Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Fishing livelihoods and fisheries management in Northwest Iceland

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This dissertation research employs an ethnographic method to analyze motivations for individuals? participation in small-scale fisheries. The majority of fisheries in Iceland are managed under a nationwide privatized program where access to the right to fish is limited, and these limitations can negatively impact small-scale fishing operations. This project aims to better understand the opportunities and constraints that varying management schemes have on the cultural dimensions of small-scale fisheries. The economic literature that fisheries privatization is based upon assumes the primary motivation for fishing to be profit maximization. However, research from around the world suggests that a wide range of motivations for engagement in fisheries exists outside profit generation. This research compares individuals engaged in non-privatized small-boat fisheries with those participating in the small-boat privatized fisheries in a two-phase design that uses methods of semi-directed interviewing and the deployment of a questionnaire to gather qualitative and quantitative data. Results will add to new knowledge exploring the effects that the privatization of marine resources has on individuals? abilities to access marine resources. This research will also bring a new perspective to fisheries management in Iceland and abroad by providing a better understanding of the variations of motivations in fisheries and exploring the ways political and social institutions affect how humans organize around resources.