Browsing by Author "Duggan, Gregory L"

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    In the realm of the Kob Kings : rethinking knowledges and dialogue in a small-scale fishery
    (2012) Duggan, Gregory L; Green, Lesley; Jarre, Astrid
    Emerging from seven months of ethnographic fieldwork and participant observation conducted in the small-scale commercial handline fishery of Stilbaai, this dissertation examines and rethinks knowledges in a bid to open dialogue between experts (academic researchers, fisheries managers and fishers). The field research for this work was conducted in two intensive ethnographic fieldwork trips of four months and three months respectively between early 2010 and 2011. Stilbaai is home to a small-scale commercial handline fishing industry supporting roughly thirty-five permanent boat crews each comprising between three and eight fishers including the skipper. During my time in Stilbaai I worked with a group of fishers, conducting ethnographic interviews and participant observation (which involved fishing trips to sea and 'hanging out' with the fishers).
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    'Thinking like a fish': adaptive strategies for coping with vulnerability and variability emerging from a relational engagement with kob
    (Springer, 2014) Duggan, Gregory L; Green, Lesley; Jarre, Astrid
    Based on ethnographic fieldwork amongst a group of commercial handline fishers in the town of Stilbaai in South Africa's southern Cape region, this paper presents a range of flexible, adaptive and evolving strategies through which fishers negotiate constantly shifting variability in weather patterns, fish stocks, fisheries policies, and economic conditions. These variabilities constitute a diverse set of vulnerabilities to which fishers must respond in order to sustain their livelihoods. In this context, the act of 'thinking like a fish' on the part of the fishers provides them with an effective means of adapting to variability and uncertainty. Findings of ethnographic research in 2010-11 suggest that a number of the fishers who participated in the research actively work towards achieving a balance between profit and sustainability. 'Thinking like a fish' is an embodied, interactive way of knowing that emerges from interactions between fishers and fish, offering an ethical and ecological outlook which is a valuable resource for fisheries and conservation management in the region. We suggest that the deeply embodied interactional component of 'thinking like a fish' results from a desire to understand the life world of fish and to think from their perspective in order to more effectively target them while sustaining the species and ecosystem.