St. Georges Bay Ecosystem Project Survey
Report to those fishermen who participated in the survey
- INTRODUCTION
- THE DISTRICT SURVEYED: METHODS
- 1) ATTACHMENT TO FISHING COMMUNITY
- 2) FISHING HISTORY and PERSONAL BACKGROUND OF RESPONDANTS
- 3) EXPERIENCE WITH HARVESTER ORGANISATIONS
- 4) LOCAL KNOWLEDGE EXPERTS IDENTIFICATION
- 5) OTHER FINDINGS AND WORK TO BE DONE
- 6) SUMMARY OF GENERAL COMMENTS
Introduction
The St. Georges Bay Ecosystem project (GBEP) is intended to do several kinds of research for a number of groups involved in the St. Georges Bay fishery. This research project is headed by the Interdisciplinary Study for Aquatic Resource Programme (ISAR) of St. F.X. University. Its intent over the next few years is to provide fishermen, academics, civil servants and other interested parties with analyses of the social economy, management and biology of St. Georges Bay.
The survey we carried out last July was one of the first initiatives of the project. The purpose of this survey was the identification of local knowledge experts. We asked fishermen whom they considered to be especially knowledgeable about the fishing grounds. Fishermen we called were exceptionally helpful. They took the time to answer our questions and answered them with care. From their answers we compiled a list of names of those whom fishermen feel to be "expert" about local fishing grounds within St. Georges Bay. These individuals will be interviewed in the next stage of the research. We are confident that our list will represent effectively the area's collective wisdom on the fishery.
The District Surveyed: Methods
The nine "ports" in the research area extend from Lismore, Pictou county to Mabou Mines, Inverness county.1 From a list of all 304 current lobster license holders, we selected 174 by random sample from all nine ports. The survey instrument was pre-tested on twelve persons associated with the fishery. Surveys were conducted by telephone between July 14 and July 22, 1998 with some call backs extending into mid August.2 The response rate to the fifteen minute interview was 73%, or 128 completed surveys.3 This is a very high rate of response for this type of survey. The questionnaire had five sections: 1) attachment to fishing community, 2) fishing history of respondents, 3) experience with harvester organisations, 4) personal background, and 5) local knowledge experts identification.
1) ATTACHMENT TO FISHING COMMUNITY
There is a strong attachment to fishing as a way of life. Ninety six percent (96) feel "part of the fishing community" they fish out of and given the suggestion that each could "live their life over", eighty three (83) percent of the fishermen questioned would go into fishing again. They are more divided on the question of whether people "help each other out" more than the past or less than the past. The majority (80 persons or 63%) feel that people help each other about the same while minorities of twenty two and twenty four are respectively pessimistic and optimistic about the development of community support over time.
With respect to the future the questionnaire posed three scenarios when advising a child to go into "the present day fisheries" the first was for someone entering fishing "starting from scratch", the second "had financing for a boat and all the important licenses" and the third "inherited a boat with only a lobster license". Eighty percent (80% ) of the respondents would probably not or definitely not advise a child to go into fishing if they had to start "entirely from scratch". This stands in contrast to the advice they would give a young person considering the third option "if they could inherit a boat and a lobster license". Here, seventy seven percent (77%) would probably or definitely (48%) advise entering fishing. The second option combines "financing" and the "future" in the climate of present day fisheries. There is ambiguity in the question and interviewers made no attempt to resolve it. Financing was not defined and could mean "bank" loans which would imply collateral or could mean available capital and the view of the future could also vary. Twenty three percent (23%) would definitely advise a child to enter the fishery if they "had financing for a boat and all the important licenses" but an additional 48% would "probably" so advise.
Taken together these questions on "scratch", "financing" and "inheriting" suggest that fishermen view start up capital as an important factor in advising children who might wish to enter the fishery but aside from this issue of capitalisation they indicate a high level of satisfaction with fishing.
2) FISHING HISTORY and PERSONAL BACKGROUND OF RESPONDANTS
A composite picture of the fishermen of St. Georges Bay may be garnered from the one hundred and twenty eight persons surveyed. The one significant trait of the fishery is the "traditional" character of the enterprise. Sixty three fishermen began fishing with their fathers and seventy eight percent (78%) now live and fish out of the community wherein they were born. With respect to "grounds", eighty nine percent (89%) report that they "have always fished the same lobster grounds". The years spent on those grounds range from as few as four (4) to as many as fifty six (56) lobster seasons.
On the water the significant portion (50% of the sample) who began fishing with their fathers were preceded by and today remain in constant touch with relatives. Sixty per cent (60%) of the sample claimed grandparents in the fishery and sixty five percent (65%) claimed uncles as fishermen while a full eighty eight percent (88%) reported fishing in some combination of fathers, sons and brothers. Only thirty one percent (31%) reported fishing with some combination of wife, daughter, sister, mother and forty two percent (42%) reported fishing with in-laws. All told this represents a level of family enterprise consistent with traditional household production and very much at variance with contemporary workplaces. In any claim which in future might identify "traditional" rights for inshore fishers it will be worthwhile to elucidate further this pattern of extended family fishing.
While the youngest license holder in the survey was twenty three and the oldest seventy nine, forty nine (49) is both the median and the average age. Respondents fished on average for twenty seven (27) years in total and during the 1997 season fished an average of eighteen weeks (18). This was also the median with a range between no weeks and thirty six weeks fished. Landings are species specific. Most lobster landings are spread out among the nine ports but for thirty nine percent of the one hundred and twenty eight fishermen only four ports accounted for lobster landings: Lismore (14) Arisaig (13), Cribbon's (12) and Murphy's Pond (11). In contrast, eighty nine fishermen landed herring mainly at Lismore (42), Arisaig (13) and Pictou Landing (13) and of the one hundred and seven reported landing groundfish they were principally at Murphy's Pond (24), across the bay at Ballantynes (20) and at the bottom of the bay at Bayfield (10).
The fishermen surveyed demonstrated some enthusiasm for developing fishery related skills. Fifty five percent (55%) had returned to school to take a variety of fishery related short courses. With respect to computers, forty three percent (43%) of fishermen reported using a PC. Of this number of users 63% had used computers for access to the internet and 33% reported using email. When asked if they would be interested in "attending a workshop on accessing information related to fishing in this area" fifty five percent (55%) said yes and a further twenty five percent (25%) said that "perhaps" they would attend such a workshop. In contrast only twenty five people (20%) stated that they would not attend a workshop.
The educational level of fishermen varied from a low of grade five to a high of eighteen years of formal schooling . There were several university graduates and a high number of persons who had completed vocational programmes (plumbing, carpentry, electrical) after completion of high school. Both the mean and median level of education for all fishermen surveyed was grade 11. Education is one of the variables used in the analysis section which follows below.
From DFO data it is possible to describe the average size of the boat used by the three hundred and four (304) license holders as a thirty six foot boat. However using cluster analysis it is possible to identify two size trends &endash; in eighty three cases the vessel size is 29 feet and in one hundred and ninety three cases the vessel is close to 39 feet. License holders vary considerably as well and there is a positive correlation between vessel size and the number of licenses. The average person holds six licenses (6) but twenty seven percent (27 %) of the sample own less than five (5) and seven percent (7 %) own from eleven to fifteen (11-15). Relations between boat size, the number of licenses and the selection of local experts is addressed in the analysis section.
3) EXPERIENCE WITH HARVESTER ORGANISATIONS
The survey asked fishermen about their experience with "fisheries organisations or associations". It would appear that the people surveyed are actively involved in such bodies. Eighty percent (80 %) of respondents reported that they are paying dues to a fish harvester's "association or organization". Forty eight people (38 %) reported being "elected to a position" in such bodies and sixty five percent (65 %) report that they attend meetings always (32%) or frequently (33%). Only four percent (4%) claimed that they never attended fishery organisation meetings. Except for the latter, all of these figures appear high especially in view the comments made respecting the calling of fishery meetings. Several persons interviewed volunteered the information that their associations either seldom ever held meetings, poorly advertised the existence of regularly scheduled meetings or met on an moments notice without advance warning to the association membership.
Eighteen percent (18%) reported being asked to serve on a "government fisheries council or advisory committee".
4) LOCAL KNOWLEDGE EXPERTS IDENTIFICATION
A list has been drawn up of the fishermen most often named by their fellow fishermen. The question asked was "Other than yourself, I will ask for the names of three persons who you think to be well informed about the local fishing ground.". Excepting a few people, almost everyone could easily list three names. Active fishermen vastly outnumber those who were retired (fifteen different retired fishermen were named &endash; one named five times). All told -- including the one fish plant owner who was named as "best informed" and one other person whose name does not appear on either the active or known retired lists -- there were three hundred and seven (307) people whom we had listed or who were identified as "informed fishermen". In keeping with our promise not to reveal the names of the people listed we cannot provide a list of those who were named most often &endash; as interesting as that would be to fishermen. We hope to be conducting future interviews with the people named in the next stage of this research. It is possible, however, to list some general characteristics of those named.
First of all most people listed three people who typically fish "close" or beside the place where they themselves fish. People seldom are listed for more than one port although a few did get named right around the coast. Twenty four persons were named twice. If three or more different recommendations are used to generate the next round of interviews then sixty nine (69) out of the listing of three hundred and seven (307) would make up the list of those recommended as best informed. If we consider people named four or more times then thirty five fishermen would be interviewed for the next round. We could be comfortable that this group would enjoy the confidence of their peers. It is interesting that almost one half of the persons interviewed were themselves named by at least one other. This would indicate that expertise appears to be widely distributed among the people who fish in Georges Bay.
It is important to note that in considering years fished, the people named are only slightly more experienced on the water than the average fisherman but have significantly larger boats with more licenses than the average fishermen. In a regression analysis which combined age, education, weeks fished, size of boat and number of licenses, these findings of slightly more experience but greater boats and licenses were determined to be statistically significant explaining about 32 percent of the variance. As to why they choose the people that they choose, thirty three percent (33%) of those interviewed stated that the people they choose had the "respect of their fellows". In second place, thirty two (32%) said that the persons named were innovators in trying out new gear and fishing techniques. Of less importance in selecting the three persons were fisher's perception of success (30%), "knowledge of the old ways" (29) and fisher's "contacts through fishing organisations" (24).
5) OTHER FINDINGS AND WORK TO BE DONE
The data set for this survey was not intended to be extensive. Its main task was to determine those whom fishermen thought to be best informed about local grounds. Because we did have data on boat size and licenses and because we asked about education, weeks fished, age, years fishing and some family history it is possible to provide some general findings about these relationships. None of this will be a surprise to those who have a keen eye for what is happening.
As would be expected the younger fishermen are "better educated" as far as high school and some university is concerned. Education levels appear to be rising overall but interesting enough middle aged fishermen (40-49) are no slouches when it comes to aquiring the latest gear and when it comes to computers. With respect to the trend to boats over 40 feet, this is not a young man's thing. The under 40 grouping is not as quick as the forty to fifty year olds to move to more than forty foot vessels. The data suggest that clearly these same forty footers are not popular for those who have passed their sixty birthday.
Size of vessel does relate to the number of weeks fished. Boats under 34 and from 34 to 3911 were compared with boats greater than 40'. The greater the size, the more weeks fished. In this positive correlation (29% and statistically significant .002) there are some interesting sidelights. Education does make a difference. When we control for boat size, those below the age of forty with less than grade nine education fish the most number of weeks (in 1997) but those above the age of sixty who have less than grade nine fished the least number of weeks. The number of licenses are also relevant. The number of weeks fished is positively correlated with the number of licenses (43% coefficient and statistically significant .00002). What all this means is that effort goes up with boats (they cost more) and licenses issued which stands to reason. What is most interesting is the differences from port to port. . From the pattern of license holdings and boat size it would appear that larger boats need not go with more licenses and indeed it appears that some ports use their boats to better effect than others. Here the present data set needs to be expanded upon to see the effect of alternative sources of income and the effect that this has on fishing effort. This was not studied in this survey.
Further work is being done on the data set to answer this specific question. Were boat size and number of licenses the chief factors used in making references. Because of the way the questions were asked this relationship is not immediately obvious. That appears to be a fault in the instrument. We do know that education was not relevant in making choices and it appears that organisation membership was not relevant. Above it has been stated that preliminary investigations suggest some kind of dominance in boat size. It may be that fishermen who own big boats are the ones who are more likely to be in contact with one another and therefore enjoy greater consensus on those named. At this stage we can report that this relationship is being further investigated because we want to know if "respect" and "success" are products of vessel size-license holdings or if the latter make people better communicators and therefore more likely to say the same things about their peers. One other possibility -- the ecological fallacy is being checked because boat and vessel size are the two variables common to the greatest number of cases.
6) SUMMARY OF GENERAL COMMENTS
The survey produced the intended result. The names are attached to the original as an appendix. This portion of the survey without the appendix is being sent to all participants. The level of participation was significantly higher than the national average for this type of study. The fishermen interviewed were invariably courteous and most generous with their time. They had complaints. Often they expressed dismay with the condition of the ground fishery, and more than a few indicated that their lives were poorer and their outlook more pessimistic than any time in the recent past. There was a significant desire to get up to speed on computer related materials and one could not help but be impressed with the willingness to learn even among older fishermen. Several expressed complaints that their respective organisations were understaffed and not able to communicate effectively with their membership. The complaints were expressed with such dignity that all interviewers came away with the positive impression that fishermen were more than willing to work with anyone who might be in a position to turn the fishery around.
Finally, we note with deep regret the deaths of three people involved in this survey. The late Josie Boyd who despite being in retirement was named so often and with such affection that it would have a distinct pleasure to have interviewed him. One of the younger men, Angus Lord MacDonald (Jr.) fished with his father out of Judique. The late John Allan Ross was a well respected and hard working man fishing out of Arisaig. As researchers we pay our respects to the families of these men.
- Dr.Dan MacInnes
- Department of Sociology and Anthropology
- St. Francis Xavier University
1 Lismore, Arisaig, Ballantyne's Cove (includes Livingstone's Cove), Cribbon's, Bayfield (including Southside Harbour, and Pomquet ), Harve Boucher (including West Arm Tracadie, Tracadie, Barrios Beach, Auld Cove), Baxter's Cove (including Maryvile and MacKay's Point), Port Hood (including Ceilidh Co-op branches at Little Judique Harbour and Murphy's Pond) and Mabou Harbour (including Finlay's Point).2 Surveys were conducted by Dr. Dan MacInnes, Dr. John Phyne, Nell den Heyer and Ray MacIsaac.
3The timing of the survey was scheduled to correspond with the end of the lobster season. There were three refusals, two deaths, two without telephone service and four reported by others not home due to the snow crab and tuna fisheries while several were reported away from home due to work, vacation and travel. The remaining thirty five consistently were not there when phoned at least three different times.
