Doctoral Dissertation Research: Disjuncture in Perceptions of Success in Collective Action for Natural Resource Management: The Case of Hokkaido, Japan

印第安纳大学博士生Shingo Hamada将在Richard Wilk博士的指导下，对不同社会群体如何看待和定义成功的海洋保护以及这种可变性对实际海洋资源恢复的影响进行研究。该项目的具体重点将是，尽管经济和生态效益都不确定，但为什么日本的鲱鱼恢复项目在过去20年里在沿海社区得到了发展。这项研究将有助于更好地理解多方利益相关者参与保护工作的条件以及他们参与的累积生态效应。研究人员将在日本北部北海道的一个渔业社区进行为期13个月的实地考察，重点研究鲱鱼产业。在2011年的地震和海啸之后，鲱鱼产业尤为重要，因为在其他渔业面临风险的情况下，它却坚持了下来。滨田将进行多次半结构化访谈，并对与保护有关的活动进行参与性观察，如重新造林活动和孵化场运营。他将招募各种各样的线人，包括渔民、海鲜企业家、植树造林项目的参与者和组织者、渔业科学家和市政管理人员。研究人员将运用一系列的社会科学研究方法来确定参与者对鲱鱼和鲱鱼捕捞的文化价值的共识和差异，并确定社会文化背景如何影响恢复项目的成功。这项研究很重要，因为许多保护项目未能实现社会和环境的可持续性。这项研究的结果将有助于建立理论，以改善人类与环境的关系和成功的集体环境决策。这项研究也将有助于培养社会科学家的博士学位。

Indiana University doctoral student Shingo Hamada, with the guidance of Dr. Richard Wilk, will undertake research on variability in how different social groups perceive and define successful marine conservation and the effects of that variability on actual marine resource recovery. The project's specific focus will be why herring restoration projects in Japan have developed in coastal communities in the last two decades, despite uncertain benefits both economically and ecologically. This research will contribute to improved understanding of the conditions in which multiple stakeholders engage in conservation efforts and the cumulative ecological effects of their engagement.The researcher will undertake thirteen months of fieldwork in a fishing community in Hokkaido, northern Japan, where he will focus on the herring industry. The herring industry is particularly important in the wake of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami because it has persisted while other fisheries are at risk. Hamada will conduct multiple semi-structured interviews and carry out participant observation in conservation-related events, such as reforestation activities and hatchery operations. He will recruit a wide range of informants, including fishers, seafood entrepreneurs, reforestation project participants and organizers, fishery scientists, and municipal administrators. The researcher will apply a series of social scientific research methods to determine the agreements and variations in the cultural values of herring and herring fishing among actors, and to identify how socio-cultural contexts influence the success of the restoration projects.The research is important because many conservation projects fail to achieve social and environmental sustainability. Findings from this study will contribute to building theory on what brings about improved human-environment relations and successful collective environmental decision-making. The research also will contribute to the doctoral training of a social scientist.