Exploring wellbeing among commercial lobster fishers in Nova Scotia, Canada

Abstract

Wellbeing is a multi-dimensional concept. It is both a desirable outcome, and a lens through which to understand the ways that people perceive, pursue, and experience ‘a life well lived’. As wellbeing gains popularity as a relevant measure of social progress, it is increasingly being applied to understand the health and functioning of ecosystems. Within fisheries, a wellbeing approach is useful for understanding peoples’ connections to fishing – specifically, how fishers relate to, perceive, and benefit from their occupation. This understanding can provide insight into the potential wellbeing impacts of regulatory, environmental, and policy changes, and how the pursuit of wellbeing shapes decision-making. It also provides a useful socioeconomic indicator of fishery health, and can inform efforts to support wellbeing via management and policy. However, unpacking the connection between fishing and harvester wellbeing is not straightforward. Both peoples’ connections to resources, and the determinants of wellbeing, are shaped by a number of contextual and individual factors. As such, understanding how fisheries contribute to wellbeing requires evaluating how wellbeing dimensions vary among resource users. With a focus on participants in Nova Scotia’s commercial owner-operator fishery for American lobster (Homarus americanus), the goal of my thesis was to explore patterns of differentiation in the connection and contribution of fishing to wellbeing, as perceived by fishers. First, I applied a framework for social wellbeing to explore patterns of differentiation in material, relational, and subjective dimensions. Next, I applied a wellbeing framework developed for integrated ecosystem assessments to explore the non-material benefits of fishing, and their contribution of fishing to the conditions, connections, and capabilities dimensions of wellbeing. I then quantified the connection between measurable outcomes of fishing – specifically, catch volume, time on the water, and income – to explore how contextual and individual factors shape the connection between wellbeing and aspects of fishing that can be connected to fishery management levers. Finally, I explore patterns in economic wellbeing of fishers, to identify which fishers are most vulnerable to changing economic conditions in the fishery. This thesis can contribute to decision-making that better considers what matters most to participants in Canada’s most economically valuable fishery.