Guardians as Attractive Targets: Human Threats and Conflict Management Strategies in the Canadian Commercial Glass Eel Fishery

• In Event: GREEN Panel 5, Contemporary Issues in Environmental Harm: Protection, Denial, and Environmental Justice

Abstract

Fishermen work in areas prone to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, granting them access to resource-rich locations. This access positions them as potential guardians, able to monitor and report incidents to authorities. However, interactions with poachers can lead to conflicts, turning these guardians into targets. Research suggests that public reports are somewhat inconsequential, shifting much of the responsibility of monitoring and the associated risk of retaliation onto fishermen. Consequently, they secure their livelihood, all while trying to ensure their own safety. Drawing on Slovic (1987), fishers’ guardianship actions are influenced by risk perception, which alters mobilized strategies to manage various threats, such as exposure to poachers. In this presentation, we focus on the case of the commercial glass eel fishery in Canada, a high-value fishery characterized by relatively accessible equipment and locations where these dynamics are manifest.
This study relies on a corpus of qualitative and quantitative data, including semi-structured interviews with commercial glass eel fishermen operating in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (n=25), media articles discussing the 2023 fishing season that was disrupted by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) due to the overwhelming presence of poaching and violent conflicts (n=87), access to information and privacy requests (n=8), and extensive field observations at riverbanks, federal court, and public DFO meetings. This corpus encompasses over 25 hours of material and more than 1000 pages of documents. This study sheds light on DFO’s governance of the fishery, fishermen’s exposure to poachers, and conflict management strategies.
Our findings highlight the need for effective intervention to reduce human threats and to protect commercial fishers. By investigating fishermen’s vulnerabilities and conflict management strategies, this research equips policymakers with critical knowledge to help improve enforcement and ensure public safety.

Authors

• Ellie Côté, Université de Moncton

• Véronique Chadillon-Farinacci, Université de Moncton