Coastal Community Access to Fisheries in Canada

Coastal communities and fishermen in British Columbia are facing a suite of issues, that can challenge the continuity of the livelihoods of individual fishers and influence community development outcomes. Some of the challenges facing fishers in BC include changing markets, climate, ecological and governance conditions. One significant and growing challenge that has been identified in BC fisheries is access – which can be defined as the ability of fishers to use and benefit from available resources. However, there are still significant gaps in our knowledge about access issues in BC – including understanding the status, the drivers and the outcomes of access issues. Lack of a comprehensive knowledge base about these issues can undermine our ability to make informed programmatic decisions and policy recommendations to address access issues in BC fisheries. This objective of this project is to develop and implement a quantitative survey of fishermen in coastal British Columbia to help to fill these gaps in knowledge.

Faculty Supervisor:

Ussif Rashid Sumaila

Student:

Partner:

T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Agriculture; Other services (except public administration)

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program: