commons’ of New Jersey is no longer freely available to commercial and recreational fisheries. We discuss the concept of ‘creeping’ enclosure in relation to New Jersey’s marine fisheries and suggest that reduced access can be a cumulative process and function of multiple events and processes and need not be the result of a single regulatory moment. Our findings suggest that some of the ‘expected’ effects of enclosure, including loss of flexibility, erosion of community, proletarianization of fishermen, and corporatization of the fishery are visible in fisheries that do not feature explicitly privatized property or access rights. We rely on an oral history approach and the rich detail that emerges from attention to the lived experiences of fish harvesters to provide a framework for understanding the range of cumulative effects that have resulted from this process of creeping enclosure. We conclude with a discussion of how the gradual process of enclosure has affected the flows of information between the bio-physical environment and fish harvesters, managers and scientists by reducing both participation in fisheries and the accumulation of knowledge itself."
Cumulative Effects, Creeping Enclosure, and the Marine Commons of New Jersey
(2008) Murray, Grant
"In response to declining fish stocks and increased societal concern, the marine 'commons' of New Jersey is no longer freely available to commercial and recreational fisheries. We discuss the concept of 'creeping' enclosure in relation to New Jersey's marine commons and suggest that enclosure can be a process and function of multiple events and processes and need not be the result of a single regulatory moment. We provide a short review of the 'expected' effects of enclosure, based on classic studies as well as more recent fisheries work. Some of this work has focused on Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs), and has suggested a loss of flexibility, erosion of community, proletarianization of fishermen, and corporatization of the fishery are among the effects of enclosure. Here we present some findings of our research to discuss if and how the signs of enclosure may be visible in fisheries that do not feature ITQs through the rich detail that emerges from attention to the lived experiences of fish harvesters and to the cumulative effects of regulations. Relying on an oral history approach, we examine the multiple micro-political moments and enactments that result appear to have resulted in 'creeping' enclosure, and provide a case study of the incremental and cumulative processes by which neo-liberal formations can be implemented. We cast these processes as 'flows' of governance and discuss how this creeping process of enclosure has affected the flows of information between fish harvesters, managers and scientists by affecting both participation in fisheries and the accumulation of knowledge itself."
Historical Perspectives and Recent Trends in the Coastal Mozambican Fishery
(2013) Blythe, Jessica L.; Murray, Grant; Flaherty, Mark S.
"Historical data describing changing social-ecological interactions in marine systems can help guide small-scale fisheries management efforts. Fisheries landings data are often the primary source for historical reconstructions of fisheries; however, we argue that reliance on data of a single type and/or from a single scale can lead to potentially misleading conclusions. For example, a narrow focus on aggregate landings statistics can mask processes and trends occurring at local scales, as well as the complex social changes that result from and precipitate marine ecosystem change. Moreover, in the case of many small-scale fisheries, landings statistics are often incomplete and/or inaccurate. We draw on case study research in Mozambique that combines national landings statistics and career history interviews with fish harvesters to generate a multi-scale historical reconstruction that describes social-ecological interactions within the coastal Mozambican fishery. At the national level, our analysis points toward trends of fishing intensification and decline in targeted species, and it highlights the significant impact of small-scale fisheries on marine stocks. At the local level, fishers are experiencing changes in fish abundance and distribution, as well as in their physical, social, and cultural environments, and have responded by increasing their fishing effort. We conclude with a discussion of the governance implications of our methodological approach and findings."
Strengthening Threatened Communities Through Adaptation: Insights from Coastal Mozambique
(2014) Blythe, Jessica L.; Murray, Grant; Flaherty, Mark
"Change is a defining characteristic of coastal social-ecological systems, yet the magnitude and speed of contemporary change is challenging the adaptive capacity of even the most robust coastal communities. In the context of multiple drivers of change, it has become increasingly important to identify how threatened communities adapt to livelihood stressors. We investigate how adaptation is negotiated in two coastal fishing communities by documenting livelihood stressors, household assets, adaptive strategies, and factors that facilitate or inhibit adaptation. Declining catch is the most common stressor being experienced in both communities, however, socioeconomic, e.g., disease or theft, and ecological, e.g., severe storms and drought, changes are also creating livelihood stress. We find that specialized fishers with higher investment in fishing gear and government support are adapting by intensifying their fishing efforts, whereas poorer fishers with more livelihood options are adapting through diversification. Adaptation is facilitated by fishers groups, occupational pride, and family networks. It is inhibited by limited assets, competition over declining resources, and pervasive poverty. Our data suggest that adaptation is a heterogeneous process that is influenced by multiple factors. Understanding the complexity of fishers responses to livelihood stressors is critical for fostering adaptive capacity in coastal communities, for strengthening fisheries management, and for improving the livelihoods of fishing dependent communities."